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| Roger Duchesne, Isabelle Corey, Daniel
Gauchy |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Voice-over
narration: And so Bob plays his final hand.
A
professional gambler is tempted into planning one last heist, and puts
together a gang to rob a casino.
 A
fairly obscure early film from influential French New Wave director
Jean-Pierre Melville (best known for later work like Le Samouraï
and Un Flic), Bob le flambeur was suddenly rediscovered
in the US in the late 1970s, and has since built up a solid reputation
as a key work, immaculately combining the American gangster movie traditions
with the more liberated subtleties of the burgeoning Nouvelle Vague
style. The director's infatuation with the visual style of American
film noir of the preceding decade pervades the film's immaculate
lighting schemes, adding a sense of realism by shooting the film in
almost exclusively in actual locations. The characters also are straight
out of The Asphalt Jungle, but again with a more modern focus,
especially when it comes to the female characters and the film's open-minded
sexual politics.
But interesting as the film is, it lacks the magnetic pull that makes
better-known French films of this period such enduring classics. The
first half hour is especially slow, leisurely introducing the characters
without moving towards the actual plot until near the end of the second
reel. Once the narrative starts to move, the pace does pick up quite
a bit, and the film moves elegantly towards its nicely ambivalent climax.
Roger Duchesne in the title role has an iconic presence that's always
an impressive on-screen presence, but his character remains at arm's
length, never pulling the viewer into the stream of events like American
counterparts Sterling Hayden or Humphrey Bogart could so effortlessly.
It makes Bob le Flambeur a hugely interesting and mostly entertaining
semi-classic of 1950s French cinema. |
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Only
available as a Region 1 DVD release from the Criterion Collection.
The
fullscreen image is framed at its original aspect ratio of approx. 1.33:1.
The transfer presented on this DVD looks terrific, especially considering
the film's modest budget, extended shooting schedule and more than respectable
age. The source print is all but devoid of scratches, dust and debris,
and only a very minor amount of very fine film grain can is visible,
and then only in a few sequences. Yet another flawless presentation
courtesy of the Criterion Collection.
The original monaural sound mix is presented in the center Dolby Digital
channel, and remains mostly free of hiss, pops or other signs of wear,
resulting in an excellent soundtrack.
An
audio commentary track from a film scholar specialized in the early
French New Wave would have been a most welcome addition and a helpful
tool in understanding the themes and working methods of Melville in
this film. But its absence is somewhat made up for by a highly informative
interview with aging actor Daniel Gauchy, who speaks affably
about this production, which was his third film when he joined the cast
but his seventh by the time it was finally finished. An older radio
interview with director Jean-Pierre Melville sheds further light
on the film's background, but the long excerpt from the book Melville
on Melville printed in the nicely designed booklet is actually much
more incisive and illuminating. The theatrical trailer is also
on board the disc.Beautifully
designed static menu screens offer access to the disc's features. Navigation
options are once again impeccably laid out.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: July
6, 2002
Click
here for IMDB info on Bob
le flambeur.
Click here
to return to the front page.
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