Tuesday: Jean-Pierre Melville

Jean-Pierre Melville, 1949 • Melville’s debut film is a lyrical portrait of French resistance to the Nazis during World War II. It chronicles the relationship between a German lieutenant, and a French uncle and niece amidst the German occupation of France. Melville adapted the screenplay from the 1942 book of the same name and even used the author’s house as a location. The film stands out for its use of voice over that lends clarity to the nearly silent uncle and niece. Melville, born Grumbach to Alsatian Jewish parents, fought in the French resistance, making this a decidedly personal work. 35mm Print Courtesy of the French Embassy

John Huston, 1950 • This classic American noir film follows a group of criminals planning and carrying out what is to be the perfect jewel robbery. The heist is methodically planned, as portrayed in a famous eleven minute sequence which Melville would later pay homage to in Le Cercle Rouge. But even a foolproof plan can run amok. The film’s all-star cast includes Sam Jaffe, James Whitmore, and a pre-icon Marilyn Monroe. 35mm

Jean-Luc Godard, 1960 • This seminal work of the New Wave pays homage to Melville both by its stylistics and by including him in a cameo as Mr. Parvulesco. Melville’s influence on Breathless and the New Wave is noted in the use of a small budget, real locations and Godard’s famous jump cut, which Melville apparently inspired when he told the frustrated Godard during editing to cut to the most important part of the scene. The film stars Jean-Paul Belmondo, a careless thief on-the-run, and Jean Seberg, an American journalism student as his love interest. Breathless’ lightness and quirks form its iconic charm. 35mm

Jean-Pierre Melville, 1960 • Notable for its run and gun cinematography throughout various New Your City locations, the movie stars Melville and Pierre Grasset as two French journalists tracking a missing United Nations diplomat and former hero of the French resistance. This is the only performance of Melville in one of his own films apart from a voice over in Bob Le Flambeur. It was Melville’s least successful film and caused him to seriously question the way he made films. However, it has gained wider appreciation with age and is considered by some to be his first true noir film. 35mm

Jules Dassin, 1955 • François Truffaut called Rififi “the best crime film I’ve ever seen.” Melville was originally slated to direct this now-classic film, but deferred to an American director, Jules Dassin, while he struggled to rebuild his career after being black-listed in McCarthy-era Hollywood. Like The Asphalt Jungle, this film tells the tale of a perfect jewel heist that seemingly goes off without a hitch. But, in the crime’s wake, the jig unravels. The heist itself is filmed for thirty minutes, without dialogue or accompaniment. Dassin won best director at Cannes for his efforts. 35mm

Jean-Pierre Melville, 1962 • Based on a novel by Pierre Lesou, Le Doulos is a masterful example of tragic film noir. Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Serge Reggiani, the film deals with trust, loyalty and honor among a pair of criminals when betrayal is in the air. Maurice (Reggiani) has just been released from jail after being sold out by a man he considered a friend. Once out, Maurice undertakes another heist and is forced to trust his life to Silien (Belmondo), a suspected police informant. The film begs the crucial question: can anyone be trusted in a world when deception enables survival? 35mm

Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967 • Rogert Ebert wrote of what is widely-considered Melville’s most accomplished film, “Like a painter or a musician, a filmmaker can suggest complete mastery with just a few strokes. Jean-Pierre Melville involves us in the spell of Le Samouraï before a word is spoken.” Jef Costelo (Alain Delon) is a fedora wearing hired gun with an air of coolness unmatched in cinematic history. 35mm Print Courtesy of the French Embassy

Frank Tuttle, 1942 • Adapted from the novel A Gun For Sale by Graham Greene, this important early film noir provided a breakout role for Alan Ladd as Philip Raven, a solitary and ruthless hit man who is double crossed by his client. Melville borrowed heavily from this film in his own Le Samouraï; Delon’s character Costelo closely parallels Ladd’s Raven. Both are cold, calculating, and, strangely, only able to love their pets, for Raven a cat and for Costelo a canary. 35mm

Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969 • Shunned in France during its initial release and unseen in the US for almost forty years, The Army of Shadows was hailed by many critics in the United States as the top film of 2006 upon its release. Melville revisits the French resistance to Nazi occupation, which he mined for his early Le Silence de la Mar, and offers a bleak portrayal of a group of resistance fighters as they try to flee the Gestapo. These heroes are laden with many human frailties and at times look out for their own interest at the expense of others. Stellar performances and moody color cinematography add up to a true masterwork. 35mm

Jean-Pierre Melville, 1970 • This is Melville’s penultimate and, arguably, best work. Perfectly photographed by Henri Decaë and scored by Eric Demarsan, the film follows Corey (Alain Delon), Vogel (Gian-Maria Volonté), and Jansen (Yves Montand) on what is to be the heist to end all heists. The three men must overcome Le Commissaire Mattei (the French comedian Bourvil) and the hand of fate in this ultimately tragic masterpiece. The famous heist scene, mirroring a similar scene in Dassin’s Rififi, is completely devoid of words and lasts almost thirty minutes. It is one of the most engrossing cinematic experiences ever committed to celluloid. 35mm