SCFZ poll: Rene Clair

[flip]

i've seen 2 by weber

edit - i'd bet parrott has a better chance of working than weber, but we have three days (or longer, it doesn't matter much) to see if either is a workable choice, so maybe in a day or two we can re-evaluate

[...]

I've seen well over ten Parrotts

[Roscoe]

If neither Weber or Parrott, how about William Dieterle and/or Edward Dmytryk?

[...]

I've got 10+ for both Dieterle and Dmytryk if needed

[flip]

i've seen 11 dmytryk, so he'll work for sure, but i'm pretty optimistic about parrott now, let's see what other feedback comes in

[Holymanm]

i would like to say i parrott that selection, but i don't know who that is and i haven't seen any movies by him

[Lencho of the Apes]

4 Weber, 3 Dmytryk, 7 Dieterle.

[flip]

ok i'll be happy to go forward with dieterle too, but if we have one more person who has seen 7+ parrott films, he'll work

[Umbugbene]

0 Weber
1 Parrott
8 Dmytryk
19 Dieterle

[oscarwerner]

Oh, sorry . Long time i haven`t read the news here.
I have 11 of E.Dmytryk. Would like to rate him one day. Strange-i have only 2 W.Dieterle . I saw very many of James Parrott. Especially his short films. Much more then 10.

[flip]

great, thanks oscar! that means a parrott poll works for sure, so unless roscoe wants to switch to dmytryk or dieterle (who also work), i'll start up a parrott poll on friday

(and if anyone nominates dieterle or dymytryk in future, pls remind me we confirmed they have enough views)

[Roscoe]

Let There Be Parrott.

[john ryan]

seen 12 clair

1. Entr'acte
2. Le Million
3. I Married a Witch
4. It Happened Tomorrow
5. The Crazy Ray

[...]

The Italian Straw Hat
À Nous la Liberté
Le Million
Under the Roofs of Paris

Seen 9

Interestingly, perhaps, I was just reading a collection of articles from the leftist New Theatre and Film magazine from 1934-1937 and it had their take on Clair from the time. The critic argued Clair wasn't progressive enough, which is fine, but also went after his use of sound in À Nous la Liberté and Under the Roofs of Paris, which is somewhat more surprising from today's standpoint, but shows his technique wasn't necessarily well appreciated even by fairly good critics back in the day.

[MrCarmady]

And Then There Were None isn't the best of adaptations, from what I remember of the novel it's much darker and more nihilistic, but in its own right, as a hammy, suspenseful murder mystery, it works very well. Shame it kills off the most entertaining character first, though.

flip, do you mind keeping this open over the weekend? I'm on a bit of a roll here, watched 4 of his and wanna continue with the early French talkies.

[flip]

sure, no problem, just let me know when you're ready

[Roscoe]

And Then There Were None isn't the best of adaptations, from what I remember of the novel it's much darker and more nihilistic, but in its own right, as a hammy, suspenseful murder mystery, it works very well.

Yeah, the novel is a lot grimmer, of course. Clair's picture is a murder romp, almost a precursor of KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS. Some tasty touches, though, like that ball of yarn that unwinds in one scene. But I much prefer it to the other filmed versions, mainly because of that magnificent cast. There was a TV adaptation done a few years back that got the novel's grimmer tone down and didn't change out the ending, well worth checking out.

[MrCarmady]

Sounds good, the Soviet version also looks quite alluring and bleak.

[MrCarmady]

A Nous La Liberte is certainly going on my list, it's funny, ruthless in its condemnation of capitalist drudgery, and has one of the most enjoyable portrayals of friendship that I've seen in a long time. Kudos on how it handles the romantic angle as well, really sticks the landing.

[flip]

fairly sure the winner is a bit of a surprise? it's not even among clair's top five when i look at his director page on letterboxd, and rank his work by popularity. interesting poll, nine different films got first-place votes, which i think is unusual for a poll where only sixteen films in total got any support:

and mrcarmady, if i posted the results prematurely and you're still watching clair films, i'll be happy to adjust the tally if you want to update your ballot

results
1. Under the Roofs of Paris (1930) — 23 pts
2. Entr’acte (1924) — 22 pts
3. A Nous la Liberte (1931) — 17 pts
3. I Married a Witch (1942) — 17 pts
5. Le Million (1931) — 13 pts
6. Paris qui Dort (1925) — 12 pts
7. It Happened Tomorrow (1944) — 10 pts
8. The Italian Straw Hat (1928) — 9 pts
9. Quatorze Juillet (1933) — 7 pts
9. Beauties of the Night (1952) — 7 pts
11. Man About Town (1947) — 5 pts
12. Beauty and the Devil (1950) — 4 pts
12. And Then There Were None (1945) — 4 pts
14. The Imaginary Voyage (1925) — 3 pts
15. The Gates of Paris (1957) — 1 pt
15. La Tour (1928) — 1 pt

[---]

I'm more surprised that that's a surprise. I always assumed it was his most celebrated film...blinded by my own love for it I guess

I think this might be the first time that my favourite film won for a director I nominated

Edit: nope Wes Anderson, my baby boy Anthony Asquith, and of course KurT KreN

[flip]

yeah these polls have made me think about how i've developed my impressions of which films are a director's most famous. when i was first getting into film, there was local cinematheque french film series, which, looking back, seems like it was really good (there was a lot of text in the brochure, much of it lauding bresson, and i saw le diable, probablement there). since i'd never heard of anything at that point, i just assumed they were showing famous classics, so for a long time i thought a nous la liberte was clair's best-known film, that la battaile du rail was clement's, that lumiere d'ete was gremillon's, etc. i still don't know in some cases which of those impressions are justified and which are completely out there.

[wba]

I always assumed it was his most celebrated film...

Don't worry, this definitely IS his most celebrated film. By far. After that "Liberty for Us". And then nothing much.

[MrCarmady]

and mrcarmady, if i posted the results prematurely and you're still watching clair films, i'll be happy to adjust the tally if you want to update your ballot

Just caught up with Le million (cute but inferior to A Nous La Liberté in pretty much every way) so have an even 8, if it's not too late to update!

Seen 7.

I Married a Witch
Entr'acte
A Nous La Liberté

I Married a Witch
Entr'acte
A Nous la Liberté
It Happened Tomorrow

[flip]

if it's not too late to update!

not too late, just updated the list - didn't change too much but did break one tie

[flip]

posted to letterbox:

https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... -poll-253/