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Little known stateside but long esteemed in Europe,
The Crime of Monsieur Lange is simply one of the very greatest films directed by Jean Renoir (it was made a few years before
Grand Illusion and
Rules of the Game). René Lefèvre (
Le Million) takes the title role of a nebbish who clerks for a penny-press publisher by day, and by night writes feverish potboilers about a Western hero named "Arizona Jim." Lange's encyclopedically venal boss (Jules Berry) discovers his secret and immediately starts exploiting it, as he exploits everybody and everything within range. Life sublimely imitates pulp fiction and vice versa in the brilliant screenplay by Jacques Prévert (who would later write
Children of Paradise). The movie blends sociopolitical protest, tender satire, and astonishing poetry without breaking a sweat, and its climax--an amazing synthesis of theme, dramatic emotion, and inspired camerawork--is one of the transcendent moments in screen history.
--Richard T. Jameson
From the Back Cover
Regarded as one of Jean Renoir's most important works and penned by influential French writer Jacques Prevert, The Crime of Monsieur Lange tells the story of the creation and demise of a utopian society. When Batala, the owner of a small publishing company, disappears with the film's capital, the employees band together to take it over. Later, they collectively publish a series of comic books written by Monsieur Lange, who is one of the employees. Based on the adventures of a mythical cowboy, "Arizona Jim," the comic books are instant best sellers, and the company continues its great success by producing films about the character. Probably the most beautifully humanist film in all of Renoir's career, Lange is an enduring classic and undoubtedly one of the most superb French films ever.
