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Marie supports a bonnet made of gold, her hair encapsulates, entwines and folds, she's a hoodlum's fancy doll, not the happiest of moll, but then Georges Manda starts to dance, and takes a hold. A few days later theirs a fight behind a bar, the two adversaries will scrap and fight and spar, with a blade casually tossed, by Leca, the gangster boss, leaving one with injuries, that will not scar.

Still an engrossing tale of love, honour and deceit, all centred around Marie, beautifully portrayed and performed by Simone Signoret, as she tries to escape the gangs and back alleys of Paris for a man she's recently fallen for.

Despite the corsets and petticoats and horse-drawn cabs, this lush, richly textured film has more in common with the bleak, fatalistic modern-dress films of the period than with conventional historical romance. The action takes place over the course of only a few days, but in France that's long enough for a passion strong enough to change a life, or end it--more than one man dies because of the bewitching Marie and her golden hair that shines like the sun. The intensity of the characters' emotions and the suddenness of their violence is powerfully countered by the reserve of the playing--of the solemn, laconic toughs and of Simone Signoret as Marie. In moments of great emotion, her slight smile changes to a broad one, but with her lips still closed. There's none of the giggling and wriggling that marked the other blonde Fifties sex symbols, Bardot and Monroe, and countless others since, and obviously no nudity, total or partial, but in her morning-after scene with Serge Reggiani, you can practically smell smoke.

Like Zola's Nana, Marie is neither a villain nor a victim, simply an elemental force of nature. This elemental-woman business can, in French and non-French movies, be pretentious and unwittingly comic, but there's none of that here, because neither Signoret nor the director indulge in any fancy dialogue or vocal tricks to play up how alluring she is--they don't have to. We are always aware of Marie as a figure of enormous strength, with a broad, strong back, round shoulders spilling out of her blouse, and a mouth too wide for coyness.

In an otherwise favourable review, Pauline Kael said that the film's tone was slightly trashy, as if it were saying, of the low-life characters, "Look, they have feelings too." I disagree--the scene of the wealthy, slumming group in evening dress who find the characters "marvelously amusing" show us what Becker thinks of that viewpoint and implicitly reproaches anyone who shares it.

Simone Signoret and Serge Reggiani star in "Casque d'Or," a 1952 film also starring Claude Dauphin and William Sabatier.

Signoret plays Marie, the kept woman of a good-looking gangster, Roland (Sabatier), but she is also desired by the gang's boss Felix Leca (Dauphin). One night she is introduced to Manda (Reggiani), a carpenter who, after a prison term, is trying to go straight. The two have an instant attraction, which angers the jealous Roland.

After a fight in which Roland is killed, Leca sees a way to get rid of Manda too. But Marie steps in, and the result is tragedy.

This is a beautifully photographed film that takes place in the 1890s, the Belle Epoque. Signoret is the center of a story about passion and love, as well as the lives of women back then at the hands of their keepers, and the brutality. Jacques Becker frames each scene magnificently.

Signoret wasn't in any way a typical star by Hollywood standards. She had a raw sexuality and sensuality, a voluptuous figure, and an earthy presence that gave her the edge over all of them. Each film she was in was elevated by her presence. You can well believe all three of the men in this film desired her.

Highly recommended.

In a poll in 1979 ,Becker's chef d'oeuvre was part of the top ten of the best French movies of all time.

It's arguably Becker's best work;he achieved a luminous movie with many unforgettable scenes : -the small boats on the river,and the pack arriving at the guinguettes,those cafes down by the river Seine which are no longer part of the landscapes.(remember Duvivier's "la belle équipe" ,1936) -all the scenes in the country where the nature seems to protect the lovers as a mother would do.Most of all,this admirable sequence when Reggiani 's sleeping :he opens his eyes and Marie's luminous beauty moves him deeply -never a director filmed Signoret as Becker did- -The scene which climaxes the opus is the one in the church.They hear the whole congregation sing the "Kyrie " in a tiny church:there's a wedding there.So Marie urges Manda to come in and they attend the ceremony.When they leave ,they learn tragic news.Now the bell is tolling for them,even if these are wedding bells.

-The final scenes between Reggiani/Manda and his old pal Bussières /Raymond display Becker's love of loyalty,manly friendship ,a subject which would come back in later works ,muted in "touchez pas au grisbi" and became an absolute pessimism in "le trou" where nobody could be trusted anymore.

