I found out about this French film because it was in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, it sounded like it could be good from the description, so I looked forward to it, directed by René Clair (À Nous la Liberté). Basically, in Paris, Michel Bouflette (René Lefèvre) is a debt-ridden artist with various debts from hounding creditors. To make matters worse, he has upset his fiancée Béatrice (Annabella) after she witnessed him embracing a woman whose portrait he was painting. Michel discovers that his luck may be about to change when he discovers that he has won a lottery worth a million Dutch florins. However, his winning ticket is in the pocket of his jacket, which Béatrice has given away to a stranger supposedly in need. When news of this spreads, everyone becomes interested in finding this jacket, including a criminal nicknamed "Grandpa Tulip" Crochard (Paul Ollivier). Michel tracks down the jacket to an opera theatre where a tenor is performing "Les Bohémiens". After a short stint in jail, Michel makes it to the theatre, but ends up in a madcap chase with Béatrice as they try to regain the ticket. The jacket ends up flying out of a window onto the roof of a taxi, Michel chases after it in another taxi. The chase eventually stops, but when Michel retrieves the jacket, his search for the ticket is thwarted by associates of Grandpa Tulip who force him to hand it over. Feeling dejected, he returns to his apartment to find his creditors in good spirits, as they think that they will be repaid. Before Michel is about to tell them the bad news, Tulip enters the apartment with a jacket. Thinking that this is his original jacket, Michel searches the pockets. Finding them empty, he tells Tulip that he actually wanted a ticket in the pocket, which Tulip subsequently produces, having taken it out of the jacket before giving it away. He is overjoyed to have it back again, as is Béatrice and many people who enter, and they all celebrate Michel's newfound fortune. Also starring Jean-Louis Allibert as Prosper and Constantin Siroesco as Ambrosio Sopranelli. It is a fairly simple story of chase across Paris to get back a winning jackpot ticket, it has some amusing moments, stylish camerawork and cinematography, and catchy music and tunes, it is a charming enough musical comedy. Good!
Review of Le Million
