Sob os Tetos de Paris

While singing in a lower class quarter in Paris, the street singer Albert (Albert Préjean) falls in love with the Romanian party girl Pola (Pola Illéry), who is the companion of the gangster Fred (Gaston Modot). One night, Albert meets with Pola, who has just found that Fred had stolen her key, and his friend Louis (Edmond T. Gréville) proposes to toss to date her. However, Albert brings her to his room and they spend the night together, with Albert sleeping on the floor and Pola on his bed. Early in the morning, the pickpocket Émile (Bill Bocket) brings a bag with stolen pieces and asks Albert to keep the bag for him. When the police busts Albert's room and finds the stolen goods, he is arrested and sent to jail. Meanwhile Fred travels and Pola seeks comfort with Louis, and they stay together. When Émile is arrested by the police, he confesses that Albert is innocent and he is released and seeks out Pola. Meanwhile Fred returns to Paris and also seeks out Pola that is with Louis. The three men that are under the spell of the gorgeous lady dispute her love and only one wins.

"Sous les Toits de Paris" is a film with a wonderful transition between silent and sound eras. This is the first René Clair's film that I watched and I found very original and interesting the style of this director that uses the acting of silent movies with gestures and facial expressions and dialogs instead of intertitles, everything supported by the marvelous song "Sous les Toits de Paris" and impressive camera work. The paradox of this delightful film are the low-life characters, composed by pickpocket (Émile); gangster (Fred); a pickpocket that steals the girl of his friend (Louis); and an easy woman (Pola). It is also unusual that the girl does not end the story with the good guy, showing no commercial concern like in most of the Hollywood movies. Not only Albert, Fred and Louis, but I have also been bewitched by the beauty and charm of Pola Illéry. I did not find any information about the death of this actress in Internet. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Sob os Tetos de Paris" ("Under the Ceilings of Paris")

René Clair's early sound films are amongst the best ever made. Le Million (1931), Quatorze Juillet (1933), and Under the Roofs of Paris (1930) are masterpieces of musical comedy and romance (I leave out perhaps his most famous, À nous la liberté, which I need to see again). Under the Roofs of Paris is the loose but good story of a young street singer (Albert Préjean) who falls in love with a girl (Pola Illéry). He has an uneasy relationship with a couple of pickpockets (including Gaston Modot, who also made L'Âge d'or with Buñuel the same year) who like to work when he's demonstrating his talent. In the film's opening scene, there is an amazingly edited sequence of one of these men at work. Everyone wants Pola, including Albert's best friend, Louis, and when Albert is framed for burglary, they don't think twice about going after her. Clair's direction moves like silk. It's so supple. The camera movements, full of crane shots and pans, is technically stunning, especially for the time but even now. And the use of sound is absolutely revolutionary. It's more or less half silent, half talkie. Unlike many early sound films, Clair keeps the dialogue to a minimum, so it's never clunky. Characters only speak when they have to; at other times, they gesture. The film is often described as a musical, but it is not. There are two songs, and the music arises diagetically from an accordion player. The music, and the use of music, are quite amazing. This is one of the most wonderful movies ever made.

The great French film actor Jacques Tati made several films that tried to capture a Paris that disappeared even before World WarII. It was a world best seen through the gifted photography of Atget and Brassai. A world of intimacy, silent streets, virtually no traffic, limited means, but unlimited pleasures. A wonderful opening shot glides across rooftops to join a cluster of ordinary Parisians enjoying a singalong, an odd but compelling precursor of karaoke and rock concerts, but untarnished by special effects or hype. There is a sense that we are witnessing a street version of Lautrec's Moulin Rouge.

The cinematography is extraordinary. It can only be compared to Fritz Lang's "M", or the "Third Man". Very little actually happens and dialogue is used sporadically. Yet we find ourselves caring very much about the people about whom we know so little.

An unforgettable film.

René Clair's "Sous les toits de Paris" ("Under the Roofs of Paris" in English) manages to strike the right balance between happy and gritty. This jolly musical tells the story of a love affair between street singer Albert and Romanian immigrant Pola. Or at least, they attempt a romance. They're surrounded by all manner of lowlifes. This is not the gay Paree that we expect.

Released when talkies were still in their relative infancy, the movie has sound scenes, but also silent ones. It finds the right balance between them. Moreover, the characters are complex if lowly individuals. Watching it all these years later, I wonder which direction French cinema would've taken had World War II not happened.

Anyway, outstanding movie. Not the greatest by any stretch, but still impressive.

"Sous les toits de Paris", a 1930 comedy/drama was René Clairs first venture into sound film making - and is already a masterful showcase for the use of sound. It is actually a blend between silent movie and talking movie with whole sections being without any sound or the dialogue turned off. In its deliberate use of sound, the movie reminded me of Fritz Lang's "M".

Also, the sets are fantastic. They show the "lower" quarters of Paris as both a fantastic place and a realist place. It gives the movie a very nice touch.

But the story isn't that fantastic. It's a simplistic plot about a man falling in love. He's getting arrested. In the meantime, his best friend falls in love with his girl. I think Clair wasn't out to write something terribly new but used this simple, yet lovely story to carry his technical idea about sound (he was at that time still a strong defender of the silent cinema). Also, he wanted to show the "other" life in Paris, the low life. And he succeeds quite well at that.

All that said, however, I have to add that this isn't my kind of film. I appreciate its virtuoso style for its time, I even might consider it a classic to some extend because it led the way for a generation of film makers - but personally, it doesn't do much for me. I watch it sort of emotionless. Overall, I'd give it a very personal

6/10