I have followed the listings of Mechanical Music in the Movies with
interest, and now that the subject seems to be played out I am writing to
express my surprise that the one movie that was made about a collector of
mechanical musical instruments seems to be unknown to the collectors here.

In 1939, on the eve of WW2, a movie was made in France directed by Jean
Renoir called Rules of the Game.  This was a comedy about the morals and
manners of the wealthy, in which the leading man was a Marquis who was a
collector of mechanical musical instruments.  The picture is full of old
phonographs, bird boxes, pianos, etc., and the last scene, which is the
denouement, has the Marquis entertaining his weekend guests with his new
band organ.  This picture had a 4-star rating and played in the US with
English subtitles.

Many years ago this picture came to my attention when it was played on a
local PBS station.  Subsequently, I was able to rent a copy of the film
from the foreign film section in a nearby Blockbusters video store.  At
that time Marv Polan was chairman of the audiovisual committee of the
MBSI and I brought the movie to his attention.  He obtained a copy and I
think he played it at one of the East Coast Chapter meetings.

It is the only first-run movie I know of where these instruments are an
integral part of the story throughout the length of the picture.  See if
your local video store has it.

Len Bernstein