cafeman, does include the clip from Midnight Cowboy and Nilson's, "Everbody's Talkin' " on the soundtrack? If anything was to be cut, it would be that - and its a humourous moment, as it is corss-cutted with Melville walking into Rue Jenner wearing trademark stetson hat!

I definitely don`t remember those two, in fact in my memory, the only clips included were the ones from Melville`s films. Still, I found the insight into my favorite director nothing less than fascinating even without the clips. I mean, all of his statements are left intact, and that`s the most important thing anyway.

As for L`Ambree des Ombres, I can`t wait for it on Crit, but I don`t think it apoproaches his best work. It`s certainly a lesser movie than Le Samourai, Le Cercle Rouge, Le Deuxieme Souffle and La Silence de la Mer, to name a few. Well, to me at least.

I absolutely agree! It is indeed a fascinating, unusual 'interview' piece. Melville, as Hitchcock once said of himself, is his films; when Melville speaks, you immediately say to yourself, Yes, this man made those totally unique films. It will be interesting to see the archive interviews that Critrion have dug up for Le Samourai.



Hmm. It's a different film in many ways to his other films, yet it also shares many themes, ie honour, ambiguous moral codes amongst men, etc. The austerity in L'Armee des Ombres is striking at times. Few 'War' films can match it for its total lack of sentimentality and romantic interludes, so it is definately an acquired taste and 'experience' and understanding of Melville's worldview and style are essential, I feel. Lino Ventura is an amazing presence in this film - his subtle gestures are beautifully done.

Criterion probably ought to release more Melville next year:

Le Silence de la Mer (1949)
Les Enfants terribles (1950) - BFI edition is good
Quand tu liras cette lettre (1953)
Deux hommes dans Manhattan (1959)
Léon Morin, prêtre (1961) - BFI edition is good
Le Doulos (1962) - BFI edition is good
L'Aîné des Ferchaux (1963)
Le Deuxième souffle (1966)
L'Armée des ombres (1969)

Take your pick, Criterion: I'll buy them all!


EDIT: The BBFC in rated L'Armee "12A" on July 26 for the BFI.

Great news! Hopefully we'll see a DVD this year!

I`d get the BFI, but I`m scared because of the Cercle Rouge snafu. Either way, the Criterion is coming out eventually.

I hope someone goes for Deuxieme Souffle qand Le Silence de la Mer, his two best unreleased films. Also, someone should finally get around to 'Two Men' and 'Letter'. Aine des Ferchaux, while not completely without interest, doesn`t hold a candle to his other films.

Isn`t it fascinating how he never made a truly bad film?

Well, in the eyes of some.

Apart from the opening of Un Flic that movie is truly a bad film.

Actually, I consider it one of his best. The plot is paper thin, but the film is a fine example of how a movie can fly solely on the strength of its direction. The opening holdup, the train scene and the ending shootout are perhaps three Melville`s greatest scenes.

Full specs are up on Criterion's site:

- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- New video interviews with Rui Nogueira, author of Melville on Melville, and Ginette Vincendeau, author of Jean-Pierre Melville: An American in Paris
- Archival interviews with Melville and actors Alain Delon, François Périer, Nathalie Delon, and Cathy Rosier
- Theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: a 29-page booklet featuring film scholar David Thomson, filmmaker John Woo, and selections from Melville on Melville

Street Date has been bumped, but yet the essay is available (same for the other October titles):

http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.as ... tion=essay

Back cover image scan is up at Criteriondvd.com, and thank god it is the 105 minutes version.

Here

I am still puzzled by the fact that they managed to create a 29 pages booklet

Strange that the blurb does not include the obligatory, "The Criterion Collection is proud to present..." to conclude the gambit.

Nice design though.

Yes, a dull and trivial post, by yours truly! I'll try to add something more substantial:

Le Samouraï, for me, is one of the archetypal 'lonely' films. Melville himself lived a seemingly very solitary life. There was something Schopenhaurian¹ about him, in his own personal statements and, of course, in his austere films where Fate is always the Hunter. Like Schopenhauer, he also had a very mischievous sense of humour, though and this counterbalances the loneliness and sobriety in his best films. Delon's Jef Costello is, undoubtedly, one of Cinema's most lonely and fatalistic figures. Everything he does seems to be ritualistic. The stealing of the first car is one of my favourite moments in all of filmdom: the assured patience and calm, audacious, systematic trials of each of the keys continue to mesmerize me. Bresson's Pickpocket was a strong cinematic influence, technically in such 'Cinema of process' set-pieces, but the film it draws most influence is Frank Tuttle's landmark Noir, This Gun for Hire, starring Alan Ladd.

Another similarity between Melville and Schopenhauer, is Melville's presentation of women as ineffective by-standers in his films. Schopenhauer famously derided women throughout his work, most overtly in his essay, On Women². In Le Samouraï, both Jane - his alibi and the pianist are shown to be ineffective at crucial moments. And take for instance Simone Signoret's peripheral Mathilde character in the otherwise extraordinary, L'Armee des ombres.

Melville's films from Le Doulos on, are all about men and 'their world' and the codes, rituals and problems that this world contains, all smothered in a fatalistic mist. Le Samouraï presents man at his most solitary, self-reliant and emotionally detached. But Costello is a fascinating, almost exotic figure within the crime genre and stands in stark contrast to his Hollywood counterparts.

Stylistically, Le Samouraï is unique and Melville carefully planned the film's aesthetic, even going as far as photocopying the banknotes in monochrome, in order to maintain the colourless scheme of the sets, clothes, etc. The duration of each scene is measured beautifully and the editing is unobtrusive and always has a purpose. "Cinematography by Henri Decaë": one of the most heartening credits one can ever see! He excelled himself here, with wonderful use of light and shadow. The funereal score, by the equally great François de Roubaix complements the film perfectly, utilising moody organ tones to underscore the melancholia that permeates this fatalistic film.

