가장 프랑스적인 감독으로 꼽히는 르네 클레르(René Clair, 1898-1981)의 영화제가 3월 21일부터 4월 3일까지 맨해튼 필름 포럼(Film Forum, 209 West Houston St.)에서 열린다.

파리 레잘(Les Halles)에서 태어난 르네 클레르는 기자, 배우, 조감독으로 잠시 활동한 후 1924년 무성영화 '막간(Entr'acte)'으로 감독 데뷔했다. '막간'은 화가 마르셸 뒤샹, 만 레이, 프란시스 피카비아가 출연하고, 에릭 사티가 음악을 맡은 다다이스트, 초현실주의 작품이었다. 이후 '파리의 지붕 밑(Sous les toits de Paris, 1930)'과 채플린의 '모던 타임스'에 영감을 준 공장 장면이 등장하는 '우리에게 자유를(À nous la liberté, 1932)' 등을 연출했다. 

https://filmforum.org

 

 

RENÉ CLAIR

 

 MARCH 21 – APRIL 3 (TWO WEEKS) AT FILM FORUM

 

“A REAL MASTER… He invented his own Paris, which is better than recording it.”

— Orson Welles

 

 

OVER 20 SILENT AND SOUND FILMS BY THE PIONEERING DIRECTOR OF MUSICALS AND COMEDIES, OFTEN CALLED “THE MOST FRENCH OF ALL FILMMAKERS”

 

U.S. Premieres of New Restorations, including THE ITALIAN STRAW HAT, UNDER THE ROOFS OF PARIS, LE MILLION, À NOUS LA LIBERTÉ, and more

 

Silent films feature live piano accompaniment by STEVE STERNER

 

 

RENÉ CLAIR, a two-week festival of rarely-seen comedies, musicals and fantasy films by one of the cinema’s greatest innovators, will run at Film Forum from Friday, March 21 to Thursday, April 3.  The festival includes new restorations of Clair’s silent and early sound masterworks, the latter including the screen’s first truly cinematic musicals. Silent films in the festival feature live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner.

 

After short stints as a journalist, actor and assistant director, René Clair (1898-1981) made his filmmaking debut with the Dadaist short ENTR'ACTE (1924), with music by Erik Satie and a cast including Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray. He made his feature debut in 1924 with the surrealist science fiction PARIS QUI DORT (aka THE CRAZY RAY), in which a mad scientist paralyzes the French capital with a ray gun.  It would be the first of many fantasy films the director would create over five decades. 

 

He next made a series of fantasies including VOYAGE IMAGINAIRE (1925), LE FANTÔME DU MOULIN ROUGE (1926), and TWO TIMID SOULS (1928), then established his international reputation with the more conventional THE ITALIAN STRAW HAT (1928), an updating of a 19th century Boulevard comedy. 

 

Clair was recognized for his innovative use of sound in the early 1930's with his two enchanting comedies UNDER THE ROOFS OF PARIS (1930) and LE MILLION (1931).  He followed these with the film considered his masterpiece, À NOUS LA LIBERTÉ (1932), a musical (music by Georges Auric) about a tramp who becomes a captain of industry. Its factory scenes were said to inspire Chaplin’s MODERN TIMES.

 

Though often called “the most French of all directors,” Clair would go to Britain to make both THE GHOST GOES WEST (1936), starring Robert Donat, and BREAK THE NEWS (1938), starring Jack Buchanan and Maurice Chevalier.  During the war, he went to Hollywood to make I MARRIED A WITCH (1942), a screwball fantasy starring Veronica Lake and Fredric March (inspiration for the TV series Bewitched), IT HAPPENED TOMORROW (1944), with Dick Powell, and AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (1945), with Walter Huston, Barry Fitzgerald, and Judith Anderson, one of the best Agatha Christie adaptations ever made.

 

Following the war, he returned to France to make LE SILENCE EST D’OR (1947), with Maurice Chevalier, followed by LA BEAUTÉ DU DIABLE (1950), with Gérard Philipe and Michel Simon, LES BELLES DE NUIT (1952), with Philipe, Martine Carole, and Gina Lollobrigida, LES GRANDES MANOEUVRES (1955), with Philippe and Brigitte Bardot, and PORTE DES LILAS (1957), with Pierre Brasseur. 

 

Says Bruce Goldstein, Film Forum’s Repertory Artistic Director, “I first wanted to do a Clair series in the early 90s, but it was impossible to do then, because of a lack of prints and rights issues. After 35 years, we’re finally able to do a comprehensive festival thanks to the new restorations now available.” 

