Le Million - Criterion Collection

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Welcome back one of the treasures of international cinema. In 1929-30, when Hollywood was stymied by the arrival of talkies, a Frenchman named René Clair set about reinventing the movies for the world of sound. Rather than enslave his camera--and imagination--to a microphone in a potted palm, Clair embraced sound as a liberating new dimension of the motion picture. His effervescent comedy-musical-romance Le Million doesn't just feature a witty commingling of dialogue and song--it's a jeu d'esprit in which every movement, every cut, every sound effect (or absence thereof) contributes to a lilting rhythm.

The plot is precisely as airy and as farcically complicated as it needs to be. Suffice it to say that there's this threadbare jacket with a winning lottery ticket in the pocket. It becomes separated from its starving-artist owner and leads him and numerous others a merry chase over the roofs of Paris, through the urban underworld, and onto the very stage of the Opera. You'll wonder more than once whether the Marx Brothers were taking notes.

For no good reason whatsoever, Le Million remained out of circulation for decades, except for a few bleary dupe videos. Now we have a crystal-clear DVD that does full justice to Lazare Meerson's ethereal settings, Georges Périnal's luminous camerawork, the enchanting beauty of leading lady Annabella, and René Clair's world-class comedy masterpiece. There shall be dancing in the streets. --Richard T. Jameson

Description

An impoverished artist discovers he has purchased a winning lottery ticket at the very moment his creditors come to collect. The only problem is, the ticket is in the pocket of his coat. . . which he left at his girlfriend's apartment. . . who gave the coat to a man hiding from the police. . . who sells the coat to an opera singer who uses it during a performance. By turns charming and inventive, René Clair's lyrical masterpiece had a profound impact on not only the Marx Brothers and Charlie Chaplin, but on the American Musical as a whole.

Customer Reviews:

NOT AS GREAT AS EVERYONE SAYS!.......2007-03-12

I rented this movie thinking it would be awesome, from all the rave reviews it got on Amazon. But it's really just a pretty average comedy. It's about this starving artist who can't pay his bills, and then all of a sudden he wins a lottrey and wins a 1,000,000 florets (francs?) But his girlfriend gave away the jacket his lottery ticket is in. and the whole rest of the movie is about them trying to get the ticket back. And there are songs that are okay and some okay opera numbers. There's nothing wrong with the movie, it's just not that great. There are a lot of better early foreign movies you can see. GASPARONE with Johannes Heesters and Marika Rokk was great. This DVD is not worth the money, as the print could've been better, and I expected better from Criterion.

P.S. Don't turn on the subtitles while watching this movie, even if you don't understand French. it makes the movie much more enjoyable, because the translated script isn't very good.

Light-hearted, sweet, clever and funny; an early sound musical by René Clair.......2006-08-15

Seventy-five years old, and René Clair's Le Million remains one of the most delightful, ebullient and amusing of movies. It's even more interesting if you take the time to read the insert in the Criterion case before you watch the film.

Michel (René Lefevre), a poor artist, shares a garret with his best friend, Prosper. Michel's girl friend, Beatrice (Annabella), lives across the hall. Then Michel discovers he has won the lottery with a prize of one million Dutch florins. But where did he put the ticket? Ah, yes, in the pocket of his coat. But he gave the old coat to Beatrice to mend. And when she saw Michel sitting very close to his model, Vanda, she angrily gave the coat away to a poor man who appeared in her room with a story about being chased. And the poor man, Grandpa Tulip, turns out to be a ringleader of a group of thieves. When he gets back to his store, where he sells all the stolen goods he receives, he tosses the old coat on a pile of clothing. And just then tenor Sopranelli enters the store looking for an old coat as part of his costume for an opera concert he's giving that night at the Opera Lyrique. "A great artist," he points out, "must pay attention to the slightest details." Soon everyone is after the coat, including all of Michel's creditors. And all this frenetic comedy is played out with songs. Le Million was one of the first, if not the first, musical comedies of the sound era.

The music pervades the movie, jaunty, romantic and light hearted, from fragments the characters' consciences sing to themselves to the long and sweet opera scene to the joyous opening and closing. Even the thieves have a song...

"We are the foot soldiers of inequality.
We take back the spoils of social injustice.
And under the watchful eye of the police...
...the watchful eye of the police...
We redistribute wealth and private property."

To which the police reply...

"We are the foot soldiers of legality.
No bandit can escape the police.
Our arm upholds the scale of justice
In the name of public virtue and private property."

The movie is full of marvelous and inventive sequences. The opening of the film takes us over the roof tops of Paris to a lit skylight, where two elderly men are clambering up to look in. They raise the skylight and the sound of happy song comes up to us. They're spotted, and the dancing crowd asks if they'd like some champagne. They'll be told the story of why everyone is dancing, and they...and we...are informed that the story, of course, has a happy ending. I was charmed starting right then.

A major sequence takes place back stage at the Opera Lyrique. Everyone who has learned of the ticket in the coat has converged here. At one point there is a mad chase for the coat that morphs into a football match complete with crowd cheers and an umpire's whistle. Another time there are fast comings and goings into closets, rooms, hallways and behind the scenery as the curtain goes up. And when the curtain goes up, Sopranelli and a bulky, middle-aged diva wearing a blonde wig with pigtails down to her hips begin to sing a ponderously romantic song. Behind an artificial bush Michel and Beatrice are trapped. And as the singing continues, the camera turns the scenery into a magic, artificial forest where it would be impossible for two lovers not to embrace. They turn the elephantine song into a tableaux with falling artificial leaves as they make the lyrics become real. It's one of the most inventive and sweetest scenes you'll ever hope to see. Throughout the movie are chases up and down stairs and in and out of rooms, with doors locked and opened, and improbable hiding places discovered. Critics have made a good case of how this film influenced Chaplin and the Marx Brothers, as well as Rodgers and Hart's and Rouben Mamoulian's Love Me Tonight.

Film analysis aside, you'd have to be a terminal grump to watch this movie without a smile on your face.

The Criterion picture looks very good, especially considering age and probable condition of the source print. The only significant extra is a short film interview with René Clair made in 1959 when he discussed his views on sound in motion pictures.

Le Million.......2005-09-06

At the dawn of sound, director René Clair brought us this delicious farcical concoction, imbued with a spirited, joyously romantic flavor only the French can produce. It is unalloyed fun to watch the cast of kooks-able performers all-run circles around each other while occasionally bursting into song. The sequence in which Michel and Company make a grab for the coat during a stage performance of "La Boheme," is a highlight. Fresh and timeless.

A Majestic Musical.......2004-10-30

One of the most majestic compositions of comedy and musical ever shown in a film. Absolutely hilarious even for today's standards. An explosive plot that builds suspense and romance until the films climatic end. A certain classic!

The love of money is the root of all evil.......2004-05-24

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

This movie, one of the very first sound films made in France remains a comic classic today and the Biblical message of the film is often overlooked. In the film, a man who is in debt has the winning lottery ticket for 1,000,000 francs. Unfortunately the jacket he left the ticket in goes missing and he goes to great lengths to reacquire the jacket. Later word gets out about it and others are trying to take the jacket also. There is a man brandishing a gun who takes the jacket by force also. This film shows that money has the power to corrupt people greatly.

"For the love of money is the root of all evil" 1 Timothy 6:10

The DVD has improved subtitles and also has a production photo gallery and an interview with director René Clair.

DVD:

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