Le Million [Criterion Collection]

Director: Rene Clair Rene Clair

Overview

"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."

Product Details

Release Date:	05/16/2000
UPC:	0037429147627
Original Release:	1931
Source:	Criterion Collection
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[monaural, Dolby Digital]
Language:	English
Time:	1:21:00
Sales rank:	21,705

Special Features

New digital transfer, with extensive image and sound restoration; A gallery of production photos; A rare American television interview with René Clair; New and improved English subtitles, with every song lyric translated for the first time

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Rene Lefevre	Michel Bouflette
Annabella	Béatrice
Paul Olivier	Granpère Tulipe
Louis Allibert	Prosper
Constantin Stroesco	Sopranelli
Odette Talazac	La Chanteuse
Vanda Greville	Vanda
Raymond Cordy	Taxi Driver
Armand Bernard	Conductor,Composer
Andre Michaud	Butcher
Jane Pierson	Grocer
Pitouto	Stage Manager
Georges Van Parys	Composer

Technical Credits

Rene Clair

Rene Clair

Director,Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

A fun romp through a soundstage version of Paris, René Clair's charming 1930 musical comedy follows the exploits of Michel (René Lefevre) -- a starving artist living in a garret -- as he franticly searches for a misplaced winning lottery ticket that's his only defense against a swarm of creditors. Le Million's musical numbers have a breezy appeal, and its strong cast includes Annabella as Beatrice, the philandering Michel's one true love. But the well-choreographed chases and tussles, with cops and crooks alike, give Le Million its real zest. This is especially evident in a scene depicting a scramble for a tattered old jacket (with the winning ticket in one of its pockets) that suddenly transforms into a sort of rugby match -- complete with the sounds of a cheering crowd (a signature Clair touch) -- and the famous sequence where the chase for the ticket becomes entangled with an opera production, said to have inspired the Marx Brothers's classic A Night at the Opera.