Man About Town () is a 1947 romantic comedy film written and directed by René Clair. It was released in a shortened version in the United States as Man About Town. The film marked Clair's return to working in France after 12 years abroad in the United Kingdom and the United States. Premise The setting is Paris in the early 1900s ("1906, perhaps") and much of the action takes place in a silent film studio. Émile, a director, advises his shy young employee Jacques to adopt his own carefree attitude towards women ("one lost, ten found"). Émile takes under his wing Madeleine, the daughter of his old friend Célestin, when she arrives from the country; he offers her a place to stay and a job at his studio, and he starts to fall in love with her. When Jacques returns from military service, he and Madeleine are drawn to each other but they feel guilty about betraying the fatherly Émile. Émile finally realises the truth and decides that he must not stand in the young couple's way. Cast Maurice Chevalier as Émile Clément, known as M. Émile François Périer as Jacques Marcelle Derrien as Madeleine Dany Robin as Lucette Robert Pizani as M. Duperrier Raymond Cordy as Le Frisé Paul Ollivier as the accountant Roland Armontel as Célestin Gaston Modot as Gustave Bernard La Jarrige as Paulo Production After 12 years of working in the United Kingdom and then in the United States during World War II, René Clair returned to France in 1946 having signed a contract with RKO to produce his next film there. Other funding for the film came from Pathé. Filming took place at the Joinville Studios in Paris. Clair chose as the background for his story the very early days of silent film-making. In his introduction to the published screenplay he wrote, "Without doubt some memories of youth have given birth to the comedy that follows. The action of this film takes place during the heroic period of French cinema. The advent of this industry does not form the subject of our story. It is, at the very most, only the background for the action. The author, who has a moderate taste for exceptional subjects, thinks, in effect, that making a film consecrated to the cinema is as dangerous as writing a play the heroes of which are comedians or a novel the main character