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certainly an improvement on the post-synchronizing of alien voices to the lip-movements of characters in the film, inasmuch as it does not destroy the film's fluidity, although it is inclined to detract from the film's physical attractiveness.
However, until the Germans have asked themselves, " Why pursue the policv of speech, when it is sound that is of primary importance?" and do something about it, the problem of the German language film in the United States will still remain a problem.
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FRANCE
It is from France that we have received the first manifestations of the true sound-film ; that which has gone beyond the barrier of language (though employing its native tongue in what dialogue was absolutely necessary to carry the story — this dialogue however, being as indigenous to the film as the sound itself) and made for the widest possible universal appeal as the sound-film is so far capable of. It is to Rene Clair, the creator of Sous Les Toils de Paris, Le Million, and A Nous La Liberie, all of which have been exhibited in America, that the palm which Chaplin alone has carried for so long, is to be awarded.
All three of Clair's films have been successful in America, notably Sous Les Toils de Paris, which ran for about six months in New York, and was revived several times since. It was also a decided success throughout the country in a score or so of little cinema theatres where it was exhibited. Neither Le Million nor A Nous La Liberie approached anywhere near this popularity with American audiences. This may be attributed to the fact that the latter were satires and the former a simple romantic story of love and life in the Montmartre. America has never quite understood nor has been willing to accept satire of the incisive and penetrating sort with which Clair pervaded Le Million and A Nous La Liberie* Therefore it is not difficult to understand why the combination of Clair's very sparing use of dialogue together with his clever and telling use of music and psychological sound effects, coupled with a very simple story which could be applied to any city in the world, struck " home."
Even Clair, however, was a little wary of the effect of a French language film in other countries, and sought to overcome a last possible barrier in Le Million, by inserting at various points in the film, the figures of two comic Englishmen who explained to each other the course of the story. Both critics and spectators decried this as being flabby and unnecessary, and Clair did not use this in his subsequent A Nous La Liberie.
Rene Clair's influence on Hollywood has been probably greater than that of any other European director since Murnau introduced the perambulating camera in The Last Laugh, and Dupont placed his camera at all sorts
* Many will remember Paramount's The Beggar on Horseback as one of the most delightful of satires, as well as one of the most dismal of box-office failures.