1968: The Producers

In order to defraud investors, a Broadway producer and his accountant devise a scheme to produce a flop. They think they've found the right script when they come across Springtime for Hitler, but of course it turns out to be a huge success. - Much too slapsticky for my taste, but even so, the tightly scripted movie provides reasonably good entertainment. (6.5)

1930: Sous les toits de Paris (Under the Roofs of Paris)

Clair's partially sound/partially silent romance wields lots of Old Paris charm (despite being obviously filmed in the studio), but it has extremely little plot for a ninety minute film and is accordingly slow. Not nearly as good as Le Million. (6)

1959: Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus) (Restored 107 min.s Version)

Though I realize it is set during Carnival, I still have a feeling that Rio in the late 1950s may not have been the magical place where everyone is always happy (except when throwing a mighty funk on jealousy grounds) and the samba is always playing (except when the bossa is playing). But who cares, it's not a documentary. As for the plot, Orfeu is set to marry Mina - but then Bambi-eyed Eurydice arrives from the countryside. O&E are soon getting it on, but Eurydice is being followed by someone who is either a bloke dressed up as death or Dr. D himself. Never mind the plot, though; the main actor here is the magical Rio described above, filmed in glorious Eastmancolor. (8)

1931: Le Million

Michel, a poor painter, has won a million in the lottery, but to collect his winnings, he needs the ticket, which is in his jacket, which his financé gives to a man who is fleeing from the police, who sells it to an opeara singer, and so on and so forth: Soon, it seems, tout Paris is chasing the jacket, and director René Clair makes this comic musical a charming little film not dissimilar to the best-know Marx Brothers movies. It starts with a great tracking shot over the roofs of Paris, which are obviously models and look all the better for it, and Le Million is a genuinely early sound film in that Clair, much like Fritz Lang in M, leaves the dialogue unheard when he doesn't need it and seems more conscious of the way sound can be used to great effect than the directors of most contemporary films. Somewhat famous is the fade-in of the roar of a sports stadium crowd when a variety of men fights over the jacket in a rugby-like manner; and when Michel's friend Prosper hears his conscience, it is a whole choir singing to him from the off. Is there a social psychological theory in there? I say yes. (7.5)

Link: Matthew Dessem's essay on the film. Contains lots of spoilers, but they don't really spoil. It's not exactly a mystery, you know.

1930: Der blaue Engel (The Blue Angel)

The film that made Marlene Dietrich Marlene Dietrich and chronicles the downfall of a well-respected man who falls in love with a disreputable woman suffers somewhat from the usual technical shortcomings of the day, including an uncinematic overall visual style as well as the fact that leading man Emil Jannings overplays his tragic role. (5.5)

1974: Phantom of the Paradise

If you think Tommy was an over-the-top 1970s pop opera, I'd like to refer you to Brian de Palma's glamrock take on The Phantom of the Opera (with a bit of Faust thrown in for good measure), in which a young songwriter has his material robbed by an evil producer, is thrown into not just any prison, but - wait for it! - Sing Sing, tries revenge, in the process of which his face get mutilated by a vinyl press, so that he takes to wearing a silver mask, which goes nicely with his metal teeth (don't ask), before things start to get whacky. The film, which may have been influenced by the consumption of cocaine, would have been even better if, as I had anticipated, at one point giant, winged penises would have flown onto the screen. Maybe in a director's cut. (7.5)

1961: Une femme est une femme (A Woman Is a Woman)

If A bout de souffle was Godard's take on American gangster films, maybe Une femme est une femme may be seen as his version of lighthearted musicals in the style of An American in Paris. Loosely plotted, it deals with a woman who knows she wants a child but not from which of two men (who, naturally, are good friends - remember, this is a French film). Though it's clearly too much in love with its own quirkiness, it's a good movie overall because it's visually attractive (Early 1960s Paris! Technicolor! Competent individuals in charge!) and because some of its quirkiness is rather lovely - two of the comic scenes, combined running time about four seconds, are almost unforgettably super. (7)

1948: The Red Shoes

As young ballet dancer Vicky makes a brilliant carreer for herself, she attracts the interest of both ballet company director Lermontov and composer Julian. Conflict ahead! - Really, the melodramatic story of this film isn't much to speak of; the movie thrives, however, on the cinematography by Jack Cardiff, using three-strip technicolor and making this one of the best-looking colour films in the history of cinema. (If you don't want to take my word for it, take Martin Scorcese's word for it.) And the dance scene in the middle belongs in the museum of great movie sequences. I'm saying that as someone who usually has no time whatsoever for ballet. (8)