René Clair Movies

Director René Clair pokes fun at the gentlemanly art of warfare that existed in the 18th century in this war comedy. Jean-Pierre Casell plays a soldier of fortune who tries to mediate in a conflict between two Dukes that led to battle. He mediates in the name of a fickle princess to negotiate peace among the rival factions. When he returns, Casell discovers that the princess has eyes for yet another man and that the war is the last thing on her mind. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

This standard comedy was one of the last films by director René Clair, who began his career in 1922! The story deals with two real-estate developers who try to buy up one particular town noted for the long life of its residents. A nearby spring may have something to do with their longevity, and the real-estate men plan on exploiting the concept for all its worth. But there are problems. One of the local men decides he is never going to sign over his property to anyone. The land developers try all kinds of tricks to finish up their deal but so much of what they do backfires -- even when it looks like the final signing has arrived. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Port de Lilias was Rene Clair's first film since 1955, and his last until 1960. It is more serious than most of Clair's efforts, ending with a death that is all the more surprising in that the director never quite prepares us for it. Pierre Brasseur plays Juju, a likeable ne'er-do-well who suddenly finds himself the "guardian" of a murderer named Barbier (Henri Vidal). When his identity is discovered by the heroine Maria (Dany Carel), Barbier wins and betrays the girl. This galvanizes the otherwise easygoing Juju into drastic action. Functioning as a Greek chorus throughout the proceedings is well-known balladeer George Brassens. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Director René Clair insisted that his 1952 production Beauties of the Night (Les Belles du Nuit) was intended as a comic variation on Griffith's multipart Intolerance (1916). The Clair film deals with a disillusioned music teacher (Gérard Philipe) who dreams of the beautiful women of history, envisioning himself as the central male figure in each dream. The imaginary ladies (including such internationally famous lovelies as Martine Carol and Gina Lollobrigida) begin converging on the hero all at once, much to the delight of both Philipe and the audience. At several junctures, Clair revives a technique from his earliest talkies by having the characters sing their lines and thoughts rather than speaking them. These treasured musical moments are somewhat dissipated when Beauties of the Night is seen in an edited, redubbed American print -- which also "fudges" the film's notorious Gina Lollobrigida nude scene. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Originally released in France under the title Le Silence est D'Or, Man About Town is set in the Paris of the early 1900s. Maurice Chevalier plays a director of silent films (whose working conditions are recreated with remarkable accuracy), while Marcelle Derien is an actress whom Chevalier hopes to turn into a film star. She falls in love with her younger leading man (Francois Perier), and Chevalier, after putting up a gentle struggle, bows to the inevitability of young romance. The first postwar US/France coproduction, Man About Town won several international prizes. Unfortunately, its American version was hampered by a misguided translation device: Rather than dub the actors' voices or utilize subtitles, the American distributor chose to have Maurice Chevalier narrate the film in English and comment upon its action. The resultant effect took the audience "out" of the picture when it should have been involved with the plot, and this clumsy translation technique was never used again. The best moment in the Americanized Man About Town was Chevalier's opening musical number, directed not by Le Silence Est D'Or's Rene Clair but by RKO film editor Robert Pirosh--who also trimmed the film by 17 minutes for U.S. audiences. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

On the eve of their 50th anniversary, a couple argue about whether or not to reveal a story from the husband's past that explains how they met and came to be married. We flashback to the mid-1890's and Larry Stevens' (Dick Powell) first day on the job as a reporter for a New York newspaper -- celebrating his release from writing obituaries with a few too many beers, he and his colleagues start to listen to aging newspaper employee Pop Benson (John Philliber) talk about the past and the future, and the fact that to him they're interchangeable. Larry goes out with his friends to check out a clairvoyant act featuring Cigolini, a phony Italian mystic (Jack Oakie), and a very pretty woman assistant, Sylvia Smith (Linda Darnell). He starts to woo Sylvia, who resists his charms, before heading back to the newspaper, where he meets Pop, who hands him what he says is the newspaper he wanted -- it's only later that Larry realizes that he has tomorrow night's newspaper, and that one story concerns a robbery at the opera house. He gets to the performance that night, with Sylvia accompanying him (at first unwillingly) and witnesses the robbery, writing it up before the police can even leave the scene. His editor (George Cleveland) is ecstatic, but police inspector Mulrooney (Edgar Kennedy) wants to know how Larry knew about the robbery. Sylvia tries to protect him by claiming that she predicted it in her act, and to cover herself and Larry she predicts the drowning of a woman that night in the river. Meanwhile, Larry meets Pop again, who tells him of tomorrow's paper and its account of his attempted rescue of a drowning woman -- he later realizes that the woman is Sylvia, attempting to save him and having to fake a drowning to convince the police of her predictions; he runs to the river and dives in to rescue her. By this time, the two of them are totally involved with each other emotionally, but now Larry must face a new threat. Pop appears again and hands him a newspaper from the next day, which includes a front page story about Larry being shot and killed at the St.George Hotel. Larry vows to avoid the hotel at all costs, and even tries to get some good out of the paper by betting on the winners in five consecutive horse races that afternoon; but it seems that no matter what he does to stay away, he's destined to be at the hotel, at the appointed time. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

