Although the balletic wit over which Clair's critics once went into ecstasies has been looking increasingly fragile for some years now, the charm is still undeniably there [in Le Million], though in moments rather than in overall conception…. [There] is no doubt that, historically, Clair must be credited with developing the musical style brought to perfection by [Rouben] Mamoulian in Love Me Tonight. But where Mamoulian's fantasy seemed to be liberated by the camera's musical role, with Clair the process is almost entirely mechanical. Shots are governed less by any musical rhythm (or indeed by any impulse or motivation in the characters) than by a mathematical process whereby a shot of someone running one way will be followed by someone running in another….

Since the musical score is also remarkably uninspired, being largely a matter of choral chants designed to get assorted lines of crooks, creditors, police or...