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Under the Roofs of Paris - Criterion Collection | Year: 1930 Classification: Foreign Film - French Directed: - René Clair One of the masterpieces of early sound French cinema It is amazing how quickly some directors mastered sound film almost immediately. Both Ernst Lubitsch in Hollywood and Rene Clair in France adapted to the sound film apparently without effort, and produced some of the earliest masterpieces in their respected countries. Their strategies, however, differed slightly. While Lubitsch employed microphones from beginning to end, Clair, much like Hitchcock in Great Britain with his earliest sound features, blended silent and sound techniques. In UNDER THE ROOFS OF PARIS, Clair has essentially produced a silent film with numerous talking sequences, usually relatively static scenes with conversation and singing. The reason for this was primarily the incapacity of the earliest microphones to accommodate much music. Clair is so masterful in his use of the camera, however, that he makes a virtue out of necessity, and one can only notice the silent nature of much of the film if one looks for it. Anyone familiar with the work of Andrew Sarris knows that Clair, like Lubitsch and Hitchcock, is placed in his "Pantheon' of the greatest auteurs in the history of film, and one can easily believe it watching this remarkable film. While many early sound directors saw sound as a gimmick, Clair saw it as an opportunity to expand the capacity of film to tell a story. The story is not like anything that would have been told in Hollywood. The story is boy meets girl, boy kinda gets girl, boy loses girl, and the girl stays lost. A note of danger and sadness underscores the entire movie, despite the sharp humor and song. Albert, a young man who makes his living by selling sheet music in the street, falls deeply in love with Pola, whom he rescues from a petty gangster. While in jail, his best friend befriends Pola, and she falls in love with him. The contrast between Albert, who loves with great constancy, and Pola, who throws her affection from the gangster to Albert to his friend Louis with little or not transition, could not be greater. In the end, while one regrets for Albert's sake that he does not end up with the girl he loves, one cannot help but think that he can do better. Interestingly, Albert is played by Albert Préjean and Pola, who is supposed to be Romanian, is played by Pola Illéry, who was indeed Romanian. I can't stress enough how enjoyable this film is. Seventy-four years later, the viewer doesn't have to cut this film the tiniest bit of slack to love it. It isn't an artifact, but a vibrant, adorable excursion into the Parisian underworld of 1930. It was not merely one of the first great French sound films made, but one of the great musicals of all time. A charming, romantic film from the 1930s Albert is a street singer, selling songs on a Parisian street, when he notices Pola, shyly singing along with the crowd. Later, at a bar/dance hall with his friend Louis, Albert again sees Pola sitting by herslef. He and Louis roll the dice to see who gets to talk to her, but even though Albert wins, he stops short when he sees Pola with her gangster boyfriend, Fred. Through a series of events, both planned and unplanned, Albert tries to woo Pola, but winds up in jail and then gets involved in a street fight with Fred's gang. This is a charming film from René Clair. It was filmed just as movies with sound were beginning to appear so it has a unique style in that there is very little dialogue. Most of the action is acted like a silent movie with music to enhance the action. But, in a unique twist for its time, the characters do speak and sing, but only when necessary. It's a mix between the two genres: silent and talkies. A great little film. The DVD is a clean, crisp transfer with some camera shaking, problably from the original direction. It also includes the original opening to the film, which Clair editied out in 1950, and his first silent film "Paris qui dort (Paris Asleep)" which makes for a very ineteresting early sci-fi film. ALBERT AND LOUIS AND FRED AND POLA Rene Clair's 1930 SOUS LES TOITS DE PARIS, a mostly-mimed musical, is about about two pals -- Albert and Louis -- who make a wager in the rain "under a Paris roof" (hence the title) to see who will go with pretty Pola. But alas she goes off with Fred! A series of complications way too complex to detail here ensue as the four characters mix and match until one is left alone singing in the rain on a Paris street. This film, made silent and then dubbed with French dialog and music, is done with grace and charm in spite its melodramatic plot. Albert's calm detachment seems to insulate him from all danger and sorrow, while Fred seems to get away with numerous nefarious deeds. I liked this film and its dreamlike images and poetic story. Buy Under The Roofs Of Paris at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Under The Roofs Of Paris Search with the Priority Search Engine on Under The Roofs Of Paris This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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