À nous la liberté (1931)

Calificación de los usuarios:

7.8/10   

Director:

René Clair

Guionista:

René Clair (story)

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

31 diciembre 1931 (USA)

Género:

Comedia | Musical

Frase comercial:

Le chef-d'oeuvre de René Clair

Plot:

A famous left-wing satirical comedy about two ex-convicts, one of whom escaped jail and then worked his way up from salesman to factory owner...

Plot Keywords:

Worker | Friend | Factory | Escape | Jail

Premios:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Charming early French comedy, with a fine score

Reparto

Henri Marchand	...	Émile
Raymond Cordy	...	Louis
Rolla France	...	Jeanne
Paul Ollivier	...	L'oncle (as Paul Olivier)
Jacques Shelly	...	Paul
André Michaud	...	Le contremaitre
Germaine Aussey	...	Maud - la femme de Louis
Léon Lorin	...	Le vieux monsieur sourd
William Burke	...	L'ancien détenu
Vincent Hyspa	...	Le vieil orateur

También conocida como:

À nous la liberté! (France) (alternative spelling)
Freedom for Us (International: English title)
Liberty for Us (USA)
Viva la libertad (Spain) [es]

Duración:

104 min | USA:83 min (re-release) | USA:97 min

País:

France

Idioma:

Francés

Color:

Negro y Blanco

Relación de Aspecto:

1.20 : 1

Sonido:

Mono

Clasificación:

USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Finland:(Banned) (1950) | UK:U | USA:Approved

Compañía:

Films Sonores Tobis

Trivialidades:

When Charles Chaplin's Modern Times (1936) premiered, the original distribution company of À nous la liberté, Tobis, wanted to sue. Director René Clair refused to join such a suit, saying that he considered it a compliment if Charles Chaplin based his film on René Clair's, but the suit went ahead nevertheless. Tobis, sued United Artists and Charles Chaplin for plagiarism. The suit, with separate segments in France and in the US, went on for more than a decade, right through WWII. Charles Chaplin, at the request of his lawyers, finally settled, but never admitted to the charge. René Clair stayed aloof from the affair, and he and Charles Chaplin, whom he greatly admired, remained friends.

Citas:

[first lines]
[Voice over Singer]: Liberty is the happy man's due / He enjoys love and skies of blue / But then there are some / Who no worse crimes have done / It's the sad story we tell / From a prison cell

Conexiones de Película:

Apareció en "Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood" (1995)

Charming early French comedy, with a fine score

Rene Clair's first film was the bizarre surrealist short ENTR'ACTE, which had music (and a cameo) by composer Erik Satie. Also showing up briefly in that film were two of Satie's young protégés, Darius Milhaud and George Auric.

When Clair made the talkie A NOUS LA LIBERTE, he hired Auric to do a completely original score, which was not common at the time, and a lot of the scenes were shot to recordings of the Auric music. This was only Auric's 2nd film (after Cocteau's BLOOD OF A POET) but he already shows the mastery that would lead to well over a hundred further scores.

Clair and his Oscar-nominated designer fill the screen with wonderful art deco visuals, and there's a sympathetic cast cemented by the two central characters, Louis and Emile. There are some wonderful physical comedy bits in the film (mostly in the factory), as well as the social satire which I didn't find particularly heavy-handed (although that adjective has been used by others). The fine balance of music, visuals, and comedy makes this a winner.