Mild-mannered novelist of Western fiction, Amédée Lange, and his colleagues take over a publishing house after their exploitative boss disappears, only for the superior to return and try to reclaim the profits from their successful cooperative.
Direction
Renoir's fluid camera makes the courtyard feel alive.
Writing
Nested narration that implicates the audience as jury.
Director
Jean Renoir
René Lefèvre
Monsieur Lange
Florelle
Valentine
Jules Berry
Batala
Marcel Lévesque
Concierge
Odette Talazac
Concierge's Wife
Nadia Sibirskaïa
Estelle
Henri Guisol
Son Meunier
Maurice Baquet
Charles, concierges' son
Jacques Brunius
Mr. Baigneur
Sylvain Itkine
Inspector Itkine / Batala's Cousin
Marcel Duhamel
Foreman
Sylvia Bataille
Edith
Jean Dasté
Model Maker
Pierre Huchet
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during the Popular Front era, this was Renoir's contribution to leftist cinema—and got him accused of both communist propaganda and bourgeois sentimentality.
The famous tracking shot through the courtyard was achieved by mounting the camera on a bicycle; Renoir couldn't afford proper equipment.
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