Shot in twent-five days, this classic film of workers’ solidarity, presented in the language of ironic, Brechtian black comedy, expresses the optimism of the Popular Front days. It’s a comedy-thriller-romance about a group of exploited employees in a publishing firm whose oppressive boss (Berry) suddenly ups and disappears. They set up a successful co-operative in his absence, but chaos reigns when he suddenly reappears, only to be held at gunpoint by Lange (Lefèvre), a writer of pulp Westerns. Fantasy, politics, and gentle naturalism combine to perfection, and the two contrasting central actors—evil Berry and good Lefèvre—are superb.