By chance, I've had the opportunity to watch a lot of old musicals. This is the first to be from the early 1930s (1931) and to be not American (French, clearly).I was mesmerized. A fantastic story, beautifully executed with great music and performances. I daresay I was delighted.
It's not every day that you find a film in which you kind of like everyone, all the characters. It has a certain kind of 1930s hipness to it.
It's French. It's about artists and culture. It's about love. Most importantly, it's got an antiestablishment strain in it also -- a group of kindly criminals which serve to give "the man" a what for every chance that they can behind the brilliant leadership of Grandpa Tulip.
The film was highly influential and you can see its reach in American musicals, American comedies (Chaplin, et al.) and the next 50 years of French cinema. At the time, French filmmakers weren't doing anything truly inspiring until Rene Clair. Once he popped, everything started to go one direction.
One of the biggest influences is with Love Me Tonight, an American film set in France with a ton of the same qualities from the music to the physical comedy and acting and the likability of the characters.
Le Million also managed to do what even many films today fail to do: Create a breathtaking piece of art for a movie poster.
You make a good movie poster and chances are I'm seeing your film. Bottomline.
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