LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (1979) C widescreen 97m dir: Edouard Molinaro

w/Ugo Tognazzi, Michel Serrault, Michel Galabru, Claire Maurier, Remi Laurent, Benny Luke, Carmen Scarpitta, Luisa Maneri

From The Movie Guide: "In less assured hands, this could have wound up as a disaster, but director Edouard Molinaro was skillfully able to film the long-running play and wring every drop of humor from it. Renato (Ugo Tognazzi) and Albin (Michel Serrault) have been lovers for more than 20 years. Albin is the lead 'drag queen' of La Cage aux Folles, a Saint-Tropez nightclub, and Renato, the more masculine of the two, runs the day-to-day operations of the boite. Many years before, Renato had stepped out of his gay lifestyle long enough to father Laurent (Remi Laurent) in a one-night stand, and since then both men have raised the boy. Now, Laurent comes home from college with the news that he is engaged to Andrea (Luisa Maneri), whose father Charrier (Michel Galabru), is the secretary of the blue-nosed Union of Moral Order. As a result, Laurent has lied about his parentage and told his future father-in-law that his father is a cultural attache. From this set-up alone, one can guess that the situations that follow --- revolving around Charrier's meeting with Renaldo --- lead to some riotous results. Despite the apparent risk of making a movie with two gay leads, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES is basically an old-fashioned bedroom farce --- and tamer than most, at that. Nonetheless, it was a huge international hit, spawning a pair of dreadful sequels and a fabulously successful stage musical."

This is the film upon which 1996's THE BIRDCAGE with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane was based.

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES was nominated for three Oscars: Best Director, Adapted Screenplay (Francis Veber, Molinaro, Marcello Danon, Jean Poiret; based on Poiret's play), and Costume Design (Piero Tosi, Ambra Danon).