Le Million and Wooden Crosses

220, Le Million - 1931 (Rene Clair)

Pros - Direction, acting, script, Music used to good effect
Cons - Movie drags in the middle, Sound poor at times, Subtitles

Summary - Simple but witty French Comedy about a poor artist who wins a million dollar jackpot but has to search all over Paris to find the ticket. Not a laugh riot but it had me smiling throughout. Some clever gags stolen later by Marx Brothers. Rating ***1/2

221. Wooden Crosses - 1932 (Raymond Bernard)

Pros - Direction, acting, Battle Scenes,
Cons - Sometimes stagy, a little grim

Summary - A good French movie about WWI that follows a squad of Polius' through a series of battles. A kind of French answer to "All Quiet on the Western Front". Some long battle scenes that are well done (looks like they used a lot of real explosives). While the characters seem like real soldiers they aren't really vivid characters. The emphasis is on the action and film has a documentary style to it. Rating ***