 

Films in the series have been provided by Janus Films (distributor of most of the new restorations), La Cinémathèque Française, Institut Français, Library of Congress, UCLA Film & Television Archive, TF1, Gaumont, and Pathé. 

 

Presented with support from The George Fasel Memorial Fund for Classic French Cinema.

 

"I am never so grateful to a creator than when he has succeeded in making me laugh. To laugh is to dream, to laugh is to be free, to laugh is to take revenge, to laugh is to possess everything we lack in reality." 

— Rene Clair

 

"Clair's artistic vision is one of the most affirmative the screen has ever known. A Clair film can give the spectator a sense of joy, for Clair believes in love, in the ability and desire of a friend to help a friend, and in the essential goodness of humanity." 

— Celia McGerr 

 

 

LE MILLION 

France, 1931 

Directed by René Clair

With Annabella, René Lefèvre, Jean-Louis Allibert

Approx. 81 min. New 4K restoration.

 

Friday, March 21 at 12:15 and 6:10

Saturday, March 22 at 2:40

Sunday, March 23 at 7:20

Monday, March 24 at 2:30

Tuesday, March 25 at 4:40

Tuesday, April 1 at 2:20

Thursday, April 3 at 8:30

 

BASTILLE DAY 

France, 1933 

Directed by René Clair

With Annabella, George Rigaud, Raymond Cordy 

Music by Maurice Jaubert

Approx. 92 min. New 4K restoration.

 

Friday, March 21 at 2:00

Sunday, March 22 at 5:40

Monday, March 24 at 4:20

Wednesday, April 2 at 12:20

Thursday, April 3 at 6:30

 

À NOUS LA LIBERTÉ

France, 1931

Directed by René Clair 

With Henri Marchand, Raymond Cordy, Rolla France 

Music by Georges Auric

Approx. 84 min. New 4K restoration.

 

Friday, March 21 at 4:00

Saturday, March 22 at 3:30

Sunday, March 23 at 1:10

Monday, March 24 at 8:20

Tuesday, March 25 at 12:20

Tuesday, April 1 at 4:10

Thursday, April 3 at 2:30

 

UNDER THE ROOFS OF PARIS 

France, 1930 

Directed by René Clair 

With Albert Préjean, Pola Illéry

Approx. 93 min. New 4K restoration.

 

Friday, March 21 at 8:00

Saturday, March 22 at 12:30

Sunday, March 23 at 5:10

Monday, March 24 at 12:30

Tuesday, March 25 at 2:30

Tuesday, April 1 at 12:20

Wednesday, April 2 at 8:30

 

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE 

U.S., 1945 

Directed by René Clair 

With Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Louis Hayward 

Based on the novel by Agatha Christie 

Approx. 97 min. 16mm print courtesy the UCLA Film & Television Archive (April 1st screening only).

 

Saturday, March 22 at 7:40

Sunday, March 30 at 8:45

Monday, March 31 at 12:15

Tuesday, April 1 at 8:20 (16mm) 

Wednesday, April 2 at 2:10

 

PARIS QUI DORT (THE CRAZY RAY)

France, 1924 

Directed by René Clair 

With Henri Rollan, Albert Préjean, Marcel Vallée 

Approx. 59 min. DCP.

 

– and – 

 

ENTR’ACTE

France, 1924

Directed by René Clair 

With Jean Börlin, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray 

Music by Erik Satie

Approx. 24 min. DCP.

 

Sunday, March 23 at 3:20

♪ Live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner

 

THE PHANTOM OF THE MOULIN ROUGE

France, 1925 

Directed by René Clair 

With Georges Vaultier, Sandra Milovanoff, Paul Ollivier 

Approx. 90 min. DCP.

 

Monday, March 24 at 6:20

♪ Live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner

 

LE VOYAGE IMAGINAIRE 

France, 1926 

Directed by René Clair 

With Dolly Davis, Jean Börlin, Albert Préjean

Approx. 80 min. DCP restoration courtesy La Cinémathèque Française.

 

Tuesday, March 25 at 6:30

♪ Live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner

 

LE DERNIER MILLIARDAIRE

France, 1934 

Directed by René Clair 

With Max Dearly, Marthe Mellot, René Saint-Cyr 

Music by Maurice Jaubert

Approx. 90 min. DCP restoration.

 

Tuesday, March 25 at 8:20

Wednesday, April 2 at 6:30

 

TWO TIMID SOULS 

France, 1928 

Directed by René Clair 

With Pierre Batcheff, Jim Gérald, Véra Flory

Approx. 77 min. DCP restoration.

 

Thursday, March 27 at 6:00 

♪ Live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner

 

THE FLAME OF NEW ORLEANS 

U.S., 1941 

Directed by René Clair 

With Marlene Dietrich, Bruce Cabot, Roland Young, Mischa Auer

Approx. 79 min. 35mm.

