Israeli Early Cinema

Silent Film Comedies of Rene Clair

René Clair’s (much embattled but ever resilient) reputation as one of the supreme stylists of screen comedy still rests essentially on the quartet of populist films he made in a breathtaking élan of creativity between 1930 and 1933. These comedies – Sous les toits de Paris, Le Million, À nous la liberté and (the lesser known) 14 juillet – vindicated the art of European sound film, released the early talkies from the artless yoke of canned theatre, and placed Clair in the elite of world-rank directors.