Review of A Nous A La Liberte (aka Freedom For Us)

Introduction

A Nous A La Liberte (Freedom for Us) is an early 30`s film by French Director Rene Clair. This was one of the first French `talkies` and a classic example of very early cinema, pre-dating Chaplin`s "Modern Times" by 5 years.

Video

Video quality is the most stunningly crisp quality I`ve seen yet! Well ok maybe not quite, this is a very early film after all! There`s a lot of grain, the focus is often poor etc. but all these can be solely attributed the source material and more importantly its age.

Audio

As with the visuals don`t expect much from this given its age! In 1931 they didn`t really have Dolby Digital etc, this was one of t he first French talking films. That said the sound throughout the film is reasonably decent considering exactly how old it is, there is the odd crackling etc in the background now and then but it wasn`t as bad as I was expecting really.

Music is used extensively during the film, mostly to reasonably good effect but some of the tunes do begin to grate quickly so not one for playing at high volume. Talking is quite clear though there isn`t a great deal of dialogue and a lot of musical gaps in between.

Features

The extras contained on the disc include Entr`acte, a short film by Rene Clair which was his solo directorial debut. As well as that there`s a photo gallery, biography and an interview with Madame Clair, the directors wife. The extras are a nice addition and will appeal to those that are quite interested in the film and other works by Rene Clair.

Conclusion

I`ve never really been a fan of classics to be honest; I`m too much of a technophile for that, this film was no exception for me. The video quality is poor, sound is pretty bad and the music did begin to annoy me after a while.

That said though all these "faults" are really because of the age of the original material and in its time it was no doubt a good film. Also the DVD itself is quite nicely done, some good extras that will appeal to those that`d be interested in the classic films.