 Based on a stage play, the story had been filmed by Jean Renoir in 1928 and also by Fernand Rivers in 1950.For its third outing on celluloid, the makers adopted a knowingly light-hearted approach to the material, re-using old visual and verbal gags and inserting humorous homages to earlier works such as Vigo's "À propos de Nice" and Zinneman's "Oklahoma!