Film Noir... with a French Twist.....

Flitcraft · 06-08-2006, 10:49 AM

If you're currently suffering from Noir withdrawls and you're looking for something with a little different flavor, I'd encourage you to see Bob le Flambeur,Le Samourai and Le Cercle Rouge- all directed by Jean-Pierre Melville.
Melville was a Frenchman with an affinity for all things American- including American Gangster and Detective Films. He adopted the surname "Melville" as an homage to the American author (his birthname was "Grumbach" so Melville was a definite trade up, and sounds French, too).

Melville's films are characterized by imaginative use of camera work to tell a story, the parcity of dialogue and the overall sense of fatalism inherent in their plot (sound familiar? Think of Burt Lancaster in The Killers- "Why do they want to kill you?" "I made a mistake- once...").

Melville's characters dress, act and even look like their sterotypical American Noir conterparts- but always a little different. Its this "difference" that makes these films intriguing to anyone with an interest in Film Noir and the Golden Age.
Criterion offers these titles on rather expensive DVDS, but I was able to find them at my local public library. They're all worth a look, but Bob le Flambeur is my favorite just because its a little imperfect- you can still see Melville trying to master his subject matter. Incidentally, this film was the inspiration for Hard Eight- a modern fim with noir sensiblities. Give them a look!

Absinthe_1900 · 06-08-2006, 11:08 AM

Bob le Flambeur is a favorite of mine as well.

Great film!

dr greg · 06-08-2006, 01:42 PM

I love this one, it's got Jean Gabin, (the French Bogart) in one of his greatest roles as the aging gangster, and a young Jeanne Moreau looking real good. The openness of the way they deal with drugs and sex is something you would NEVER see in a hollywood film of the time...it's a classic!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046451/

Baron Kurtz · 06-08-2006, 02:02 PM

... is a great film.

bk

Tony in Tarzana · 06-08-2006, 02:24 PM

Netflix has Le Samourai and several others by Melville. I'll have to check 'em out!

jake_fink · 06-08-2006, 02:34 PM

Samouri has one of the best openings in film. I luvs it. (Je luvs c'est)

Tomasso · 06-08-2006, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dr greg

I love this one, it's got Jean Gabin, (the French Bogart) in one of his greatest roles as the aging gangster, and a young Jeanne Moreau looking real good.

Jean Gabin

Jeanne Moreau

dr greg · 06-08-2006, 03:28 PM

this looks nice 2

films with Moreau and Bardot, affair with Marlene, the guy had style. While I'm at it a plug for one of the greatest films of all time, not strictly noir, but never been equalled for dramatic tension through good direction

Sefton · 06-08-2006, 08:15 PM

Le Doulos(U.S. title: The Finger Man)

This 1962 Black and White film stars Jean-Paul Belmondo. Cops,jewel thieves,betrayal and deception,dark nights in empty train stations, and...murder French style!

Undertow · 07-30-2010, 02:47 PM

I loved Le Samourai!

And I just added Rififi to my watch list. Talk about nice looking hats and suits! And the stories are just excellent. I loved how sparse Le Samourai was.

Wally_Hood · 07-31-2010, 10:15 AM

Rififi is one of my favorites. It is tough, bleak, hardboiled, all the things that make noir noir. The characters do not come across as stereotypes, but are recognizable as the inhabitants of a noir universe.

J B · 08-01-2010, 02:27 PM

I have yet to see any of the other films mentioned, but I have seen Le Samourai nearly a month ago. It is certainly a great film noir, and a good film in it's own right. I'm going to have to try to see some of the other works by Melville. I'm open to any recommendations on where to start after seeing Le Samourai, if anyone has one.

Chasseur · 08-01-2010, 04:52 PM

Grisby with Gabin and Moreau is about my favorite Golden Age film period. Wonderful film and so much more... earthy... than its American counter parts of the time.

Also with Moreau, "Elevator to the Gallows" is also well worth watching. "Rififi" is a good, solid heist film. Slightly earlier but fun is "Quai des Orfeves."

I love French cinema from the 1950s!

Marjorian · 08-02-2010, 02:52 AM

I agree. Jean-Pierre Melville is a terrific director- one of my real favourites. His films noir are all excellent and he worked with most of the great French actors of his day. Alain Delon was one of his best regulars.

