Under The Roofs of Paris (1930) - Rene Clair

Under the Roofs of Paris is an rather simplistic story about a street performer who falls in love with a woman.  Complications arise when he finds himself sent to jail briefly after falling in love with her.  When he returns he comes to find that she has fallen in love with his best friend.  I really found this film to be trivial overall, lacking anything that really grabbed me on either an emotional or intellectual level.  The most  interesting aspect of this film for me was seeing a filmmaker in Rene Clair,  struggle to find a balance between the silent and talkie aspects of the film.   Under the Roofs of Paris might as well be a silent film, and when their are scenes of dialogue they tend to brief and a lot of conversations in the film are inaudible, whether this was intentionally or merely filmmakers wrestling with the new technology, I have no idea.  Yea, maybe I am being a little harsh on this film but I just found it all to be so lackadaisical and though parts of the film are charming (the opening sequence, the way Clair camera pans up and down the streets of Paris, etc), I didn't think the film was anything special, though the final scene is also a standout in it's simple yet effective execution.
 6/10

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