René Clair
René Clair (1898–1981) was a French director, writer, and theorist, one of the pioneering figures of early French sound cinema. He began as a critic and screenwriter in the 1920s and turned to direction with the Dadaist short Entr'acte before establishing his international reputation with a series of musical comedies that combined the elegance of the silent-comedy tradition with an inventive, witty use of sound. After wartime exile in Hollywood he returned to France and continued working into the 1960s. His acclaimed films include The Italian Straw Hat, Under the Roofs of Paris, Le Million, À Nous la Liberté, The Ghost Goes West, And Then There Were None, Le Silence Est d'Or, and Beauties of the Night.