LE MILLION

(1931, René Clair) Artist Jean Lefevre, bedeviled by creditors, makes a grab at his model just as fiancée Annabella walks in... at least he’s won the lottery—wait, where’s the ticket?  And as the hunt treks across Paris, dialogue is more sung than spoken, with a couple backstage at the opera acting out the lyrics, and a mass melée over the ticket scored to the whistles and thuds of a soccer match. Approx. 83 min. 35mm.
1:00, 4:35, 8:10

“Clair at his exquisite best; no one has ever been able to make a comedy move with such delicate, dreamlike inevitability... Lyrical, choreographic, giddy – it’s the best French musical of its period.”
– Pauline Kael

“Meshes together in a way no one but Clair ever quite matched.”
– Time Out (London)

À NOUS LA LIBERTÉ

(1931, René Clair) Escaping from prison on a stolen bike, Raymond Cordy wins first prize in the race, then heads up his own highly mechanized phonograph factor; while con copain Henri Marchand awakens in a field to an apparently singing flower; top-hatted dignitaries scramble desperately for flying cash. Biting musical satire of capitalism, industry, and automation – and inspiration for Modern Times. Approx. 104 min. 35mm.
2:35, 9:45

“Beautifully made. Has elegantly futuristic sets by Lazare Meerson, and Georges Perinal’s cinematography has a simplified, formal perfection. Rightly considered a classic.”
– Pauline Kael