bill t
An interesting film filled with crazy ideas (since in was 1924) but still a bit dull, A mad scientist creates a ray that puts everyone to sleep! Well, everyone beneath the ray's reaching power... It can only go so high you see. So the guy working on top of the Eiffel is spared, and also some tourists on a plane. But they, someone assures them, are the ONLY ones who made it! I mean, the science in this is GOOFY, but if you go along with that, well, then you're left with the rest of the story, which isnt much, just a lot of people wandering around Paris. I guess there's a inner message that everyone is alseep most of the time, but if you know me, that went totally over my head. Anytways, as I said, none of themes I believe (everyone missing from the streets, where did they all go?) hadnt been explored in cinema until this point, so it's got that going for it, but aside from that, you're on you're own. (ha, see what I did there?)
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
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eric b
Considering the tasty premise, "Paris Qui Dort" should be far more compelling than it is. A scientist's invisible ray freezes everyone in Paris minus a handful of people who happened to avoid the beam's path (one works in the Eiffel Tower, and the others were in a plane). This upbeat gang goes through the predictable reactions of puzzlement, distress and then exploitation, but the action is dull and the daffy scientist's motivations remain wholly unclear. Later, the beam is switched on and off a couple of times, and the same people remain unaffected even though they're now on ground level. What? And why didn't the scientist get frozen himself? The best reason to watch this 35-minute short is the footage shot from atop the Eiffel Tower -- both the tower itself and the scenery below are interesting to see.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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Audience Member
A beautiful experimental film.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/01/23
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Audience Member
Descending from The Eiffel Tower, a man discovers that everybody in Paris has frozen in time. He wanders the street, lost, desperate to discover the truth. Along the way he saves a potential suicide, arrests a thief - he changes the world for the better.... and then a plane load of tourists, whose flight above the effects of the ray that have frozen time, arrive in Paris - and debauchery, crime and social collapse soon ensue.
Rene Clair's wonderful short film must certainly be one the true high concept films. It contains drama, humour, social commentary, and many glorious shots of 1920s Paris devoid of life (extremely reminscent of Danny Boyle's 2002 horror film 28 Days Later in that respect, albeit minus the zombies!). A rare sight, this early work from a French master deserves to be better known.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/25/23
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Audience Member
nice little silent comedy pretty humorous
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/16/23
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Audience Member
Was this the first movie to show what would happen if the world were stopped? I don't know for sure, but it's the earliest film I 've seen with that theme. It's actually pretty cool, everyone is frozen in time, and the only ones to not be frozen were above some thousand feet from the ground, which I'm not sure makes sense, but oh well. In the middle of the movie you find out how this happened, and they explain it all again as if you didn't understand, kinda annoying right? Anyway, it's pretty cool, but it could be better.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
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