Its no secret that I LOVE Charlie Chaplin! I worship him!! When i researched that 1931 French flick - A Nous la Liberte ("Freedom For Us") was locked in a 10 year plagiarism battle with the Little Tramp, I had to watch this film and judge for myself!
What a quaint little gem I have found in this movie! A simple film about two ex-convicts, one of whom escaped jail and then worked his way up from salesman to factory owner. Fearful of his past being exposed, at first by his friend and later by another gangster, the owner chooses to give his factory to the workers, then escapes with his friend to the freedom of the open road.
The film is a tennis match of the emerging technologies in film making at the time. Its mostly a silent film yet it has these delectable musical sequences that smolder with lustful french lyrics and short, almost comical "talkie" segments.
The relationship between Emile, an ex-convict, and the blonde bombshell of a factory secretary is tragic...but altogether heart melting! ((Gay Voice)) OMG those french are sooooo romantic! I genuinely LOL'd when a single man disrupts the efficiency of the assembly line scene...I see a little Chaplin....
Sometimes we can take friendships for granted, I know I have, but it is films like this; they make you reflect on the one who sticks by you no matter what...the one you refer to as being "Thick as Thieves"!
This is hailed by many as one of the all-time comedy classics! And it saddens me that many will look over it just because its black and white...and over 80 years old! Don't look this one over! It's movies, just like this one, that paved the way for comedies today!
FIN
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