Film Forum

PARIS QUI DORT (THE CRAZY RAY)
France, 1924
Directed by René Clair
With Henri Rollan, Albert Préjean, Marcel Vallée
Approx. 60 min. 4K DCP restoration.

Eiffel Tower nightwatchman Henri Rollan descends to the streets one morning to discover the city frozen in time by a mad scientist: a taxi driver is caught mid-gear shift; a gendarme has dozed off with his hand outstretched to nab a pickpocket; a person on the brink of suicide is frozen in a dive toward the Seine. “The film doesn’t answer the question of whether life is more worthwhile on “pause” or on “play” — it’s more interested in examining what happens to a city when its throngs of people are eliminated from the equation. Clair experiments with documentary footage of Paris’ busiest intersections, from the Champs Elysées to the Place du Châtelet, with still images suddenly bursting to life, then freezing mid-frame as the ray works its magic. It’s almost as if Clair, a first-time filmmaker working in the early stages of the medium, is having as much fun turning the world on and off as the mad scientist himself.” – Susanna Gruder, Screen Slate


Entr'acte
France, 1924
Directed by René Clair
With Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Jean Börlin
Music by Erik Satie
Approx. 24 min. 4K DCP restoration. 

An homage to such early masters of screen comedy as Méliès, the Lumières, and Ferdinand Zecca. Full of visual trickery, chases and magic, and featuring avant-garde luminaries Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Georges Auric, Picabia, and Erik Satie.“In everything that makes it preposterous and explosive, charming and light, Entr'acte remains the French masterpiece of pure cinema.” – Roger Régent