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| Focus On French
Director:
With his two early films Bob le Flambeur (Bob The Gambler) 1957, and Le Doulos (The Finger Man) 1961, Melville reinvigorated the conventions of American film noir, in the late 50's and 1960's. No matter how much they say they hate us, the French have a long tradition of worshipping certain aspects of American culture. Often that culture comes back to us in strangely bastardized versions. Melville, of course, grew up watching the morally ambiguous crime thrillers and film noir that American studios like Warner Brothers cranked out in the 1930's & 40's. When it came time to make his own, Melville mutated the style's standardized mythology and blended it with the beat poetry, modern art and postwar ennui of 1960's France. |
Jean-Pierre Melville In Le Samourai (The Godson) 1967, instead of the moody black and white of The Maltese Falcon, we are thrust into a jazzy Paris landscape filled with pop art colors. Instead of the brooding psychological depth of Touch of Evil, we are treated to a frosty world of blank surfaces and emotional emptiness. Born Jean-Pierre Grumbach in Paris in 1917, Melville took his working name in admiration of writer Herman Melville. Between 1945 and up to his passing in 1973, he worked on 14 movies including The Strange Ones (1950), Magnet of Doom (1963) & his last film Dirty Money (1971). Like all true artists, Jean -Pierre Melville marched to his own drummer and created a film style all his own |
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| Current Video List | ||||
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Available for Trades or Purchase |
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France: |
American Title |
Actors |
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| Jean-Pierre Melville | ||||
| Bob le Flambeur | 'Bob the Gambler' or 'Fever Heat' | (1957) | Isabelle Cory, Roger Duchesne | |
| Le Doulos | 'The Finger Man' | (1961) | John-Paul Belmondo, Sergi Reggiani | |
| Le Samourai (color) | 'The Godson' | (1967) | Alain Delon, Francois Perier | |
| Louis Malle | ||||
| Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud | 'Frantic' or 'Elevator to the Gallows' | (1957) | Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet | |
| Music by Miles Davis | ||||
| Henri-Georges Clouzot | ||||
| Le Salaire de la peur | 'Wages Of Fear' | (1953) | Yves Montond, Peter van Eyck | |
| Diabolique | 'Diabolique' | (1955) | Simone Signoret, Paul Meurisse | |
| Jacques Becker | ||||
| Touchez pas au Grisbi | 'Grisbi' or 'Hands Off the Loot' | (1953) | Jean Gabin, Dora Doll | |
| Jean-Luc Godard | ||||
| À bout de souffle | 'Breathless' | (1960) | John-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg | |
| Italy: | ||||
| Luchino Visconti | ||||
| Ossessione | 'Ossessione' | (1942) | Clara Calamai, Massimo Girotti | |
| Roma, città aperta | 'Open City' | (1946) | Aldo Fabrizi, Ma rcello Pagliero, | |
| England: | American Title |
Actors |
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| Alberto Cavalcanti | ||||
| They Made Me a Fugitive | 'I Became A Criminal' | (1947) | Trevor Howard, Richard Todd | |
| John Boulting | ||||
| Brighton Rock | 'Brighton Rock' | (1947) | Richard Attenborough, Carol Marsh | |
| Carol Reed | ||||
| The Third Man | 'The Third Man' | (1949) | Joseph Cotton, Orson Wells | |
| Ralph Thomas | ||||
| The Clouded Yellow | 'The Clouded Yellow' | (1951) | Trevor Howard, Jean Simmons | |
| Orson Wells | ||||
| Confidential Report | 'Mr. Arkadin' | (1955) | Michael Redgrave, Orson Wells | |
| Michael Anderson | ||||
| Chase a Crooked Shadow | 'Chase a Crooked Shadow' | (1957) | Richard Todd, Ann Baxter | |
| Lewis Gilbert | ||||
| Cast A Dark Shadow | 'Cast A Dark Shadow' | (1957) | Dirk Bogarde, Margaret Lockwood | |
| Germany: | American Title |
Actors |
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| Robert Wiene | ||||
| Das Kabinett des Doctor Caligari | 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' | (1920) | Conrad Veidt, Rudolf Klein-Rogge | |
| Fritz Lang | ||||
| M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder | 'M' | (1920) | Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann | |
| Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse | 'Dr. Mabuse's Testament' |
(1933) |
Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Oscar Beregi | |
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| Bob Le Flambeur (Bob the Gambler) |
Le Doulos (The Finger Man) |
Le Samourai (The Godson) | ||
| Three from Jean-Pierre Melville | ||||
