One of Renoir's most completely delightful movies.
The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1935)
Runtime: 90 mins
Synopsis: While Jean Renoir is too much of an artist to descend to outright agitprop, his sympathy with the left is strongly in evidence in this film, made during the heyday of the Popular Front government. It stars Rene Lefevre as Amedee Lange, a minor employee in a small publishing company. In his spare... While Jean Renoir is too much of an artist to descend to outright agitprop, his sympathy with the left is strongly in evidence in this film, made during the heyday of the Popular Front government. It stars Rene Lefevre as Amedee Lange, a minor employee in a small publishing company. In his spare time Lange concocts the ongoing adventures of a cowboy hero, Arizona Jim. His treacherous boss, Batala (Jules Berry), desperate to save his floundering company, is constantly trying to evade creditors and finally disappears with the firm's remaining capital. Shortly after, they hear of Batala's death in a train accident. Lange, with the help of an enlightened playboy, turns the company into a collective that becomes hugely successful publishing the Arizona Jim stories, and they augment their good fortune with a series of Arizona Jim films. Suddenly Batala reappears, disguised as a priest, and wants to resume control of his booming company. How will Lange handle this unpleasant turn of events? Despite the inclusion of farcical elements, this is a lovely, bittersweet film on the elusiveness of ideals. [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Rene Lefevre, Jules Berry, Sylvia Bataille
Reviews
Fast, funny and loaded with charm, this is an unashamedly politically motivated film executed with all Renoir's trademark style.
Underrated musical that is defiantly political but in a surprisingly intimate and character-driven way.
The film has some memorable characterizations and depicts adult situations with a much greater frankness than Hollywood was allowed at the time. Despite its clear moral exploration, however, the 78-minute running time is too brief for the film to become m
It spins a loose and nondescript story, which ranges uncertainly between romantic comedy and solemn melodrama, about a publishing enterprise in which an author of cheap French Western fiction is the pivotal element.
Jacques Prevert's screenplay has wit and economy, but it is the multiplicity of points of view implied in Renoir's fluid direction that lifts the film from propaganda to art.
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