Million, Le (1934) review

Not quite as brilliant as I had hoped it would be but still noteworthy - it was one of the first cinematic musicals, and an inspirational picture for Chaplin and the Marx Brothers. My reservation (despite the high grade) comes from slight irritation at how Clair keeps you at an arm's length throughout, perhaps due to his choice of camera angles, or maybe because of the main character and his generally neutral demeanor (had I been him I would have, given his troubles, lost it and stabbed someone - he, on the other hand, only sulks ... a little). A lot of inventiveness was put in here: it's the story of a starving artist who wins the lottery, and needs the money to pay off massive debt but due to an unexpected series of blunders loses the coat he had the lottery ticket in and has to scramble to reclaim it. If you're thinking "musical" in terms of Rogers and Hammerstein, you'll be put off - Clair isn't interested in excessive flamboyancy, and keeps the picture in check the whole way through.