I saw the 1933 movie with John Barrymore. Quite good. The write-up on this one sounds the same, but the "writer" credit is given to the director. I didn't see this film, but if the description given here is correct, it's obviously based quite closely on the 1933 version:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0024684/
"The more you drive, the less intelligent you are"
-- Repo Man
Both versions are based upon the 1930 stage play of the same name. Marcel Pagnol, the director of the 1951 version, was the original playwright.
Will Hays is my shepherd, I shall not want. Will's prod and Will's gaff, they confound me.
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The 1933 film is only very LOOSELY the same drama as the play. In the 1933 Barrymore/Loy USA version, Topaze is still fired for being unwilling to give passing grades to a poor student who has wealthy parents. But he's converted into being a chemist who teaches in that private school who's then hired to be the front man by the rich father of that student in order to use Topaze's name on a tap water (or worse) brand he's selling to schools & others as "Sparkling Topaze." The rich man's wife (& mother of that failing student) doesn't know her husband has a mistress (Myrna Loy) and, when she sees his mistress with her husband and Topaze, her husband introduces his mistress to her as the wife of Topaze. And there's no daughter of the private school's director in whom Topaze is interested (as in the play & 1951 movie). There are many other changes and simplifications. While it's still an enjoyable story and film, it is with fewer complexities and less depth (and at about 70 minutes, only about half the length).
This 1933 version is -- as best I know (in early 2016) -- so far available ONLY on VHS; we had a member transfer it to a DVD to be shown to our play-reading group. It is in English and with English sub-titles.