Les Perles de la couronne - The Pearls of the Crown (Film 1937)

The Pearls of the Crown (French: Les Perles de la couronne) is a 1937 French comedy film of historically based fiction by Sacha Guitry who plays four roles in it (many of the other performers play multiple roles, as well). Audio in French, English and Italian, with English subtitles.

It was made at the Billancourt Studios in Paris with location shooting at a variety of sites including the Abbaye de Royaumont, the Château de Louveciennes and aboard the S.S. Normandie. The film's sets were designed by the art director Jean Perrier.

Guitry's Jean Martin investigates the history of seven pearls, four of which end up on the crown of England, while the other three initially go missing. Tracing the history of seven valuable pearls of the English Crown from the time of Henry VIII of England to the present day (1937). Writer Jean Martin (Sacha Guitry) attempts to track down three of the missing pearls by tracing their previous owners, with events seen in flashback, involving Napoleon, King Henry VIII and Elizabeth I of England amongst others.

Cast & Characters:
Sacha Guitry as Jean Martin/François I/Viscount Barras/Old Napoleon III
Jacqueline Delubac as Françoise Martin/Mary, Queen of Scots/Josephine
Lyn Harding as John Russell/Henry VIII
Renée Saint-Cyr as Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne
Enrico Glori as Pope's Chamberlain
Ermete Zacconi as Pope Clement VII
Barbara Shaw as Anne Boleyn
Marguerite Moreno as Catherine de'Medici/Empress Eugenie
Arletty as Queen of Abyssinia
Marcel Dalio as Abyssinian Minister/Jewel Seller
Claude Dauphin as Italian in Abyssinia
Robert Seller as Englishman in Abyssinia
Ponzio as Singing worker
Andrews Engelmann as The Lead Robber
Yvette Pienne as Queen Mary I of England (Mary Tudor)/Queen Elizabeth I/Queen Victoria
Raimu as Industrialist
Lisette Lanvin as Femme du monde/Reine Victoria
Pierre Juvenet as The Expert
Henri Crémieux as Auctioneer
Aimé Simon-Girard as Henri IV
Germaine Aussey as Gabrielle d'Estrées
Simone Renant as Madame Du Barry
Damia as Woman of the People
Di Mazzei as Sans-coulotte
Jean-Louis Barrault as Lorenzo de Medicia/Young Bonaparte
Robert Pizani as Talleyrand
Émile Drain as Napoleon I (1815)
Huguette Duflos as Queen Hortense
Raymonde Allain as Empress Eugenie (1865)
Violet Farebrother as An Old Lady
Rosine Deréan as Young girl/Catherine d'Aragon
Marie Leconte as A Woman in Misery
Pierre Magnier as An Old Lord
Cécile Sorel as A Courtesan (5th billed in star credit!)
Lillie Grandval as Opera Soprano
Jean Coquelin as An Old man
Gaston Dubosc as A Grand Duke
Pauline Carton as Femme du Chambre
Anaclara as La négresse
Colette Borelli as Mary Stuart (girl)
Julien Clément as Le gigolo
Marfa d'Hervilly as La vieille courtisane
Denis de Marney as Darnley
Aline Debray
Dynalik as Le petit rat
Georges Fels as ?
Eugénie Fougère as La vieille coquette
Gary Garland as Une passagère sur le Normandie
Anthony Gildès as Le vieil hongrois
Georges Grey as Le jeune hongrois
Geneviève Guitry as ?
Percy Marmont as Cardinal Wols