Under the Roofs of Paris [Sous les Toits de Paris] ****½ (1930, Albert Préjean, Pola Illéry, Edmond T Gréville, Gaston Modot) – Classic Movie Review 9181

Writer-director René Clair’s first sound film, the 1930 Sous les Toits de Paris [Under the Roofs of Paris], is a nostalgic tale set in Paris about two men, the street singer Albert (Albert Préjean) and his buddy Louis (Edmond T Gréville), who have fallen for the same woman, Romanian party girl Pola (Pola Illéry), the companion of the tough gangster Fred (Gaston Modot).

[Spoiler alert] When Albert is arrested and jailed in mistake for a pickpocket, the thief Emile (Bill Bocket), Louis seduces Pola, but she chooses Albert after he is freed from prison.

Sous les Toits de Paris [Under the Roofs of Paris] is a straggler from silent cinema and has very little dialogue. But instead various impressive sound effects, music or noises and a memorable theme song (music by Raoul Moretti, lyrics by René Nazelles) accompany René Clair’s simple, charming, nostalgic picture, a populist comedy, beautifully played and exquisitely handled.

Its portrait of a vanished Paris is also very poignant, and the singer Préjean gives an excellent acting performance. It is probably the earliest French example of a filmed musical comedy, and put French production on the map as their first sound film to gain great international success.

Also in the cast are Paul Ollivier, Bill Bocket, Raymond Aimos, Thomy Bourdelle, and Jane Pierson.

Préjean performs ‘Sous les Toits de Paris’ and ‘C’est pas Comme ça’.

The film’s posters claimed ‘All Talking! All Singing!’, but the film is only both in part and still uses the techniques of silent cinema. Like Charles Chaplin, Clair was a reluctant maker of sound cinema, calling it ‘an unnatural creation, just useful for canned theatre’. However, he changed his mind, and the 1931 musical comedy Le Million was Clair’s second sound film, hailed as ‘the best French musical of its period’, while he was acclaimed as ‘the first true master of the sound film’.

Under the Roofs of Paris [Sous les Toits de Paris] is directed by René Clair, runs 96 minutes, is made and released by Films Sonores Tobis, is written by René Clair, is shot in black and white by Georges Périnal and Georges Raulet, is produced by Frank Clifford, is scored by Raoul Moretti and Vincent Scotto, Armand Bernard (music arranger), René Nazelles (lyrics) and André Gailhard, and is designed by Lazare Meerson.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9181

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