Freedom to us!

After the success of the comedy Million ( 1931 ), Rene Claire begins filming the film “Freedom to Us!”. Assistant Rene Claire in Albert Valentin recalled that every day going to the movie studio in Épinay-sur-Seine , where he mounted the Million, Claire walked through a large wasteland, where he once saw a tramp who lounged against industrial buildings. These two visual images became the key for the future scenario. “It was a time,” said Rene Clair, “when I was very close to the extreme left and tried to fight mechanization in those cases when it meant slavery for man ...”

Composer George Orik was obliged by contract to be constantly in the studio during the filming, which allowed him to study the process of filmmaking and making music for the movie: “... I am very grateful to Rena Claire that he demanded my presence on the set, which might seem unusual, but for me it was full of lively interest. " Rene Claire later admits that he was mistaken in thinking that characters speaking the language of the song would better convey to the viewer the satirical meaning of the picture.

Louis and Emil are cellmates in prison. They work on a conveyor for the production of wooden horses. Once they try to escape, but only Louis managed to get out of prison.

In freedom, Louis goes from a record dealer to the owner of a phonograph company, which is not much different from a prison.

Emil is released, but again arrested for vagrancy. He manages to escape. He falls in love with Jeanne, who works at the Louis factory. Emil follows her and begins to work on the conveyor belt, where she arranges a mess. He is being led to Louis.

Louis does not recognize him at first and tries to pay off, but then invites him to his house for dinner, where Emil scares away all the guests. Louis leaves his wife.

The next day, Louis tries to help Emil in love with his relationship with Jeanne, but she is in love with another and Emil abandons his plans.

Louis is being blackmailed, threatening to report to the police his past.

When opening a new factory that Louis gave to the workers, the police try to seize him, but he manages to escape.

In the finals, Louis and Emil roam the roads.

• Henri Marchand ( Fr. Henri Marchand ) - Emil
• Raymond Cordy ( Fr. Raymond Cordy ) - Louis
• Rolla France ( French Rolla France ) - Jeanne
• Paul Olivier ( Fr. Paul Ollivier ) - Paul Imac, Uncle Jeanne
• Jacques Shelly - Paul
• Andre Michaud ( fr. André Michaud ) - dispatcher
• Germaine Aussey ( FR. Germaine Aussey ) - Mod, lover Louis
• Alexander d'Arcy ( French: Alexandre d'Arcy ) - Gigolo
• William Burke ( fr. William Burke ) - the leader of the bandits
• Vincent Hyspa ( French: Vincent Hyspa ) - speaker
• Leon Lorin ( fr. Léon Lorin ) - a fussy official

• Venice Film Festival - Most Amusing Film
• Kinema Junpo Awards - Best Foreign Language Film
• Oscar nomination - Lazar Meerson in the category Best Artist

• The Tobis film company, which owns the freedom “Freedom to Us!”, ​​Has sued Charlie Chaplin , accusing him of plagiarism in the film “ New Times ” (in particular, the scenes on the conveyor). Rene Claire refused to participate in the prosecution and wrote that he would be happy if Charlie Chaplin, whom Rene really respected, was inspired by his film ^[1] . The case was resolved without trial after World War II . Similar scenes on the conveyor were also in the Soviet films “The Conveyor of Death” of 1933 and also “The Death of the Sensation” of 1935 (a free adaptation of the play by Karel Chapek “RUR” of 1920 ).

• Woody Allen, noting the influence that European comedies had on him, noted in an interview that: “I was really amazed when I first watched“ Freedom to Us! ”. The film seemed absolutely wonderful to me ” ^[2] .

• Braginsky A. Rene Claire. M .: "Art", 1963.

• Liam O'Leary. À nous la liberté // International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers / under. Ed Tom Pendergast, Sara Pendergast. - 4th. - USA: St. James Press, 2000. - T. 1. - S. 4. - ISBN 1-55862-449-X .

1. ↑ Rene Claire classic French cinema - Bozovic V. (neopr.) . history-library.com. Date of treatment June 26, 2017.
2. ↑ "Interview: Conversations with Stig Bjorkman," Allen Woody (Neopr.) . www.rulit.me. Date of treatment June 26, 2017.