Under the Roofs of Paris (The Criterion Collection)
by René Clair
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Albert Préjean, Bill Bocket, Edmond T. Gréville, Gaston Modot, Pola IlléryDirector: René Clair
Brand: Image Entertainment
Cinematographer: Georges Périnal
Cinematographer: Georges Raulet
Cinematographer: Maurice Desfassiaux
Cinematographer: Paul Guichard
Editor: René Clair
Writer: René Clair
Producer: Henri Diamant-Berger
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 92 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-09-24
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Home Vision Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Under the Roofs of Paris (The Criterion Collection)
Movie Review: Tasteful restraint
Summary: 5 Stars
In 1930, movies with sound were still a relative novelty, and while American films of that era ("The Jazz Singer", etc.) mostly tried to outdo each other with being as loud and shrill as possible and the music was center stage, the French did a film that is tasteful and restrained in its use of sound, and sometimes even reverts back to silent film, perhaps only to remind us to savor the next time sound appears. Why am I not surprised?
I already knew the chanson that is also the main theme of the movie (and in fact one of the little jokes in the film involves panning around an apartment house only to find no one can get that ditty out of their heads, to the chagrin of some of the other tenants), so I was naturally interested to see if the movie it came from was any good. And it is. René Clair knows that his plot is banal, but then again so they are in most other movies, so this is an exercise in mood, camera movement and how the story is told. And his restraint is what makes the film seem fresh even today -- too many movies from the 1930s, whether they are American screwball comedies or French films like those of Jean Renoir have a tendency to go overboard, often in ways that make the movie somewhat painful to watch today for being so over-the-top, "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." The wisdom of Clair is turning a small, intimate story into a small, intimate movie. He is utterly unpretentious, something else modern filmmakers might take note of. The film is impressive because it does not try too hard to impress.
Perhaps the best way to sum this movie is to say this is is a picture which sound, which all the time extolls the virtue of silence. For example, in the dance hall, when the singer and his friend share a broken cigarette the dance music is basically noise (and makes conversation impossible). If the main technical innovation of a film you are making is sound, then pointing out all the time in your film how superfluous (and perhaps even annoying) it really is, how it really just stands in the way of things that are really important is certainly quite bold. There has probably never been a sound picture that has made a more convincing case that films (and perhaps even life itself) might be more enjoyable without sound!
Watching this definitely benefits from a feel for what Europe in the 1930s might have been like, particularly since the movie is relatively stylized and studio-bound. Other good films about life between Berlin and Paris at that time include Berlin: Symphony of a Great City and Carné's Port of Shadows - Criterion Collection.
Summary of Under the Roofs of Paris (The Criterion Collection)
In René Clair's irrepressibly romantic portrait of the crowded tenements of Paris, a street singer and a gangster vie for the love of a beautiful young woman. This witty exploration of love and human foibles, told primarily through song, captures the flamboyant atmosphere of the city with sophisticated visuals and groundbreaking use of the new technology of movie sound. An international sensation upon its release, Under the Roofs of Paris is an exhilarating celebration of filmmaking and one of France's most beloved cinematic exports.René Clair's Under the Roofs of Paris is a delightful pastiche of vignettes loosely held together by a creaky plot involving theft, romance, and mistaken identity. Albert loves Pola, who is being romanced by a seedy thief. Albert ends up in jail instead of the thief and Pola falls for Albert's best friend, Louis. This film was Clair's first talkie and the first French musical. However, this isn't a musical in the Hollywood sense of the term. The characters do not break out in song every 10 minutes. Instead, we see action silently unfold to the pastoral orchestral music score. The film also features several imaginative tracking shots and an interesting glimpse into the post-World War I optimism that briefly reigned over Western Europe until the rise of National Socialism. --Kristian St. Clair
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