Film

Topaze

Name: Topaze
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 1933
Cast: John Barrymore, Myrna Loy, Reginald Mason, Jobyna Howland, Jackie Searl

Social drama

A naïve schoolteacher discovers he's been used as the respectable face of a corrupt business scheme. This 1933 comedy-drama watches an honest man get schooled by the world's dishonesty, with John Barrymore bringing warmth to the role before he turns ruthless. It's a gentle satire about integrity and complicity, made when such things still felt complicated.

TMDb rating

3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy a sly, morally pointed comedy where a decent little man's integrity is slowly tested by people far less scrupulous, and where the satire lands through sharp dialogue rather than slapstick.

Skip it if you want fast pacing or a modern, polished look, since this 1933 black-and-white picture is stagey, talky and built around its theatrical origins.

What it asks of you: It runs a brisk seventy-eight minutes, but you need to sit through long conversational scenes and enjoy watching a character's principles get worn down at a patient pace.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

It Happened One Night1934

The same year's answer to Topaze: a romantic comedy where an ordinary man navigates deception and wealth with charm and shrewdness. Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable crackle together, and the script moves like a song.

But The pacing is fast enough to feel thin if you're expecting depth. Some of the political attitudes have calcified.

The Apartment1960

A clerk lets his apartment be used for affairs to climb the corporate ladder, then discovers the moral cost. Lemmon's everyman gets slowly compromised in ways that feel intimate and devastating. This is Topaze grown up and angry.

But It's less about the scheme than the loneliness it creates. The second half pivots away from comedy entirely.

The Fountainhead1949

Gary Cooper as an architect who refuses to compromise his integrity in a world built on corruption. It's about the exact opposite choice Topaze makes—the person who won't be bent, ever. Visually stunning and ideologically fierce.

But Ayn Rand's philosophy is indigestible if you don't share it. At nearly three hours, it tests patience.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Topaze

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Monsieur Verdoux1947

Both watch nice men discover that the world rewards cruelty more than virtue, and choose accordingly. Chaplin just goes further.

Chaplin plays a charming serial killer who marries women for their money. It's Topaze's logic taken to its absolute end—the kind-faced man becomes a predator. Darkly funny, philosophically bleak, utterly bold.

But It's much darker than it sounds, and Chaplin's tonal control can feel cold. The 1940s audience hated it.

Dodsworth1936

Walter Huston as a retired industrialist learning that the world isn't what his American optimism prepared him for. It's a tragedy about a good man watching his marriage and illusions collapse simultaneously. Remarkably moving.

But There's no real villain—just time and circumstance. Some find that less satisfying than a good betrayal.

The Magnificent Ambersons1942

A wealthy family's decline as the world changes around them. Like Topaze inverted: instead of climbing through corruption, they fall through obsolescence. Welles made it with a rage the original didn't have.

But The ending was reshot by the studio and feels tacked-on. The pacing can feel slow if you're not with it.

Dinner at Eight1933

Released the same year, it's a crackling ensemble about old money, new schemes, and the dinner party that brings everyone's lies into one room. Seven storylines, all witty, all human.

But With so many characters, none gets much time. You have to enjoy the social puzzle more than character depth.

The Thin Man1934

Myrna Loy (Topaze's Coco) as a witty, glamorous woman who'd happily upend any respectable man's world. The marriage at the film's center is built on mutual conspiracy and laughter. Pure style and charm.

But The mystery plot is slight. If you need actual stakes, the mystery-comedy balance will feel off.

The Lady Eve1941

Preston Sturges's masterpiece about a con artist and a naïve millionaire. Faster and funnier than Topaze, with Barbara Stanwyck as the woman who eats men for sport. Endlessly clever.

But The comedy is so rapid-fire it can feel exhausting. Some gags land better than others.

All About Eve1950

A sharp, citric look at ambition and the people willing to lie their way to the top. Bette Davis's monologues are legendary. It's about corruption in theatre the way Topaze is in business.

But It's a play filmed as a play—very theatrical. The bitchiness, while brilliant, never lets up.

M1931

Both ask what happens when you remove the mask from respectability. Topaze finds it funny; Lang finds it fatal.

Fritz Lang's masterpiece about a child murderer and the city hunting him. Not a comedy, but it shares Topaze's fascination with how society works—and how it excuses the powerful while punishing the desperate. Urgent and terrifying.

But It's German Expressionist cinema from 1931: grainy, atmospheric, sometimes slow. The subject matter is horrifying.

Tokyo Story1953

Both watch good people confront the gap between how they thought the world worked and how it actually does. One laughs. One weeps. Both are sad.

Ozu's quiet masterpiece about an elderly couple visiting their son in Tokyo. They expected one thing; they find another. It's about disappointment and acceptance, watching the world's messiness with gentle resignation. Completely different mood, same spiritual journey.

But Nothing happens. If you need plot or conflict, you'll find it unbearably slow. The reward is purely emotional.