The movie I regard as his absolute best has not yet been mentioned. Its about the French Resistance (which Melville had experience of) and its called "L'Armee des Ombres" ("The Army in the Shadows"). It's a terrific piece with Simone Signoret and a bravura performance from Lino Ventura who's on screen virtually throughout. In fact when I recently compiled my Top 100 movies for my newspaper "L'Armee des Ombres" was No 1. That's how highly I rate it- my favourite film of all time.

Jean Gabin is of course another tremendous actor, maybe France's best ever film actor. I love Marcel Carne's "Quai Des Brumes" (a really stylish film made for Fedora Lounge Lizards) where Gabin is joined by one of the main rivals for my accolade- Michel Simon (just watch Renoir's "Boudu Saved From Drowning" and you'll see what a great actor Simon is).

Incidentally I don't regard Gabin as the French Bogart. To me Robert Mitchum is a better comparison- that quiet but menacing tough guy approach. Gabin also reminds me physically of another excellent American actor- Joel McCrea.

Chasseur · 08-03-2010, 03:04 PM

I almost forgot for fellow Jeanne Moreau fans, "The Lovers" is also well worth watching. Its not film noir, but an excellent early Louis Malle film that was considered quite racey in the US at the time.

Talbot · 08-04-2010, 02:27 PM

Checkout 'Le petit soldat' by Godard while you are at it. A bit late for some, 1963, but worth a look.

T

06-08-2006, 10:49 AM	#1
Flitcraft One Too Many Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 1,044	Film Noir... with a French Twist..... If you're currently suffering from Noir withdrawls and you're looking for something with a little different flavor, I'd encourage you to see Bob le Flambeur,Le Samourai and Le Cercle Rouge- all directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. Melville was a Frenchman with an affinity for all things American- including American Gangster and Detective Films. He adopted the surname "Melville" as an homage to the American author (his birthname was "Grumbach" so Melville was a definite trade up, and sounds French, too). Melville's films are characterized by imaginative use of camera work to tell a story, the parcity of dialogue and the overall sense of fatalism inherent in their plot (sound familiar? Think of Burt Lancaster in The Killers- "Why do they want to kill you?" "I made a mistake- once..."). Melville's characters dress, act and even look like their sterotypical American Noir conterparts- but always a little different. Its this "difference" that makes these films intriguing to anyone with an interest in Film Noir and the Golden Age. Criterion offers these titles on rather expensive DVDS, but I was able to find them at my local public library. They're all worth a look, but Bob le Flambeur is my favorite just because its a little imperfect- you can still see Melville trying to master his subject matter. Incidentally, this film was the inspiration for Hard Eight- a modern fim with noir sensiblities. Give them a look!

06-08-2006, 11:08 AM	#2
Absinthe_1900 One Too Many Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Houston TX Posts: 1,466	Bob le Flambeur is a favorite of mine as well. Great film! __________________ The History of Legendre Herbsaint

06-08-2006, 01:42 PM	#3
dr greg One Too Many Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Northern NSW hippy country, but close to our version of Florida Posts: 1,301	Ghrisbi...one of the best I love this one, it's got Jean Gabin, (the French Bogart) in one of his greatest roles as the aging gangster, and a young Jeanne Moreau looking real good. The openness of the way they deal with drugs and sex is something you would NEVER see in a hollywood film of the time...it's a classic! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046451/ __________________ If you want something done: do it yourself........my father

06-08-2006, 02:02 PM	#4
Baron Kurtz I'll Lock Up Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: "Every morning … sucked up through an infinitely complicated respiratory apparatus of trains and termini into the mighty congested lungs, held there for a number of hours, and then, in the evening, exhaled violently through the same channels." Posts: 7,893	Le Cercle Rouge ... ... is a great film. bk __________________ There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. All the rest . . . comes afterwards. Camus

06-08-2006, 02:34 PM	#6
jake_fink Call Me a Cab Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Taranna Posts: 2,291	Samouri has one of the best openings in film. I luvs it. (Je luvs c'est) __________________ Politicians, ugly buildings and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.

06-08-2006, 02:24 PM	#5
Tony in Tarzana My Mail is Forwarded Here Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Glendale California USA Posts: 3,271	Netflix has Le Samourai and several others by Melville. I'll have to check 'em out!

