Remarkable Film
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Elevator to the Gallows
Guybrush_Lechuck — 19 years ago(July 19, 2006 08:05 PM)
I picked this up on a whim after seeing it a few times in the Criterion section of the DVD Planet I shop at. The graphic design of the DVD really caught me, and after reading that it was very much a noir film with a Miles Davis soundtrack to boot, I purchased it. After all, I am a bit of a Noir junkie.
After viewing this film I am very glad I made the buy; this film is superb in so many ways. Everything is shot beautifully, and I especially loved the night scenes in Paris. The soundtrack was amazing as well, and complements the film perfectly. This was just an overall terrific movie.
I'm hoping that more people discover this film through the excellent Criterion release. It definitely is deserving of more attention.
"Dammit, Sulik died again! I'm taking back my Mega Powerfist, worthless tribal!" -
Franz_Walsh — 17 years ago(February 04, 2009 05:02 PM)
This is the fifth Louis Malle film I've seen to date and so far so good. Malle's first film, made at the astonishingly ripe age of twenty-four, manages to be very mature and perceptive in its story about the slow burn of unfulfilled romances. Florence was a character that needed a great actress to embody her yearning without a lot of dialogue, and Jeanne Moreau succeeds with great command and presence. Every scene in between the opening and closing close-ups of Moreau is wonderfully taut while also having a sense of leisure. The fact that the former soldier Julien has other motivations for the murder extending beyond his love for Florence and was also an act of his resentment towards an arms dealer's exploitation (the film is filled with references to Algeria) is what makes this more than just a clever noir and elevates it into a deeper and more meaningful experience.
"Elevator to the Gallows" also has a great Miles Davis score that works with the film's emotional center, lush black and white cinematography, and confident direction that only a young man's energy could have accomplished. It's a very good film about desperate people trapped in their own personal elevators. -
zurichpoet — 16 years ago(April 24, 2009 08:26 PM)
Oh man, it's great. All of it. Noir, what it should be. And Miles? Pure art.
How do you feel about this? Noir, knows no dates!
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/11f311da-1fe2-11de-a1df-00144feabdc0.html
"How can we justify omitting Louis Malle from the Gang of Seven (or eight if included)? Yet Malle was already in business on his own before 1959. He ran a small but significant import/export racket, buying in co-artists (Jacques Cousteau in Le Monde du Silence, 1956) before releasing joint ventures, or ordering lengths of conventional art cinema to sell them with his own fashion cut (Les Amants, 1958). He was enlivened, but not engendered, by the New Wave. (We could say Resnais was also in business before 1959, making Nuit et Brouillard (Night and Fog) in 1955. But somehow Resnais seems a figure from "after" rather than "before", toying with the odd creative cap-pistol while awaiting the starting gun." -
LifesWonderful — 15 years ago(June 21, 2010 11:10 PM)
I saw this yesterday and I agree. Everything about this film was so wonderful. Jeanne Moreau did an incredible job. I just really love this movie right now. I'm gonna see more of Malle's films.
I saw blood and I saw stars all in the backseat of your car.
http://weheartit.com/LifesWonderful