-The score which Becker used in the last sequences is none other than the old French folk song "le temps des cerises" actually an organizing song,a revolutionary song ,since it was the anthem of the Commune in 1871.

"Casque d'or" is one of the jewels of the French cinema.Becker used to like the Apaches (=ruffians) ,the outcast,cause he would transfer Leblanc's Arsene Lupin adventures to the screen in 1957.A failed attempt though.But "Casque d'or" generally looked upon as Becker's peak ,hasn't aged a bit.

Jacques Becker was an artist and a director. His legacy is a trilogy of masterpieces: "Casque d'Or", "Touchez pas au Grisbi", "Le Trou", three luminous instances of cinema as art.

The linear story of "Casque d'Or" has the neatness of a Maupassant's tale. We are transferred into a most glorious epoch for French culture and art: the decline of the 19th century, the age of Impressionism. Marie (Simone Signoret) is a blond beauty, a cheerful "lost woman". She's the girl-friend of a member of a gang of small-time but ruthless criminals. She falls in first-sight-love with George Manda (Serge Reggiani) a former crook, now a honest carpenter. Predictable troubles ensue...

The atmosphere of the epoch is wonderfully recreated, with a black-and-white photography of indescribable beauty. An Impressionist Master behind the camera couldn't have done better. And, in fact, Becker was a favorite "student" of director Jean Renoir, Auguste Renoir's son. Becker's characteristic narrating style is nostalgic, serene, gently ironic. He deliberately avoids over-dark tones in his representation of the underworld, even in the middle of tragic events.

Simone Signoret is a charismatic presence on the screen: outstanding is her use of body-language to draw Marie's character, both a romantic enamoured woman and a cynical harlot. Reggiani is excellent as the laconic, tough Manda: he utters some twenty words along the whole movie, yet we perfectly understand his peculiar honor code, his profound love for Marie, his unselfish devotion to friendship. Splendid is Leca (Claude Dauphin), the boss of the gang, officially a respectable well-off wine-dealer: proficient, cool-headed, extremely cunning and Machiavellian, always ready to betray his own men to pursue his dirty purposes. Indeed, great care is paid to the design of all characters, with superb acting by the whole cast.

Exquisite poetic touches permeate the movie... Marie drags Manda into a church, where a simple wedding (of unknown middle-class people) is taking place. Shortly after, Manda is impatient "Let's go"; and Marie "No, just another minute"... and she contemplates the wedding with a dreaming smile...

"Casque d'Or": a perfect work of art.

Jacques Becker's CASQUE D'OR (Golden Helmet 1952), an underworld romance set in Paris during "La Belle Epoque", stars Simone Signoret as the titular blonde prostitute who's star-crossed amour reveals the agony and ecstasy of love. The buxom Signoret plays Marie, the moll of an Apache gangster, who meets Manda, an ex-con gone straight, at an al fresco dance hall and it's love at first sight for both of them. The pair soon throw caution to the wind, setting off a chain-reaction of jealousy, murder, double-crosses, and revenge that can only end in tragedy. All of the characters are sharply etched but it's Simone Signoret's Marie who literally shines. The tough and tender demimonde can't take her eyes off Manda (a quiet, determined Serge Reggiani) from the moment they meet until the bitter end and she's often bathed in an ethereal light. The duplicity-free Marie is also the quintessential femme fatale who proves bad luck to any man who covets her. The era is imaginatively realized and a number of scenes are reminiscent of Impressionist paintings yet, like Marie's unconscious duality, there's darkness in the light with an undercurrent of understated but potent sex and violence. Highly recommended and loosely based on an incident in the life of a bisexual bonvivant, one Amélie Hélie:

