Clouzot knew well the milieu of the theater, having set Quai des Orfèvres in a similar setting, but here he has set aside his signature cynicism for a wistfully light comedy. Based on the turn-of-the-century play, Miquette and Her Mother stars the delightful Daniele Delorme as Miquette, a sheltered young woman with ambitions to become an actress. Against the wishes of her mother (Mireille Perrey), she is swept away by a loose-moraled marquis (Saturnin Fabre) and, once abandoned, finds herself working for a sou-less theater troupe. Clouzot delights in the artifice of this bubbly “boulevard comedy,” adding comic intertitles and bilious asides and spurring on his starved actors, principally Louis Jouvet and the much-loved stage comedian Bourvil, to devour the scenery, which they do with relish.