Notícias

Louis Malle’s French thriller is cooler than cool — his first dramatic film is a slick suspense item with wicked twists of fate and images to die for: 1) Jeanne Moreau at the height of her beauty 2) walking through beautifully lit Parisian back streets 3) accompanied by a fantastic Miles Davis soundtrack. Murder in Paris doesn’t get any better.

Elevator to the Gallows

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 335

1957 / B&W / 1:66 anamorphic 16:9 / 88 min. / Ascenseur pour l’échafaud, Frantic / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date March 6, 2018 / 39.95

Starring: Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Georges Poujouly, Yori Bertin, Jean Wall, Iván Petrovich, Elga Andersen, Lino Ventura, Charles Denner.

Cinematography: Henri Decaë

Film Editor: Léonide Azar

Original Music: Miles Davis

Written by Louis Malle, Roger Nimier, Noël Calef from his novel

Produced by Jean Thuillier

Directed by Louis Malle

French director Louis Malle’s first fiction film is an assured and artistically adventurous suspense item. Unlike...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: April 22, 2014

Price: DVD $24.95, Blu-ray $29.95

Studio: Olive Films

Paul Muni stars in 1952's Stranger on the Prowl.

Paul Muni (I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang) stars in the 1952 film noir drama Stranger on the Prowl, which is based on a story by novelist Noël Calef (Elevator to the Gallows).

The film stars Muni as a disillusioned vagrant who accidentally kills a shop owner. While on the lam he befriends a young street urchin (Vittorio Manunta) who suspects the police are after him for stealing milk from the same shop owner. The police pursue the two lost souls through the war-torn streets and buildings of an Italian port city.

Upon its initial American release, Stranger on the Prowl’s credits read: written and directed by Andrea Forzano. In truth Forzano was two people: screenwriter Ben Barzman (Back to Bataan) and director Joseph Losey (The Romantic Englishwoman,...