As she burns at the stake, a 17th century witch, Jennifer (Veronica Lake), places a curse on her accuser (Fredric March), so that from this day forward, all of his descendants (each played by him) will be unhappy in marriage. After several hilarious through-the-years examples (the Civil War-era Fredric March runs off to battle rather than endure his wife's nagging), we are brought up to 1942. Wallace Wooley (March) is a gubernatorial candidate, preparing to wed snooty socialite Estelle Masterson (Susan Hayward) -- the well-to-do daughter of a publisher who is backing him. A bolt of lightning strikes the tree where Jennifer had been executed three centuries earlier, thereby freeing the spirits of Jennifer and her warlock father, Daniel (Cecil Kellaway). Wallace meets Jennifer when she materializes in a burning building, obliging him to save her life. The revivified sorceress does everything in her power to induce Wallace to fall in love with her -- even destroying the ceremony in which the wedding is supposed to take place. The attempts succeed, and the two marry, but on their wedding night, Wallace refuses to believe Jennifer's claims that she is a witch. Frustrated, she attempts to convince him by doctoring the gubernatorial election -- in his favor. Based on the Thorne Smith novel The Passionate Witch, the rollicking I Married a Witch can be considered the forerunner of the TV series Bewitched, but only on a surface level. The film had been scheduled to be directed by Preston Sturges and to be released by its producing studio, Paramount; the end result was helmed by René Clair (his second Hollywood film), and was distributed by United Artists. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

What a combination! Break the News boasted the talents of English stage star Jack Buchanan, French entertainer Maurice Chevalier, legendary director Rene Clair, and songwriter Cole Porter. But what should have made for dynamite entertainment, fizzled in the eyes of disappointed contemporary reviewers. Buchanan and Chevalier play a song and dance team that is getting nowhere fast. In an effort to jump-start their flagging careers, the two dream up an elaborate scheme that begins when Buchanan 'mysteriously' vanishes. Soon afterward Chevalier turns himself in, claiming that he killed his partner, fully aware that Buchanan is actually hiding out in a Balkan village and will magically reappear at the crucial moment. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to the jailed Chevalier, poor Buchanan has been captured by revolutionaries who have mistaken him for an enemy general. Will he escape in time to save Chevalier from final justice? The film's source material, a novel by Loic de Gouriadic, has been re-filmed several times, most recently as The Art of Love (65) with James Garner and Dick Van Dyke. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Accused by his critics of ignoring the social ills of the world, director Rene Clair responded with Le Dernier Milliardaire, a "relevant" satirical comedy somewhat reminiscent of the much later Being There and Forrest Gump. Max Dearly stars as Monsieur Banco, the richest man in the world. On the verge of revolution, the bankrupt kingdom of Casinaria begs Banco to pay a visit and offer financial advice. Alas, upon his arrival our hero is accidentally hit on the head, and he later awakens as a babbling imbecile. But the parliamentary leaders of Casinaria, seeing only the man and not his condition, regard Banco's lunatic ramblings as pure genius -- and act upon them accordingly! A sheer delight when seen today, Le Dernier Milliardaire was an enormous flop when first released, forcing Rene Clair to go into a lengthy professional exile. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

René Lefèvre and Annabella are sheer delights, as is everything else in Le Million, René Clair's bright and winning early sound comedy. Clair has his actors sing their dialogue in a blithe and breezy way and utilizes a succession of surrealistic and Dadaesque touches to chronicle this lighthearted extended chase, concerning an artist racing through the streets of Paris (an amazing studio set constructed by Lazare Meerson) in order to retrieve a winning lottery ticket left in the pocket of a discarded jacket. Many of Clair's comic embellishments (like the dubbed-in sound effects of a football game over a portion of the chase) have been used endlessly in comedies ever since, but in Clair's hands, the old jokes still look fresh and magical. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Rene Clair's Under the Roofs of Paris is one of the first French films shot in sound. The film is a relaxed melodrama where a Parisian street singer (Albert Prejean) and his friend (Edmond Greville) pursue the love of the same woman (Pola Illery). Clair chose to use sound only when needed, preferring to tell the story through his visuals as well as through his dialogue. The result is a striking film, boasting beautiful photography and sets, as well as a moving story. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi