Non-English language musicals

[Dewey1960]

ccf said:
Dewey I've just watched Young Girls of Rochefort on quite a small screen but I LOVE IT.

Hey there fan of Charlie Chaplin, I'm just getting around to seeing your post about YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT and I can't tell you how thrilled I am that you enjoyed it. Now I envy you the opportunity of seeing it again, as this is one film that grows more and more wonderful with each viewing. My wife and I are good for at least five or six viewings a year. In fact one of our very first dates was seeing it together on the big screen---it's pretty much remained "our movie" ever since!
You really should go after the soundtrack CD. It's compulsively listen-to-able and I think it's readily available!
Thanks again for posting your thoughts on the film, I really enjoyed reading them!
Best,
Dewey

[charliechaplinfan]

Dewey, I intend to watch it again and again and again. It's very much my kind of movie. I don't think I'll ever get to see it on the big screen or in the company of my husband. He did wander in whilst I was watching it and said 'Doesn't that French bloke look like Gene Kelly?' Come to think of it with the exception of Cabaret and Fiddler on the Roof he would not watch a musical with me, ever.

[LostHorizons]

"Under the Roofs of Paris" is magnificent. I saw that in the last six months on DVD from either Facets or Netflix.

It is a magnificent, gripping film, but I would hesistate to call it a musical. There is music in it, but (to me) it didn't seem to drive or express the plot.

In an interview for American TV from the 50s which I saw, Rene Clair said he wanted to make “a silent movie with music.” The main thrust of the plots to his early talkies are largely silent, slapstick inspired scenes and the music serves as a Greek chorus to highlight the more important character driven areas. Clair stated that sound killed the movies (his own words) and this is really apparent even in his musicals oddly enough.

[LostHorizons]

Hyppolit the Butler is a funny social satire from Hungary about an elitist butler attempting to turn a new money company owner into an aristocrat. It’s all complicated as the husband begins an affair with a dancer the butler recommended to him based on his former master’s predilections for this woman’s services. Very funny film in the same vein as My Man Godfrey which really turns the social ladder climbing, new money on their heads.



Scene above: Mr Schneider visits the night club singer after hearing Hyppolit talk about how his former master used to visit her often.

[LostHorizons]