Film Persona

Rene Clair's "A Nous la Liberte" After a string of global successes in 1930s " Under the Roofs of Paris " and " Le Million ," Rene Clair made his chef-d'oeuvre, " A Nous la Liberte ." Although not entirely musical, the film features musical elements, which only add to the whimsical and lyrical tone of the film. This tone allows for the more critical aspects of the film to be examined without sacrificing entertainment value. Many consider " A Nous la Liberte " to be Clair's masterpiece, as it was a culmination of the style, tones, and themes present in his earlier work presented in a more cohesive and expressive picture.  The film follows Louis, a man who escapes from prison and becomes a wealthy industrialist making record players. However, one of his other friends who helped him escape, Emile, shows up and begins to mess things up. Emile begins to show how 'uncivilized' and 'un-upper-class' Louis is to his u...

  Rene Clair's "Le Million" With his first sound film, " Under the Roofs of Paris ," Rene Clair used the newfound sound technologies to include small musical pieces within the film. With his next project, " Le Million ," he went even further. " Le Million " has far more music interwoven into this full-dialogue story (as opposed to only a 1/4 dialogue found within " Under the Roofs of Paris ."  Clair opted to adapt the renowned play by Georges Berr and Marcel Guillemaud which tells the story of an impoverished man who wins a million-dollar lottery. The only problem is that he left his lottery ticket in the pockets of his jacket, which he left in his girlfriend's apartment, who gave the jacket to man hiding from the police, who sold the jacket to an opera singer who is using it during his performance that night. Throughout the film, our protagonist desperately attempts to get his lottery ticket back through various tricky circumst...

  Rene Clair's "Under the Roofs of Paris" With the introduction of sound in 1927 with the U.S. production of " The Jazz Singer ," many global filmmakers were concerned about the incoming change to the artistic form. One filmmaker, France's Rene Clair, was particularly skeptical. He was even quoted as saying that talking pictures were "a redoubtable monster, an unnatural creation, thanks to which the screen would become poor theater, the theater of the poor." Despite these objections, it was actually Clair would usher in a new era in French talking pictures, specifically with " Under the Roofs of Paris ." " Under the Roofs of Paris " was marketed as "100% talking and singing in French." This, however, was not entirely true, as much of the film is still treated as a silent picture. Over three quarters of the film has only visual action, while the remaining quarter includes audible dialogue. This, of course, was due to th...

  Raoul Walsh's "White Heat" After appearing in many various gangster films in the 1930s, the start of the 1940s meant a fresh start for actor James Cagney. It started off pretty well, in fact, as Cagney won an Academy Award for his portrayal in Michael Curtiz's 1942 hit " Yankee Doodle Dandy ." After this pinnacle of success, Cagney decided to start his own production company. This is where things got sour for Cagney, as he had a string of unsuccessful flops. By the late 1940s, Cagney's career was reaching a natural end. What he needed was a rejuvenation. The only way to rejuvenate Cagney's career was slipping back into the role of a gangster, a role which audiences had come to know from Cagney for the past two decades. Despite his conflicts with Jack Warner, Cagney signed on to do one last gangster film for Warner Brothers. The film was " White Heat " and the director was Raoul Walsh, who had also reached a natural ending point in his car...

  Raoul Walsh's "Gentleman Jim" Errol Flynn was an actor known for his action films like " The Adventures of Robin Hood " and " Dodge City ." At the end of his career, he was asked what his favorite performance in a film was, to which he responded with his 1942 hit " Gentleman Jim ." The film is based on the life of real-life boxer James J. Corbett. Starting out as a bank teller and ending up becoming the heavyweight champion of the world, Corbett's rise to success was the perfect role for Flynn, despite its hiccups.  Flynn had intended to star in the film after Warner Brothers purchased the rights to Corbett's autobiography, " The Roar of the Crowd ," from his widow, Vera. Director Raoul Walsh was tasked with realizing the adaptation to the film screen. In fact, Walsh had even met the late boxer as a young boy. Flynn took boxing lessons to prepare for the role of Corbett. Filming for the film was to start in January of 1942...

  Raoul Walsh's "High Sierra" After Humphrey Bogart worked with Raoul Walsh in supporting roles on " The Roaring Twenties ," and " They Drive by Night ," Bogart was itching for a starring role. Walsh, however, felt that Bogart was not leading man material. Bogart's friend and drinking partner, John Huston, had just penned an adaptation of W.R. Burnett's 1940 novel " High Sierra ," and convinced Walsh to let Bogart play the leading role. Bogart would go on to star in Huston's directorial debut " The Maltese Falcon " the very same year.  The plot of the film centers on a career criminal who attempts to pursue one last 'heist' before driving off into the sunset. The film is thematically persistent with that of the 1930s gangster flick. However, due to the popularity of the emerging 'film noir' movement, the film offers a more fatalistic view of the lead character. Bogart's character is far more complex t...

  Raoul Walsh's "They Drive by Night" After working with Humphrey Bogart and George Raft in several other productions, Raoul Walsh's " They Drive by Night " saw a reuniting of director and performers. The film stars the two actors as truck-driving brothers. Throughout the film, they continue dealing with the difficulties of independent freelance truck driving, as they face loan sharks trying to repossess their trucks, staying up all hours of the night, and lack of income. One night, Humphrey Bogart's character loses his arm and must quit the business. The film then shifts to a female character who attempts to seduce George Raft's character and fails. She then murders her husband so she can be with him, only to discover that he is marrying another woman. She then blames it on Raft's character until the truth comes out in the trial.  The film has noir-like elements dealing with murder and societal fatigue. However, it does not fulfill the noir stru...