Le crime de Monsieur Lange (1936)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Jean Renoir

Writers:

Jean Castanyer (story)
Jacques Prévert (adaptation)

Release Date:

24 January 1936 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama

Plot:

A man and a woman arrive in a cafe-hotel near the belgian frontier. The customers recognize the man from the police's description...

Plot Keywords:

Black Comedy | Belgium | Murder | Character Name In Title

Cast

René Lefèvre	...	Amédée Lange
Florelle	...	Valentine
Jules Berry	...	Batala
Marcel Lévesque	...	The Concierge
Odette Talazac	...	The Concierge
Henri Guisol	...	The Son Meunier
Maurice Baquet	...	Charles, The Concierges' Son
Jacques B. Brunius	...	Mr. Baigneur (as J.B. Brunius)
Sylvain Itkine	...	Batala's cousin
Marcel Duhamel	...	The Foreman
Henri Saint-Isle
Pierre Huchet
René Génin	...	A Client at the Auberge (as Genin)
Max Morise
Charbonnier

Also Known As:

The Crime of Monsieur Lange (USA)

Runtime:

80 min | USA:77 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Le Tréport, Seine-Maritime, France

Company:

Films Obéron

Movie Connections:

Featured in Jean Renoir: Part One - From La Belle Époque to World War II (1993) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Au jour, le jour, a la nuit, la nuit

Has all of Renoir's pace and vivacity, and intriguing politics

It takes a while to locate one's bearings in this work, although that speaks to its emotional and thematic complexity. The film has the constant pace and vivacity and glee that is (stereotypically?) associated with Renoir - the film is something of a romantic whirl, with the interconnections of men and women are beguilingly dramatized in all their fleeting glory. Even the scenes with the wicked boss have an initial joie de vivre. Lange himself retains a restrained calm at the heart of it all - until he comes to illustrate the normal man who takes a desperate, self-sacrificing stand for the good of others. Although idealistic, his action resonates when offset against the explicitly cartoonish heroism of the Arizona Jim character (which we see embodied in some epically corny tableaux), and the impact thrives from being based in a muscular evocation of left-wing collectivist sympathies (a strand that comes over heavily in the almost idyllic scenes of things after the demise of the capitalist - with workers happy and lovers unfettered; although I found the very end of the film a bit puzzling).