In Memoriam: Mary Meerson (Un Chapeau de paille d'Italie). This sparkling satire on the bourgeoisie is a masterpiece of pure visual wit: it moves (through lavish fin-de-si?cle sets designed by Lazare Meerson) with a rhythm and fast-paced grace unseen in the cinema up to its time. Our print is struck from the full-length negative restored by the Cin?ath?que Fran?aise in 1991 and has a marvelous score composed by Raymond Alessandrini. The setting is 1895; on the way to a wedding, the groom's horse stops for reakfast, which consists of one straw hat belonging to a lady out for a stroll with a young officer. As the lady is married, but not to the officer, it is strongly recommended that the hapless groom produce an identical straw hat in order to allay her husband's suspicions. This he attempts while going through with the day's farcical festivities. "One of the funniest films ever made" (Pauline Kael).