Film Forum

France, 1934
Directed by René Clair
With Max Dearly, Marthe Mellot, Renée Saint-Cyr
Music by Maurice Jaubert
Approx. 90 min. DCP restoration.

“Clair invents the microscopic kingdom of Casinario, which has run out of money and is on the brink of revolution as a result of the lean depression years. Using a handsome princess for bait, the queen and her obedient Parliament lure the world's richest banker to Casinario. To their vast chagrin he wins the allegiance of the unhappy populace and imposes a dictatorship on the kingdom. The members of Parliament were pretty abject yes-men under the iron rule of the queen, but they become comic robots when the financier takes charge. Mr. Clair is in his finest satirical vein when he is describing the extravagant rules of conduct which the dictator imposes on the country. During an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate him, he receives a blow on the skull which affects his brain and causes him to fall into a second childhood. Gravely the puppet government and the citizenry submit to his absurd edicts, convinced that he is a political genius. One of the most successful sequences consists of a newsreel which pictures the Casinarians complying with the new discipline, while the announcer solemnly explains the economic theory behind the laws. Chairs are banned, and so are hats and cravats. The citizens are obliged to participate in mass calisthenic exercises, during which they run for hours around the public square. Conversation of every kind is forbidden, bearded men must wear short trousers in public, and objectors are clapped into prison… a witty political satire which applies the barbed slapstick to royalty and to the modern Fascist State with equal irreverence.” – Andre Sennwald, The New York Times (1935)

Reviews

“Dizzying and hilarious.”
 – National Board of Review Magazine