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| Alain
Delon, André Bourvil, Gian Maria Volonté, Yves Montand |
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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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Police commissioner: All
men are guilty. They are born innocent, but it doesn't last.
Two ex-convicts, one just released
from jail and another escaped from custody, plan a historic diamond
heist while being pursued by a tenacious police inspector.
 Director
Jean-Pierre Melville, the self-styled, self-named godfather of
the French New Wave and longtime fan of American genre films, was
at the height of his powers as well as his popularity when he produced Le
Cercle Rouge. Not only was the film an international smash
hit, one of the most successful French films ever produced, but
it can be seen as a summation of the director's career. His style,
technique and themes have been whittled down to their essence:
women have been completely relegated to the sidelines to allow
his ultimate heist scenario to be played out by the familiar archetypes
of cynical cops and noble robbers.
The film's impeccable technical execution and top-notch cast made
it an influential entry in the heist genre, with elements
returning in Hollywood thrillers ranging from The French Connection to Heat.
This far-reaching influence would no doubt have amused Melville,
who was paying hommage himself to American classics like The
Asphalt Jungle and countless others. The film does demonstrate
however to what extent an obsessive director like Melville could
invest such a tired old narrative with breathtaking life even in
its seemingly most mundane moments, bringing suspense and a foreboding
sense of tragedy to its characters and events. |
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A French Region 2 release without
subtitles or extras to speak of has been available for some
time. More recently, the Criterion Collection has released
a two-disc special edition, which served as the basis for
this review.
The anamorphic widescreen
image is framed at an aspect ratio of approx. 1.85:1. The
image presented on this DVD is startlingly good. There is
hardly any print damage at all, film grain is very fine and
hardly visible at all in most scenes, and the film's melancholy,
greenish-blue color palette is beautifully rendered.
The cleaned-up monaural sound mix is presented in Dolby Digital
1.0. There is very little hiss, and although most of the
dialouges were dubbed, the film has a surprisingly natural
sound that makes good use of its moody musical score.
This handsome two-disc set
takes its place nicely among the recent string of highly
impressive double-platter releases of cinema classics to
appear from the Criterion Collection. Surprisingly, this
set has no audio commentary track, the first disc holding
nothing but the film itself. Disc two however houses such
an abundance of supporting material that this absence is
all but made up for.
The two main attractions here are the new half-hour interviews with
assistant director Bernard Stora and Rui Noguiera, author
of the book Melville on Melville. Both speakers
cover a great deal of material about the director and cast
in general and the production of Le Cercle Rouge in
particular. They discuss Melville's working methods and the
extreme enmity that existed between the director and actor
Gian Maria Volonté, who at one point left the set for two
days until Alain Delon persuaded him to return and finish
the film.
Most other extras on the disc originate from French television,
starting with the half-hour episode from the documentary film
series Filmmakers
of our Time, offering an intriguingly candid portrait
of the eccentric director. The disc's section
'On-Set and Archival Footage' houses a selection of shorter
material,
ranging from interviews with director and cast members conducted
on the set to promotional TV appearances by Melville and
Delon. In contrast with contemporary promotional TV productions
about film, these clips are overall highly insightful and
do a formidable job at placing the film in its historical
context, as well as offering a tantalizing introduction to
Melville for viewers not yet familiar with his work.
Two nicely presented galleries feature a
wealth of stills along with a wide selection of international
release posters for the film. The original French theatrical
trailer has also been included, along with the similar
2003 American re-release trailer. Finally, a beautifully
designed booklet features essays Cby hris
Fujiwara and Michael Sragow, as well as an excerpt from Noguiera's
book on Melville and an introduction to the film by John
Woo. The
main menu on both discs includes stylized elements from the film
poster. Lay-out and navigation of all menu screens is impeccable
on both discs.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed:
2003
Click
here for IMDB info on Le
Cercle Rouge.
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