Rene Clair's 1931 satire on industrialization was overshadowed for many years by Chaplin's Modern Times and then forgotten, though its recent release on DVD has given it a second—and well-deserved—lease on life. Like Clair's lesser known and somewhat better Under the Roofs of Paris (1930), it experiments with the new sound process, and its proletarian plot (two convicts go free, one becoming a tramp, the other acquiring a phonograph factory) makes it a period piece in the best sense. In French with subtitles. 97 min.
ByJonathan Rosenbaum
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