06-08-2006, 03:28 PM	#8
dr greg One Too Many Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Northern NSW hippy country, but close to our version of Florida Posts: 1,301	an early one this looks nice 2 films with Moreau and Bardot, affair with Marlene, the guy had style. While I'm at it a plug for one of the greatest films of all time, not strictly noir, but never been equalled for dramatic tension through good direction __________________ If you want something done: do it yourself........my father Last edited by dr greg : 06-08-2006 at 03:34 PM.

06-08-2006, 08:15 PM	#9
Sefton Call Me a Cab Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: About a half a mile from San Jose,California in a 1924 Craftsman bungalow Posts: 2,118	All great Melville films! Don't forget this one called Le Doulos(U.S. title: The Finger Man) This 1962 Black and White film stars Jean-Paul Belmondo. Cops,jewel thieves,betrayal and deception,dark nights in empty train stations, and...murder French style! __________________ "I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals." Sir Winston Churchill

07-30-2010, 02:47 PM	#10
Undertow One Too Many Join Date: May 2007 Location: Valley Junction Posts: 1,429	I loved Le Samourai! And I just added Rififi to my watch list. Talk about nice looking hats and suits! And the stories are just excellent. I loved how sparse Le Samourai was. __________________ "We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will." ~ C. Palahniuk

07-31-2010, 10:15 AM	#11
Wally_Hood Practically Family Join Date: May 2009 Location: Screwy, bally hooey Hollywood Posts: 628	Rififi is one of my favorites. It is tough, bleak, hardboiled, all the things that make noir noir. The characters do not come across as stereotypes, but are recognizable as the inhabitants of a noir universe. __________________ Let me dig this solid cat and see what jumps in that wig of his that's causing all the flip on the vine.

08-01-2010, 02:27 PM	#12
J B Practically Family Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: California, USA Posts: 575	I have yet to see any of the other films mentioned, but I have seen Le Samourai nearly a month ago. It is certainly a great film noir, and a good film in it's own right. I'm going to have to try to see some of the other works by Melville. I'm open to any recommendations on where to start after seeing Le Samourai, if anyone has one. __________________ Sincerely Yours, J.B.

08-01-2010, 04:52 PM	#13
Chasseur Practically Family Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Hawaii Posts: 677	Grisby with Gabin and Moreau is about my favorite Golden Age film period. Wonderful film and so much more... earthy... than its American counter parts of the time. Also with Moreau, "Elevator to the Gallows" is also well worth watching. "Rififi" is a good, solid heist film. Slightly earlier but fun is "Quai des Orfeves." I love French cinema from the 1950s! __________________ If I can crawl out of bed and slap a hat on my head, well you can tell 'em I'll be there.

08-02-2010, 02:52 AM	#14
Marjorian New in Town Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: London Posts: 9	Melville and Gabin I agree. Jean-Pierre Melville is a terrific director- one of my real favourites. His films noir are all excellent and he worked with most of the great French actors of his day. Alain Delon was one of his best regulars. The movie I regard as his absolute best has not yet been mentioned. Its about the French Resistance (which Melville had experience of) and its called "L'Armee des Ombres" ("The Army in the Shadows"). It's a terrific piece with Simone Signoret and a bravura performance from Lino Ventura who's on screen virtually throughout. In fact when I recently compiled my Top 100 movies for my newspaper "L'Armee des Ombres" was No 1. That's how highly I rate it- my favourite film of all time. Jean Gabin is of course another tremendous actor, maybe France's best ever film actor. I love Marcel Carne's "Quai Des Brumes" (a really stylish film made for Fedora Lounge Lizards) where Gabin is joined by one of the main rivals for my accolade- Michel Simon (just watch Renoir's "Boudu Saved From Drowning" and you'll see what a great actor Simon is). Incidentally I don't regard Gabin as the French Bogart. To me Robert Mitchum is a better comparison- that quiet but menacing tough guy approach. Gabin also reminds me physically of another excellent American actor- Joel McCrea.

08-03-2010, 03:04 PM	#15
Chasseur Practically Family Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Hawaii Posts: 677	I almost forgot for fellow Jeanne Moreau fans, "The Lovers" is also well worth watching. Its not film noir, but an excellent early Louis Malle film that was considered quite racey in the US at the time. __________________ If I can crawl out of bed and slap a hat on my head, well you can tell 'em I'll be there.

08-04-2010, 02:27 PM	#16
Talbot Practically Family Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Melbourne Australia Posts: 746	Checkout 'Le petit soldat' by Godard while you are at it. A bit late for some, 1963, but worth a look. T

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