 

Wednesday, March 26 at 12:30

Thursday, March 27 at 7:50

Friday, March 28 at 12:30

Saturday, March 29 at 8:20

Monday, March 31 at 4:00

 

I MARRIED A WITCH 

U.S., 1942

Directed by René Clair 

With Fredric March, Veronica Lake, Robert Benchley 

Based on The Passionate Witch by Thorne Smith, Norman H. Matson 

Approx. 77 min. 35mm print courtesy the Library of Congress.

 

Wednesday, March 26 at 2:20

Friday, March 28 at 4:20

Saturday, March 29 at 6:30

 

THE GHOST GOES WEST 

U.K., 1935 

Directed by René Clair 

With Robert Donat, Jean Parker, Eugene Pallette 

Cinematography by Harold Rosson 

Based on Sir Tristram Goes West by Eric Keown 

Approx. 95 min. 35mm print courtesy the British Film Institute.

 

Wednesday, March 26 at 4:10

Friday, March 28 at 2:20

Sunday, March 30 at 2:30

 

LES BELLES DE NUIT 

France, Italy, 1952 

Directed by René Clair 

With Gérard Philipe, Martine Carol, Gina Lollobrigida 

Written by René Clair, Pierre Barillet, Jean-Pierre Gredy 

Approx. 87 min. New 4K restoration courtesy Gaumont.

 

Wednesday, March 26 at 6:10

 

LES GRANDES MANOEUVRES 

France, 1955 

Directed by René Clair

With Michèle Morgan, Gérard Philipe

Approx. 106 min. New 4K Restoration.

 

Wednesday, March 26 at 8:10

Thursday, March 27 at 1:00

Wednesday, April 2 at 4:20

Thursday, April 3 at 12:15

 

PORTE DES LILAS 

France, Italy, 1957 

Directed by René Clair 

With Pierre Brasseur, Georges Brassens, Henri Vidal 

Based on La Grande ceinture by René Fallet 

Approx. 106 min. DCP restoration.

 

Thursday, March 27 at 3:15

Monday, March 31 at 8:00

 

LA BEAUTÉ DU DIABLE 

France, Italy, 1950 

Directed by René Clair 

With Michel Simon, Gérard Philipe

Adapted from Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 

Approx. 95 min. DCP restoration.

 

Friday, March 28 at 6:10

Saturday, March 29 at 12:30

Thursday, April 3 at 4:30

 

LE SILENCE EST D’OR 

France, U.S., 1947 

Directed by René Clair 

With Maurice Chevalier, François Périer, Marcelle Derrien 

Approx. 100 min. 35mm print courtesy of the Institut Français, thanks to Villa Albertine.

 

Friday, March 28 at 8:10

Saturday, March 29 at 4:20

 

BREAK THE NEWS 

U.K., 1938 

Directed by René Clair 

With Jack Buchanan, Maurice Chevalier, June Knight 

Approx. 78 min. 35mm print courtesy the British Film Institute.

 

Saturday, March 29 at 2:30

Sunday, March 30 at 12:50

Monday, March 31 at 2:15

 

THE ITALIAN STRAW HAT 

France, 1928 

Directed by René Clair 

With Albert Préjean, Olga Chekhova

Based on The Italian Straw Hat by Eugène Labiche, Marc-Michel 

Approx. 113 min. New 4K restoration.

 

Sunday, March 30 at 4:30 

♪ Live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner

 

IT HAPPENED TOMORROW 

U.S., 1944 

Directed by René Clair 

With Dick Powell, Linda Darnell, Jack Oakie 

Approx. 85 min. 35mm print courtesy the Library of Congress.

 

Sunday, March 30 at 6:50

 

THE PREY OF THE WIND 

France, 1927 

Directed by René Clair 

With Charles Vanel, Sandra Milovanoff, Lillian Hall-Davis

Approx. 90 min. Restored DCP courtesy La Cinémathèque Française.

 

– and – 

 

LA TOUR

France, 1928 

Directed by René Clair 

Approx. 14 min. 35mm print courtesy of the Institut Français, thanks to Villa Albertine.

 

Monday, March 31 at 5:50 

♪ Live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner

 

TOUT L’OR DU MONDE 

France, Italy, 1961 

Directed by René Clair 

With Bourvil, Alfred Adam, Philippe Noiret 

Written by René Clair, Jean Marsan, Jacques Rémy

Approx. 90 min. Restored DCP.

 

Tuesday, April 1 at 6:20

 

Film Forum

209 W Houston St

New York, NY 10014

https://filmforum.org