Poor Parisian artist Michel (Lefevre), hounded by creditors, discovers he's won a lottery, but the winning ticket is in a jacket he's misplaced. The frenzied process by which he reclaims it — ducking his lenders, scrambling madly through the streets — creates zany comic sequences reminiscent of the Marx Brothers.

At the dawn of sound, director René Clair brought us this delicious farcical concoction, imbued with a spirited, joyously romantic flavor only the French can produce. It is unalloyed fun to watch the cast of kooks — able performers all! — run circles around each other while occasionally bursting into song. The sequence in which Michel and Company make a grab for the coat during a stage performance of "La Boheme" is a highlight. Fresh and timeless.