René Lefèvre has won the lottery, but lost the ticket.
That's all René Clair needs to make a classic comedy about a place where people sing and dance, and fall in and out of love under the roofs of Paris. He had not been anxious to make a talkie film, but came to realize the possibilities of sound: not just canned theater, but something that combined the heightened reality of silent film with the noise and clamor and music of sound. His previous movie had set the tone for this, and here we have a movie that's even better, as the specter of riches appear and disappear with the joy of love with Annabella, friendship with Jean-Louis Allibert, and the sentimental larceny of Paul Ollivier and his troupe of apaches in evening clothes.
I have seen this movie once previously. I was stunned at its inventiveness, and have hesitated to look at it again. Could it live up to the warm, faded glow of my memory?
Yes.
That's all René Clair needs to make a classic comedy about a place where people sing and dance, and fall in and out of love under the roofs of Paris. He had not been anxious to make a talkie film, but came to realize the possibilities of sound: not just canned theater, but something that combined the heightened reality of silent film with the noise and clamor and music of sound. His previous movie had set the tone for this, and here we have a movie that's even better, as the specter of riches appear and disappear with the joy of love with Annabella, friendship with Jean-Louis Allibert, and the sentimental larceny of Paul Ollivier and his troupe of apaches in evening clothes.
I have seen this movie once previously. I was stunned at its inventiveness, and have hesitated to look at it again. Could it live up to the warm, faded glow of my memory?
Yes.