Hailed internationally as a major innovator for his Early French Talkies (UNDER THE ROOFS OF PARIS/’30; LE MILLION/’31; À NOUS LA LIBERTÉ/’31), René Clair’s work became progressively inconsequential over the years. But this late work retains enough of his former charm & invention to seek out, even if the old magic doesn’t return. A darkly comic romance about a pair of neighborhood layabouts (local drunk Pierre Brasseur; guitar-wielding troubadour George Brassens) and young, handsome, on the lam Henri Vidal, soon to be hiding from the cops in Brassens’ cellar. Stirring the dramatic pot is Dany Carrel, the jolie barkeep's daughter, torn between worn, but loyal Brasseur and excitingly dangerous Vidal. Clair’s script works up a few too many close calls as the police search for the missing fugitive as well as eleven missing tins of foie gras, forcing plot turns with mechanical elements (shattered wine glasses at the bar; a conveniently positioned cat to trip over; a gaggle of kids to spoil a getaway), harmless stuff. (Maybe that’s the problem.) But the film moves well under Clair, as does his camera, while ace production designer Léon Barsacq gives it a hyper-realistic, yet utterly studio-bound look similar to what Mario Chiari was doing for Luchino Visconti the same year in WHITE NIGHTS/’57.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Those early Talkies, as fluid as anything being tried at the time, sadly seem to have fallen out of favor. Not one even highlighted on Clair's IMdB page. OR: For something in English from his WWII Hollywood exile, try the lesser known indie IT HAPPENED TOMORROW/’44. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2010/06/it-happened-tomorrow-1944.html
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