Clair, René

Clair, René (1898-1981), French director and screenwriter of some of the wittiest and most graceful comedies ever made. Born René-Lucien Chomette in Paris, he toyed with journalism after war service, but was drawn to the cinema, starting out as an actor, and making his name as a director with the avant-garde short, Entr'acte (1924). His silent films reveal his penchant for fantasy and irony; although Un Chapeau de Paille d'Italie (1927; An Italian Straw Hat) is not the best example, it became an instant classic. Sous les Toits de Paris (1930; Under the Roofs of Paris), the most inventive sound film made at that time, was the first of four successive masterpieces about love and/or the corrupting powers of money—Le Million (1931), Á Nous la Liberté (1932; Freedom for Us), La Quatorze Juillet (1933; The Fourteenth of July).

The failure of Le Dernier Milliardaire (1934; The Last Millionaire) resulted in his signing a contract with Alexander Korda, but like most of his British and American (from 1941 onward) films, The Ghost Goes West (1935) was overrated. He returned to France for Le Silence d'Or (1947; Silence is Golden), an affectionate homage to the early film-makers, and he served himself equally well with Les Belles-de-Nuit (1952; Night Beauties) and Porte des Lilas (1957; Gates of Paris), but of his later work only the bittersweet, elegant, and delicately Eastman-Colored Les Grandes Manoeuvres (1956; Summer Manoeuvres) enchants in the way that is uniquely Clair.