"The bands of roughnecks of Belleville were also a passionate lot, not like the cynical pimps of Montmartre and La Chapelle. Here a man took out a knife for a girl he really cared for. In 1902 the story of 'Casque d'Or' made the headlines throughout Paris, both east and west. Two enemy bands of Apaches Mohicans de Paris - sporting their customary insignia of caps, bell-bottom trousers and polka-dotted scarves, had taken to the streets that lay between Belleville and Charonne: 'Le Popincourt' headed by the Corsican Leca, 'Les Orteaux' by Manda, l'Homme! The object of their dispute was not territory but a girl called Amélie Hélie, nicknamed 'Casque d'Or', with a stunning, golden-reddish mane. The confrontation turned into a fullscale pitched battle on Rue des Haies, in which neither knife blades nor guns were spared. To the inquisitive public prosecutor Manda retorted during his trial: 'We fought each other, the Corsican and myself, because we love the same girl. We are crazy about her. Don't you know what it is to love a girl?' Manda was unquestionably a soulmate of Piaf. Condemned to deportation and hard labour - Manda for life, Leca for eight years - the two men met on the island of Saint-Martin-de-Ré. When finally they spoke to each other, it was about 'Casque d'Or'. She meanwhile wasted no time bewailing her unfortunate suitors, but turned for solace to the world of entertainment and the company of wealthier men. However, one of Leca's faithful followers had been contemplating revenge and stabbed her one night in the establishment where she sang. Although she survived, she could no longer perform as a singer and it is only thanks to her portrayal by the legendary Simone Signoret in Jacques Becker's movie that she has not fallen into oblivion. The real Amélie Hélie ended by marrying an ordinary workman and died forgotten on 16 April 1933. She was buried in the cemetery of Bagnolet."

CASQUE D'OR's release was briefly delayed when Amélie's widower attempted to take out an injunction against it, claiming the film invaded his late wife's privacy. The case was soon thrown out when it was revealed that Hélie had appeared on stage, playing herself, in a drama entitled "Casque d'or et les Apaches".

After being released from prison where he served five years for an undisclosed crime, Georges Manda (Serge Reggiani), a soft-looking, taciturn man with a handlebar moustache, becomes a hard working carpenter, determined to go straight. When Raymond (Raymond Bussieres), a fellow gang member with whom he served time in prison, introduces him to Marie (Simone Signoret) at a dance, however, the solid foundation he was trying to build begins to come unglued. Signoret, one of the classiest and most elegant actresses, is strikingly irresistible as the moll of a suave gang leader in Jacques Becker's 1952 masterpiece Casque D'or. Considered a failure when it first opened but, after receiving critical acclaim in New York, the film developed a wider audience in France and has now become a classic, newly restored on a Criterion DVD.

Set in Paris in the 1890s and based on actual police accounts, Casque D'or is not an arid period piece or costume drama, but a rich, vibrant, and lovingly evocative work that successfully recreates the ambiance of Paris at the turn of the century. Unlike Melville's Le Samourai which was filmed in near darkness to capture the sullen milieu of the underworld, Becker bathes his film in a dazzling poetic light that belies the darkness of its theme and some scenes have been compared to an impressionist painting. Marie is being "kept" by Roland (William Sabatier), a volatile and jealous dandy and is also sought after by the crime boss Felix Leca (Claude Dauphin). Manda and Marie fall in love but soon Manda runs afoul of the law after killing the jealous Roland in a fight. Leca seizes on this opportunity to remove Manda from the picture by framing his closest friend but doesn't count on Manda's dedication to doing what is right.

Despite being about the criminal element, there is little violence in Casque D'or and it is more of an moody romance than a crime drama, perhaps accounting for its initial failure at the box office. The most brilliantly realized sequence takes place at a countryside retreat where Manda and Marie go for a few hours of happiness together before the inevitable denouement. Casque D'or is a film about friendship, loyalty, and, most of all, about passion and its consequences. When Marie hears wedding bells and drags Manda into a church, all he can say is "not now", but his expression suggests that he knows that their love will be a dream that fades into dawn.

The basic question at the heart of Jacques Becker's 1952 film Casque d'or is whether Simone Signoret is worth destroying your entire life over. The logical answer would be no. She's pretty, but she ain't that pretty. Becker's answer is the opposite of mine. Serge Reggiani plays the ex-con, now working as a carpenter, who has the misfortune to be introduced to Signoret by his old prison buddy. Fed up with her gangster boyfriend, Signoret gleefully accepts an invitation to dance, and makes sure her boyfriend knows just how gleefully. That opens up a can of worms that the dummy could just as easily have walked away from unopened. All this film really has going for it is general prettiness. Not only Signoret, but the costumes and the cinematography are very nice. The story itself is entertaining enough, I guess, but for most of the film I was just shaking my head thinking how Simone Signoret was so not worth the trouble.

