 |
Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
|
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
|
|
|
 |
|
Louis (Taymond Cordy) & Emile (Henri Marchand) attempt a jailbreak, but
only Louis is successful. Once outside, he soon leaves his life of crime behind
him & starts out as a businessman, & in no time at all he has brought
it to riches as thje leading producer of recordplayers. The working conditions
in hs factory though resemble remarkingly those Louis himself has experienced
in prison. Emile meanwhile becomes enchanted by Jeanne (Rolla France) the
woman who lives across the street from his prison cell (or rather the record
she's playing, & when he (accidently) breaks out of jail too, his first
thought is to get into contact with her ... but her father spoils each &
every of his attempts ... But Emile (again, accidently) finds work
Louis' factory (on the conveyor belt), where Jeanne just happens to work
as well ... but unfortunately the mean foreman (André Michaud) has laid an eye
on her as well, which leads to much chaos, until Emile runs across Louis, his
former cellmate, who at the beginning doesn't want to have anything to do with
Emile anymore & wants to pay him off, until he realizes Emile to be a much
better friend than all his crooked business partners or shallow acquaintances
of the high society (including his unfaithful mistress). Overcome by
friendship for his new old friend, he decides to help him even in matters of
love, persuading Jeanne's father (with money) to allow Jeanne to marry Emile
... but from here on everything goes downhill: While Emile loses Jeanne on
their first date to another man, a gang of crooks show up in Louis' appartment,
wanting to blackmail him for (at least) half his fortune since they have found
out who he is. Out of pure luck, Louis manages to lock them all into his safe,
but by then Emile has caught ethe attention of the police as well, & when
escaping them tries to find a hiding place in Louis' appartment ... & why
not try the safe ... Having only barely escaped both gangsters & the
police, Louis opens his newest, fully automatized factory (that doesn't need
any workers anymore) & as a sign of good will gives it to his workers as a
present, while he somehow manages to make his getaway for good. & while
the workers enjoy their work int he factory that doesn't need them anymore,
Louis & Emile set out into the world as tramps ... This early
sound (slapstick-)satire on industrialism was a very obvious insouiratuion for
Charlie Chaplin's later, much cheesier Modern Times (1936), so much so
that the producers (not René Clair himself though) sued Chaplin for
plagiarism, a trial that was dragged out for over 10 years befroe finally being
settled out of court, with Chalplin being willing to pay up but not to admit
the allegations. A Nous la Liberté itself is a very good-natured, humaine
film (especially considering it is a satire too, that has its great moments,
but time & again seems undecided which way to go, love-story, social
commentary or pure slapstick.
|
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
find À Nous la Liberté at adultvideouniverse.com
