Le Million (1931)

Directed by René Clair. With Annabella, René Lefèvre, Jean-Louis Allibert, Paul Ollivier. An impoverished painter and his rival engage in a race across Paris to recover a jacket concealing a winning lottery ticket.

Le Million is a 1931 French musical comedy film directed by René Clair.The story was adapted by Clair from a play by Georges Berr and Marcel Guillemand.

René Lefèvre and Annabella are sheer delights, as is everything else in Le Million, René Clair's bright and winning early sound comedy. Clair has his actors sing their dialogue in a blithe and breezy way and utilizes a succession of surrealistic and Dadaesque touches to chronicle this lighthearted extended chase, concerning an artist racing through the streets of Paris (an amazing studio set constructed by Lazare Meerson) in order to retrieve a winning lottery ticket left in the pocket of a discarded jacket. Many of Clair's comic embellishments (like the dubbed-in sound effects of a football game over a portion of the chase) have been used endlessly in comedies ever since, but in Clair's hands, the old jokes still look fresh and magical. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

An impoverished artist discovers he has purchased a winning lottery ticket at the very moment his creditors come to collect. The only problem is, the ticket is in the pocket of his coat. . . which he left at his girlfriend’s apartment. . . who gave the coat to a man hiding from t

Debt-ridden painter Michel is overcome with joy at discovering that he has just won 1 million florins in the Dutch lottery, but almost immediately, he discovers that his softhearted girlfriend, Béatrice, has given away his jacket containing the winning ticket to an elderly petty thief. Soon Michel, Beatrice and Michel's artistic rival, Prosper, are hurtling through the streets of Paris on the trail of the missing jacket.

Shiftless artist Michel (Rene Lefebvre), ambushed by creditors at his apartment, takes refuge with irked girlfriend Beatrice (Annabella), when the cops arrive chasing Grandpa Tulip (Paul Olivier), in Rene Clair's Le Million, 1931.

Le Million (AKA: The Million) - 1931 Director - Rene Clair Starring - Jean-Louis Allibert, Annabella, Raymond Cordy and Rene Lefevre Recently there has been a resurgence of interest in the musical genre.  Films like Chicago, Moulin Rouge, and most recently Nine have been reminding people that, at one point in filmic history, the musical was king. …

The lively Parisian district of Les Halles impressed upon young Rene Clair a picturesque image of Paris he would equally impress upon celluloid. Equipped with a degree in philosophy and the horrors of the front line of World War I, Clair harboured an disparate understanding of man’s capabilities. The far left of proud found thought…