Le Samouraï is a prime example of a sublime, unique, fascinating film that has a seemingly familiar, predictable synopsis that truly has to be seen to be appreciated. And now, thanks to Criterion, you can - and in what will surely be to be a gorgeous transfer and with illuminating supplements, too. Surely one of the most important DVD releases of the year; Heaven knows that it has been long-awaited.


---------------------------------------------

¹ Arthur Schopenhauer: German philosopher (1788-1860) who is noted for his pessimistic, world-weary philosophy, acute understanding of human nature and groundbreaking essays on aesthetics, paying special interest to music, which he considered the supreme achievement in human creativity.

² "Women are suited to being the nurses and teachers of our earliest childhood precisely because they themselves are childish, silly and short-sighted, in a word big children, their whole lives long: a kind of intermediate stage between the child and the man, who is the actual human being, ‘man.' One has only to watch a girl playing with a child, dancing and singing with it the whole day, and then ask oneself what, with the best will in the world, a man could do in her place."
- Arthur Schopenhauer: Essays and Aphorisms, translated and edited by R. J. Hollingdale (Penguin 1970), page 81

I'm wondering how exactly a booklet can have 29 pages. They can only come in multiples of four.

Well, it's not a big mystery or anything. The last page is just a blank page ...It's the same with books.

Review up at DVD Talk.

Well, Criterion says:

It's nice when they transfer straight from the o-neg, but it seems slightly reckless too.

You might say the same of creating a new interpositive from the O-neg. There are dangers involved, but as long as experienced, competent people are involved, then it isn't reckless at all. Being a progressive transfer, the O-neg would not have been running at speed, ie 24fps, but scanned one frame at a time, slowly. This is what a progressive transfer is, in case anyone reading this did not know.

It sounds like Criterion have created a gorgeous transfer and a tidy helping of quality supplemental material. I did not expect to see this stunning film released on DVD in the USA this year, but here it is from Criterion, no less. Their coup of the year, surely.

Yes, I got this yesterday and the transfer is indeed gorgeous.The trailer is not in such good shape,so you can compare the both.Indeed Criterion's coup of the year!

I got my copy today. I just did a quick comparison between the Rene Chateau edition and the Criterion and overall, the Criterion is considerably grainier than the RC transfer, but the Criterion has better contrast and brightness. I always felt that the RC edition was too bright. There is a difference in the colour, also, with the Criterion seeming to be - appropriately, I might add - bluer than the RC, which seems to favour yellow more. Which is correct? Neither transfer looks 'wrong' in any way.

I tried to create screen captures to post, but something is wrong with the WinDVD capturing tool: I click on "Save All" but when I look in the folder for the images, they are not there.

It's hard to make a call on this, really. I was surprised at how grainy the Criterion was. The RC is virtually grainless in brightly lit shots, while the Criterion has fine grain throughout. It doesn't bother me at all, though and I suspect that the RC has had DVNR, although both transfer have the same sharpness and fine detail.

Gordon, fuck the picture quality, I want to know what that beast feels like in the flesh

Gordon, since you have both releases can you make any comments on the Aspect Ratio difference? The Rene Chateau is 1.66:1 while the Criterion is 1.85:1, correct? Which one has more picture information? Which one seems more correct?

I performed a clinical comparison of the shot that begins chapter 3 on the Criterion (the shot of the road with the garage on the left).

The Criterion, although framed between 1.78 and 1.85 actually contains more information on the left and right edges than the Rene Chateau, but has a sliver less on the top and bottom edges.

The RC transfer definately looks like a DVNR job, although quite a good one, ie not excessive, but it is softer in the finer details and the sky looks too bright for the time of day (Jef's car has its headlights on as it comes down the road) and has an watercolour appearance, whereas the sky in the Criterion looks 'dynamic' and has that natural 'grainy sky' look that is typical of natural light cinematography of this period.

Overall, I feel that the Criterion is more film-like and has a tougher look and feel to it than the RC edition.

Enough technical waffle. This film floors me every time. From the moment Delon steps out to the street and steps into the car and tries each key, I am hynotized by one of the most dedicated 'Masters of Cinema'. Melville creates a true work of art that could only exist within this medium; a film crafted with passion by a lover of Cinema for lovers of Cinema, but also an elegant meditation on solitude, loneliness, self-reliance and Fate.

Oh, the interviews are excellent, too.

Bring on L'Armee des hombres.

Sounds fantastic. Mine's in the mail, apparently. You're spot on about Melville's amazing eye for small, hypnotic details: it's that procedutral specificity which keeps the almost abstract, iconic characters and story grounded.



I guess you mean L'Armee des ombres, not Melville's little-known spaghetti western!

No, no - L'Armee des hombres, starring James Coburn as an ex-IRA explosives expert and Rod Steiger as a peasant Mexican bandito. No wait...



Actually, the BFI are to release L'Armee des ombres early next year, following the screening of a new print. Ginette Vincendeau confirmed this to me in an email after I went snooping. Lovely lady. I can't recommened her book on Melville enough.

I like the Criterion transfer from a creative standpoint -- there are subtle differences in color and density that work better than the RC. But technically I prefer the RC. I don't like the way it's been compressed; the RC has a much cleaner appearance (and maybe this is due to a different element being used?). And there is intermittent gate-weave that, again, I don't suffer on my other disc. Oh, well -- about typical for a Criterion release of an older film, I guess.