Rene Clair

Rene Clair almost single-handedly revived French film comedy after WWI, adapting the pre-war comic tradition to sound technology and the realities of the post-war era. Though he eventually broadened his range of material and faltered toward the end of his career, he will always be remembered as France's first great director of comedies.

After short stints as a journalist, an actor under Feuillade and Protozanov and an assistant to Baroncelli, …