French Directors - Jean-Pierre Melville

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Le Cercle Rouge Jean-Pierre Melville Jean-Pierre Melville's tense crime thriller finds two convicts (Alain Delon and Gian-Maria Volonte) conspiring with a corrupt, alcoholic cop (Yves Montand) to pull off an elaborate jewelry store robbery. Melville's elegant direction and great performances from Delon, Montand and Volonte reveal a story of kindred souls brought together through crime and set Le Cercle Rouge apart from the typical heist film. "One of the all-time exercises in cinematic cool" (New York Daily News). In French with optional English subtitles. The DVD is a Criterion Collection edition, letterboxed and a newly restored, uncut version that includes an introduction by John Woo; excerpts from Cineastes de notres temps; Jean-Pierre Melville (portrait en 9 poses), a 1970 documentary on Melville; video interviews with Melville friend, Rui Nogueira, and assistant director Bernard Stora; 30 minutes of rare, on-set footage featuring interviews with Melville, Alain Delon, Yes Montand and Andre Bourvil; a French TV interview with Melville and Delon; trailers; image galleries; essays by critics Michael Sragow and Chris Fujiwara, excerpts from Melville on Melville; and more. France/Italy, 1970, 140 mins. DVD | $59.95

French Directors - Jean-Pierre Melville

Army of Shadows Jean-Pierre Melville Set in German-occupied Lyons during WWII, this tragic, highly-atmospheric picture concerns a French Resistance fighter (Lino Ventura) who is betrayed by an informer and sent to a prison camp, where he awaits the Gestapo. Based on Joseph Kessel's novel, Army of Shadows, or The Army in the Shadows, was a personal endeavor for Jean-Pierre Melville, who was a Resistance fighter himself. With Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, and Simone Signoret. "It's here that Melville fully achieved his notion of the sublime, applying Le Samourai's 'empty' compositions and near theatrical blocking, as well as its methodical suspense, cosmic fatalism, and sense of grim solitude, to a subject far closer to his heart" (J. Hoberman, Village Voice). The DVD is a 2 disc Criterion Collection Edition, with a new, high-def digital transfer of the 2004 restoration, supervised by cinematographer Pierre Lhomme. Includes optional Dolby 2.0 sound, audio commentary by film historian Ginette Vincendeau, interview with Lhomme, archival video excerpts from the set and real-life Resistance fighters, a short program on the director, a short documentary on the final days of Vichy France, a film restoration demonstration by Lhomme, improved English subtitles, and a booklet featuring critic Amy Taubin, historian Robert Paxton, and more. In French with English subtitles. France/Italy, 1969, 145 mins. DVD | $59.95

Bob le Flambeur Jean-Pierre Melville An amazing film noir and a movie that anticipated the French New Wave with its gritty locations, freewheeling camera, jump cuts and a musical jazz score. Roger Duchesne plays high-stakes gambler Bob, newly released from prison, who plots to rob the casino at Deauville. Shot between dusk and dawn in Pigalle, this is the quintessential "city at night" film, with Bob representing the kind of a gangster who still has a moral code. Great cinematography by Henri Decae. "The cinematic birth of cool" (J. Hoberman, The Village Voice). French with English subtitles. DVD is a Criterion Collection edition, and includes an interview with actor Daniel Cauchy, a radio interview with Melville, stills gallery, trailer, new and improved subtitle translation. France, 1955, 97 mins. DVD | $44.95

Dirty Money (Un Flic) Jean-Pierre Melville French film icons Alain Delon and Catherine Deneuve star in the final film by the great Jean-Pierre Melville (Le Samourai, Bob le Flambeur). Melville again finds thematic richness in the gangster genre with this tale of a morose detective (Delon), a brilliant thief (Richard Crenna), and the woman they both love (Deneuve). "A bitter meditation on disenchantment and defeat, as glacial and hermetic as Deneuve's face" (Chris Peachment, Time Out). In French with English subtitles. France, 1972, 98 mins. DVD | $37.95

