"I tried to tell the story of one of the greatest moments of history just as I would an event that was happening down the street...in the spirit of intimacy."- Renoir In its neorealist approach to the French Revolution, La Marseillaise is one of the most endearing films on the subject. Renoir's masses are not the beleaguered Parisians of lore but the peasantry of Southern France who, as revolutionary volunteers, brought their services to Paris. Nor is this one of cinema's endless caricatures of Louis XVI, but rather Pierre Renoir's thoughtful and often ironic portrayal of a king folding into his shell as his world crashes around him. Though he employs the proverbial "cast of thousands," Renoir consistently cuts away from spectacle to the human experience: the long march from Marseilles to Paris is eclipsed by a gentle soldier trying to extricate himself from Mama's kitchen and join the troops, a speech by Robespierre ignored in favor of a shadow-puppet show. In fact, the film is at its most revolutionary when it is at its most relaxed: fireside banter reveals the mood that brought a revolution into being, culinary discussions have hidden philosophical ingredients. Made for the Popular Front and financed by public subscription, La Marseillaise is very much a film of its time, replete with jokes about aristos on the Champs Elysées, arguments for women's rights-and a dream of winning over "Prussian" soldiers to the French cause.