THE CRIME OF MONSIEUR LANGE (1936)

Monsieur Lange and his mistress Valentine stop at a village inn for an overnight stay. The locals at the bar realize that Lange is on the run from a murder charge. As they debate whether or not to inform the police, Valentine tells them his story. In Paris, Valentine flirted with Lange, an employee of the Batala publishing house. It comes to the attention of M. Meunier, who has loaned a great deal of money to Batala, that the money, intended to shore up the company, was used by Batala for personal items, and he's ready to call in Batala's debt. Lange shows Batala some pulp western stories he's written featuring a cowboy called Arizona Jim, and Batala signs him up for a stand alone magazine, though he gets Lange to sign away all his rights to the character. Arizona Jim is a big hit and soon Batala is putting product placement bits into the stories. Batala has also taken advantage of Estelle, girlfriend of the young and innocent Charles, a buddy of Lange's, and gotten her pregnant. When Batala goes on the run to escape the claims of Meunier, his train derails, killing many passengers. Batala survives and switches clothes with a priest so Batala is reported dead. At the publishing house, Lange leads a movement to keep the business going by running it as a collective. It becomes a success, with Arizona Jim the leader in sales, but soon Batala returns, intending to take back the company. When he tries to assault Valentine, Lange shoots him dead. Will the village drinkers side with him and let him escape?

Though ultimately a crime story, director Jean Renoir has come up with a frothy little concoction of romance, politics and satire. Though Lange (Rene Lefevre) is the title character, this is mostly a kind of slice of life ensemble piece. No other characters come into sharp focus, but in some ways, Lange doesn't either; he's just another nice-guy employee who gets a lucky break. Valentine (played by the single-named Florelle) is even less developed. Batala (Jules Berry) is almost the central character by virtue of his change from a garden variety bad boss to a cheat to a criminal. Charles (Maurice Baquet), another mild nice guy, stands out partly due to having a broken leg for a chunk of the story. The acting is fine but the movie is carried by its tone, story, and vigorous camera style. Some viewers see this as rabble-rousing socialist propaganda, but Renoir himself denied that it was meant to be taken that way, though it's difficult not to see the success of the collectivization as being important to the plot. I liked that Lange became a sort of real-life Arizona Jim, saving the publishing company and killing the would-be assaulter. Pictured are Florelle and Lefevre. [Criterion Channel]