Le Cercle Rouge Jean-Pierre Melville Jean-Pierre Melville's tense crime thriller finds two convicts (Alain Delon and Gian-Maria Volonte) conspiring with a corrupt, alcoholic cop (Yves Montand) to pull off an elaborate jewelry store robbery. Melville's elegant direction and great performances from Delon, Montand and Volonte reveal a story of kindred souls brought together through crime and set Le Cercle Rouge apart from the typical heist film. "One of the all-time exercises in cinematic cool" (New York Daily News). In French with optional English subtitles. The DVD is a Criterion Collection edition, letterboxed and a newly restored, uncut version that includes an introduction by John Woo; excerpts from Cineastes de notres temps; Jean-Pierre Melville (portrait en 9 poses), a 1970 documentary on Melville; video interviews with Melville friend, Rui Nogueira, and assistant director Bernard Stora; 30 minutes of rare, on-set footage featuring interviews with Melville, Alain Delon, Yes Montand and Andre Bourvil; a French TV interview with Melville and Delon; trailers; image galleries; essays by critics Michael Sragow and Chris Fujiwara, excerpts from Melville on Melville; and more. France/Italy, 1970, 140 mins. DVD | $59.95

Le Deuxieme Souffle Jean-Pierre Melville With Le Doulos and Le Samourai, Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Deuxieme Souffle (Second Breath) forms a gangster trilogy that puts a New Wave spin on the classic American genre. Lino Ventura plays a lonely escaped criminal and Paul Meurisse a diligent detective in this thrilling crime movie that culminates in a heist for the cinematic record books. "Drenched with dark romanticism" (Andrew Sarris). This Criterion Collection edition is a newly restored high-def digital transfer. Includes audio commentary featuring film scholar Ginette Vincendeau and film critic Geoff Andrew, video interview with director Bertrand Tavernier, archival footage featuring Melville and Ventura, original theatrial trailer, improved subtitle translation, and an essay by critic Adrian Danks. In French with optional English subtitles. France, 1966, 144 mins. DVD | $59.95

Le Doulos Jean-Pierre Melville A complicated thriller of double and triple crosses, beautiful women, and a dark vision of a world in a masterful film noir. Set in the Paris underworld, at the center of which is Jean-Paul Belmondo, a professional informer who maintains his relationship with a police inspector and a burglar just out of jail and afraid he can't hack the criminal life anymore. Le Doulos is famous for its nine-minute single take, brilliant camerawork from Nicolas Hayer, and terrific performances. With Serge Reggiani, Jean Desailly, and Michel Piccoli. This Criterion Collection edition is a newly restored hi-def digital transfer. Includes audio commentary by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau, video interviews with Volker Schlondorff and Bertrand Tavernier (who worked on the film), archival interviews with Melville, Belmondo and Reggiani, original theatrical trailer, improved subtitles, and an essay by critic Glenn Kenny. In French with English subtitles. France, 1962, 109 mins. DVD | $59.95

Le Samourai Jean-Pierre Melville Melville's classic film noir masterpiece stars Alain Delon as a cool and mysterious contract killer who lives by a personal code of bushido, moving in and out of shadows in the Parisian rain wearing a trenchcoat and a fedora hiding his eyes. A mythical revenge story with Cathy Rosier as a jazz piano player who witnesses one of his hits but doesn't tell the police. With Nathalie Delon. "The closest thing to a perfect movie that I have ever seen" (John Woo). Criterion Collection Edition. Letterboxed. Includes video interviews with film historians Rui Nogueira and Ginette Vincendeau, excerpts from archival interviews with Alain Delon, Cathy Rosier, Nathalie Delon, and Francois Perier, trailer, essays by David Thompson and John Woo, and more. In French with English subtitles. France, 1967, 95 mins. DVD | $44.95

Les Enfants Terribles Jean-Pierre Melville A lyrical treatment of Jean Cocteau's perverse tribute to rebellious adolescence. Made in 1949, even today it is one of the most electrifying confrontations of normality by abnormality in the cinema. Paul (Edouard Dermithe) and Elisabeth (Nicole Stephane) are born into such extreme wealth that they are immune to the confines and limits of the real world. Their innocence leads them to self-destruction and to crime. Jean Cocteau's claustrophobic drama is brought to the screen by the great Jean-Pierre Melville in this perverse story of love, death and incest. Criterion Collection edition. New, restored high-def digital transfer. Includes audio commentary by writer, film critic, and journalist Gilbert Adair, interviews with producer Carole Weisweiller, actors Nicole Stephane and Jacques Bernard, and assistant director Claude Pinoteau, Around Jean Cocteau (2003), a short video by filmmaker discussing Cocteau and Melville's working relationship, theatrical trailer, behind-the-scenes stills, and a booklet featuring a new essay by critic Gary Indiana and an excerpt from Rui Nogueira's Melville on Melville. French with English subtitles. France, 1949, 105 mins. DVD | $59.95