Charming and deceptively breezy for a film that equates capitalism with prison. Rene Clair demonstrates a light touch that makes the toughest medicine go down smoothly. Surely this film was an inspiration for Chaplin's Modern Times.

A sweet, merry musical that is also a savage indictment of industrialism, in which convicts escape into another kind of prison: the modern factory. Made possible by Clair's intelligence, wit and--above all--his light touch. If you like "Modern Times," you'll like this film which is one of Chaplin's major influences.

498

Cute, decent, but every single left-wing cliche is in here, it makes me kind of sick.

#516

Rene Clair attempts to blow our minds, man, by pointing out that factory work is like prison. Maybe this was original in 1931; but it seems obvious and silly now. What I'd like to know is how Emile got to be the director of the company; what happens with his chippy and Mr Slicked-Hair; and was Louis supposed to be a guy who was kicked by a horse at some time.

A great example of how stodgy and dull French movies were before the New Wave turned everything upside down

Pretty much an irritation from start to finish. And those songs were annoying as hell.

# 474

Enjoyable, meaningful and artistic, but the ever shifting tone of the film kept me from fully embracing it.

Charming and inventive, and quite funny though not laugh-out-loud hilarious. The comparison between prison life and the industrial workplace is very amusing. As an early talkie, a lot of the time it plays very much like a silent film, though it does lots of clever things with sound, and contains several key songs. This is the movie that Chaplin ripped off when he made Modern Times (but to be fair, Clair himself is obviously influenced by the tramp).

While I appreciated the clear indebtedness to silent comedy a great deal, as well as the intuitive editing between like objects, the ideas of the film strike as incongruent with reality. A couple of ex-cons escape from prison and go on about the importance of freedom, but freedom without justice simply doesn't ring true to me. I also appreciated the connection between factory and prison, but the film seems to celebrate modern idleness by its end.

"René Clair's scathing parable has lost none of its wit, novelty or social insight."

506

It has some innovations for its time. Clair dares to question socialism, capitalism, and fascism at the same time while stating that 'freedom' is what matters. Overall it lacks a coherent and sensitive execution despite all of its momentary achievements.