Jacques Becker's "Casque d'or" is a fine example of the best in the French cinema. At times, this splendid 1954 film, keeps reminding us about paintings of the impressionist school, especially Renoir, because it takes us back to that era. In fact, the beginning of the film almost gives the impression we are witnessing characters that inspired the painters of that art movement.

"Casque d'or" is enhanced by the magnificent black and white photography of Robert Lefevbre who has a poetic way to get the best of what M. Becker intended him to do. The atmospheric music of Georges Van Parys takes the viewer back to those places one has seen in different paintings of that era.

The lovely young woman at the center of the picture, Marie, gets taken with Manda the moment he enters the country restaurant where she is seen with some of the petty criminals she is friendly with. One realizes this is a passion that is not meant to be from the start. Marie belongs to one of the Felix Leca's gang. When Roland senses his girl has an eye for another man, he wants to take get rid of him.

Georges Manda has also been to jail, but now is a carpenter and trying to go straight. Fate is not kind to Manda, who, when provoked, reveals he is not to be made a fool. Leca, who is also quite smitten by Marie's beauty plans to get rid of Manda so he can have the blonde woman all to himself. Leca, who knows his way around the law, and is friendly with the police, will prove to be Manda's undoing.

What Jacques Becker achieved with this film was to create the right atmosphere to set his story. Working in France he had the access to the great movie locations one sees in the movie. The film evokes that period convincingly. The director adds touches, that even when watched today, are a delight to watch.

M. Becker got good performances out of his cast. Simone Signoret at that point of her life was at her prime. Her Marie is a fine example of what she was able to project without much effort. Her beauty is evident and she plays Marie with elegance. Serge Reggiani plays Manda with conviction. M. Reggiani covered quite a lot of ground in the French cinema. Aside from his good looks, he was an accomplished actor and singer. His contribution to our enjoyment of the film made "Casque d'or" to be a classic it became. Claude Dauphin is Felix Leca, the unscrupulous man in love with Marie who will stoop so low in order to get the woman that he wouldn't have otherwise. M. Dauphin conveys the evil in Felix Leca with an economy that works well in his portrayal of this sophisticated monster.

Finally, this is Jacques Becker's triumph. "Casque d'or" is one of the best films of all times.

A beautiful film, "Casque d'Or" refuses to be cataloged as a tale at the edge of melodrama and opts for tragedy in a poetic tone rarely expressed with so much visual richness and verbal economy. The story is set during the "belle époque," between prostitutes and "Apaches" (name given to marginal Parisians in late 19th century and early 20th century), based on a real case occurred in 1902, a love triangle between a streetwalker and two ruffians, played by a radiant Simone Signoret as the prostitute Marie (nicknamed "Casque d'Or" for her blonde mane), Serge Reggiani as the carpenter she falls in love with, and Claude Dauphin as a ruthless ruler of pimps and wine dealer. The story evolves with violent effusions and moments of intense lyricism, expressed through beautiful black & white images and characterizations where gestures and glances shine with precision - especially Simone Signoret's eyes, as when she says goodbye to her future lover in a ballroom next to the river. Jacques Becker turned it into a masterpiece, so by the late 1950s he was not targeted by the attacks of the "nouvelle vague" rebels (Chabrol, Truffaut, Godard et al). It is good to remember that these young men, although they made good films, quite often made unfair judgments of the cinema of old masters, as Carné, Clouzot or Duvivier... because they wanted to make cinema and the industry did not give them entrance. I do not know if Carné, Clouzot or Duvivier, who made "cinéma de papa" (pejorative term coined by Truffaut) had any fault, but some of the films that were rejected are far from being despicable productions, and in many cases far superior than their detractors' own movies. In any case, Becker did two more great works, "Hands Off the Loot" in 1954 with Jean Gabin and Dora Doll, and in 1960 his last film, "The Hole" (Le trou), a classic drama about a jailbreak. "Casque d'Or" is absolutely recommended.

