When René Clair was first offered the job of adapting the farce of Labiche and Michel for the cinema by Alexandre Kamenka of the Albatros film company, he was unenthusiastic, but he nevertheless demonstrated a sure touch for a fast-moving satirical portrayal of bourgeois style and manners.

(Only in occasional sequences do we see tracking shots, to follow a moving carriage, or rapid cutting, for instance to suggest Fadinard's growing panic in a dance scene.)

Each supporting role is characterised by a comic detail which becomes a running joke: the deaf uncle with a blocked-up ear-trumpet; the cousin who has lost one white glove; the bride's father whose dress shoes are a size too small; the bride who feels a pin that has dropped down the back of her dress; the cousin whose tie keeps dropping, and his wife whose pince-nez will not stay on her nose.

[4] "With this first big success (artistic more than commercial), René Clair, at the age of 30, achieved his maturity, and established, through his meeting with Labiche, his themes and a style.

For the DVD edition of The Italian Straw Hat by Flicker Alley (2010), an orchestral score compiled by Rodney Sauer and performed by the Monte Alto Motion Picture Orchestra was provided, together with an alternative piano accompaniment by Philip Carli.