Simone Signoret plays a beautiful woman of ill repute who is at the center of several men's affections - her hotheaded gangster boyfriend, an ex-criminal who's turned over a new leaf, and the leader of the gang himself. It's a pretty simple story but very well told by Jacques Becker, with the scenes involving a double cross and its brilliant ending standing out. The cinematography is wonderful, including an outdoor dance evoking the paintings of Renoir, a beautiful walk along the riverside, and the claustrophobic cells inside a police van. Signoret is radiant, defiant even as she's slapped around and with an air of sweet happiness when she's able to get away from it all, and Serge Reggiani is strong as well. Really just a solid film, one that expresses the spirit of France in the 1950's via its filmmaking, and a small window into the Belle Époque as well.

Not being a Becker fan *at all* I guess I can be objective. This film is enjoyable like if it weren't a classic. Once begun, you'll want to watch it till the end. Simone looks gorgeous here, IMDb reviewer "pzanardo" from Padova, Italy is right when he writes that the director seems to have filmed her specially well. By the way, have you noticed how bad Italians fare on French period films? Thérèse Raquin (1953) from the next year is one of a string of examples...

The Mafia aspect is so naive it's almost lovable in comparison with nowadays'. So is the city, the police, the woman/man relationships, class divisions... Félix Leca's character is stereotype incarnate, but at the same time very "believable", in spite of his constant narcissism and tics.

Trevor Willsmer on Amazon is right at why it works: we expect a romantic period piece but during the knives fight in the beginning we realize crime is never nice, only made to look so. Yet somehow, our aesthetically expectations still are about something "nice", while the plot is dark. The police seems like a pantomime, in most of the film the State seems to be absent, and Félix the only one who does the thinking for everybody. The romance is almost enhanced by the heavy censorship. Nothing whatsoever is "shown" (even a kiss on the grass turns into the sky :)) but you feel enough passion. Signoret specially knows how to vibrate with a swagger attitude. Look at her entering a bar, greeting everybody, self assured and always knowing how to deal with men. Manda on the contrary, is a "too perfect hero" to be of my liking. My favourite scene is when he's doing nothing with a branch and she takes the initiative: "Kiss me" and then we have to watch the sky, if not, we'll burn :).

Randy Buck on Amazon is right the film has a sort of documentary feel totally lacking in "Gangs of New York", that Willsmer writes was heavily influenced by this gem.

Then only moment Félix Leca looses the grip of authority is when he is responsible of Raymond's death. Even thugs have rules... On the contrary, when they dispose of the blonde barman who talked too much, only the dumbest of them feels sorry for it.

It's true it's not exactly believable that a mobster would be so cautious and "Machiavellian" when he could just grab and use the lady, but, sincerely, I don't care for feasibility in this sort of films.

It's only with a twinge of nostalgia that I corroborate the swarm of reviewers & fans this film has. I'm absolutely glad about it, as of having watched this film.

Film by Becker about a criminal gang in the belle époque in France. If one compares "Casque d'Or" with "Touchez pas au grisbi" ( a film Becker would make two years later), it strikes that in "Casque d'Or" the criminal world is just as tough but the film is somehow more endearing.

Maybe this has something to do with the fact that "Casque d'Or" combines crime with romance whereas "Touchez pas au grisbi" combines crime with nostalgia.

Another explanation could be that "Casque d'Or" is situated farther back in time, as accentuated by the fashion of the day (bowler hat). In "Casque d'Or" we imagine ourselves in the world of Guy de Maupassant.

As already said the more innocent atmosphere of "Casque d'or" has nothing to do with the level of violence in both films. On the contrary. The loyalty between the gang members is bigger in "Touchez pas au grisbi", while in "Casque d'or" gang members don't hesitate to cheat on one another if profitable.

The title "Casque d'or" (golden helmet) is derived from the haircut Marie (the central gangster's sweetheart in the story, played by Simone Signoret) wears.

This film, usually considered as Becker's masterpiece, is based on police files and court cases in Paris around 1900.

From falling in love to the final tragic outcome, both Signoret and Reggiani play exceptional parts, but for me in a style of performance which today is evidently much dated. Despite the heavy drama of the story-line, one cannot overcome the feeling that one is seeing something extremely quaint in a historical sense; it is as if you are transported to an other-worldliness, so distant it is to film-making today.

For connoisseurs of this genre of European cinema of very bygone days.

You might like to compare with my brief notes on "La Ronde" (1950), also featuring Signoret and Reggiani.