L’Armée des ombres

079446 / 16 / FR / 1969 / Melville, Jean-Pierre / war
Armée des ombres, L’ / Tuntemattomat sankarit / Maanalainen armeija (video). PC: Films Corona (Nanterre), Fono Roma. EX: Jacques Dorfmann. P: Robert Dorfmann. D+SC: Jean-Pierre Melville - based on the novel by Joseph Kessel (1943). DP: Pierre Lhomme. AD: Théo Meurisse. CAST: Lino Ventura (Philippe Gerbier), Paul Meurisse (Luc Jardie), Simone Signoret (Mathilde), Jean-Pierre Cassel (Jean-François Jardie), Claude Mann (Le Masque), Christian Barbier (Le Bison). 143’. 1,66. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Mindele London / Maya Vanni. Print: SEA / Kinoyhtiö - short version, colour fading in some scenes, duration: 122’. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Wednesday 18 March 1998. **** In Finnish cinemas, a short 122’ version of the film was released. The full version has only been seen on TV and on video. - I have never seen the full version of this film, and would rather wait for the chance of seeing it on the screen than checking the video, since this story about ”the army of the shadows” is very darkly lit. - Each of Melville’s three Resistance films - Le Silence de la mer, Léon Morin, and L’Armée des ombres - is very powerful, and they all have a new aspect to reveal. The first two are about passive resistance, and the last one, finally, about the active one, where Melville can draw on his own experience. The fact that the film so closely resembles Melville’s gangster films has been a cause for criticism. I would rather think that the gangster films have a metaphorical dimension: their sadness is based on the experience of the Occupation and the presence of Holocaust.

Le deuxième souffle / Second Wind

Jean-Pierre Melville: Le deuxième souffle / Second Wind (FR 1966) with Lino Ventura (Gustave Minda = Gu) and Christine Fabrega (Manouche). 

075522 / 16 / FR / 1966 / Melville, Jean-Pierre / crime
Deuxième souffle, Le / Toinen hengenveto / Andra andningen. © Les Productions Montaigne. P: Charles Lumbroso, André Labay. D+SC: Jean-Pierre Melville - based on the novel Un règlement de comptes by José Giovanni. DP: Marcel Combes. CAST: Lino Ventura (Gustave Minda = Gu), Paul Meurisse (inspector Blot), Raymond Pellegrin (Paul Ricci), Christine Fabrega (Manouche), Pierre Zimmer (Orloff), Michel Constantin (Alban), Marcel Bozzufi (Jo Ricci). 150’. B&w 1,66. Visa de contrôle 31941. Print: SEA / Adams-filmi. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Tuesday 3 March 1998. **** Gustave Minda, ”the Public Enemy”, escapes from prison and gets in shape for one final break. An infernal web of conflicting loyalties between criminal syndicates is spun, and the police plays the gangsters against one another. It all culminates in a tragic bloodbath. This is the long version, where everyday incidents and patient waiting build a special kind of tension which explodes in short economical bursts of action. The cinematography is grim and the ensemble of actors is first rate.

Le Doulos

Jean-Pierre Melville: Le Doulos (FR 1962). Jean-Paul Belmondo (Silien), Serge Reggiani (Maurice Faugel).

072162 / 18 / FR / 1962 / Melville, Jean-Pierre / thriller

Doulos, Le / Ilmiantaja. © Rome-Paris-Films. P: Carlo Ponti, Georges de Beauregard. D+SC: Jean-Pierre Melville – based on the novel by Pierre Lesou. DP: Nicolas Hayer. M: Paul Misraki; piano M: Jacques Loussier. CAST: Jean-Paul Belmondo (Silien), Serge Reggiani (Maurice Faugel), Jean Desailly (Inspector Clain). 108’. B&w 1,66. Visa de contrôle 26164. Print: SEA / Adams-filmi. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Orion, Thursday 26 February 1998. **** A key Melville work revisited. Silien is the diabolic stool pigeon who manipulates everybody by his well-timed information to the police. His web of deceit completely baffles everybody, and it all leads to a massacre of Shakespearean proportions.

Léon Morin, prêtre

060477 / G / FR / 1961 / Melville, Jean-Pierre / drama
Léon Morin, prêtre / Kiusaus. © Rome-Paris-Films. P: Carlo Ponti, Georges de Beauregard. D+SC: Jean-Pierre Melville - based on the novel by Beatrix Beck (1952). DP: Henri Decaë. CAST: Emmanuelle Riva (Barny), Jean-Paul Belmondo (Léon Morin), Nicole Mirel (Sabine Lévy). 128’. B&w 1,66. Visa de contrôle 24334. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Aito Mäkinen / Jerker A. Eriksson. Print: SEA / Eurooppalainen filmi - short 115’ version. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Tuesday 24 February 1998. **** This film is unique in Melville’s oeuvre in many ways and deeply personal in a way apparently different from his thrillers. It is an Occupation drama with a rich texture of authentic detail. It tells the story of a strong Platonic Lesbian relationship. Children, missing from almost all other Melville films, play an important part here. The figure of the priest is one of the most memorable in the history of the cinema. He can be compared with Father O’Malley in Going My Way or preacher Gruffdydd in How Green Was My Valley. What he says is always original and profound. The French Catholic church accepted the film by the devout Atheist Melville. There is more to the film than Melville admitted. Léon Morin is a profound film about the presence of Judaism in Christianity.

Bob le Flambeur / Bob the Gambler

Jean-Pierre Melville: Bob le Flambeur / Bob the Gambler (FR 1955). Isabelle Corey (Anne). Roger Duchesne (Bob le Flambeur).

092722 / 12 / FR / 1955 / Melville, Jean-Pierre / thriller

PC: O.G.C.; Productions Jenner; Play Art; La Cyme. P+D+PD+commentary: Jean-Pierre Melville. SC: Jean-Pierre Melville, Auguste Le Breton. DP: Henri Decaë. M: Eddie Barclay, Jean Boyer. CAST: Roger Duchesne (Bob le Flambeur), Isabelle Corey (Anne), Daniel Cauchy (Paulo), Guy Decomble (the police lieutenant), André Garret (Roger). 100’. B&w Academy. Visa de contrôle 13244. 16 mm print with English subtitles courtesy Centre Culturel Français (Helsinki) / Ministère des affaires étrangères (France). Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Tuesday 17 February 1998. **** An offbeat gangster story of the gambler who gets on a lucky streak and forgets that he was about to rob the casino. Poor print makes it impossible to enjoy the visuals.

Jean-Pierre Melville credited as Melville.

Quand tu liras cette lettre... / When You Read This Letter

Jean-Pierre Melville: Quand tu liras cette lettre... / When You Read This Letter (FR 1953) starring Juliette Gréco.

/ / FR / 1953 / Melville, Jean-Pierre / thriller

”Quand tu liras cette lettre…” [title on the movie]. PC: Jad Films; S.G.C.; Titanus. D: Jean-Pierre Melville. DP: Henri Alekan. CAST: Juliette Gréco, Philippe Lemaire, Daniel Cauchy, Irène Galter, Yvonne Sanson. B&w Academy. 104’ according to sources. The screening ran 106’. Visa de censure 13722. Finnish earphone translation by Leena Talvio. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Orion, Thursday 12 February 1998. *** A fine melancholy thriller with which Melville wanted to demonstrate that he can direct a regular commercial film. The screenplay is nothing special, but the Melville-Alekan collaboration creates several visually exquisite passages about solitude, very much like the ones by Antonioni and Bresson in the following years.

Le Silence de la mer / The Silence of the Sea

Jean-Pierre Melville: Le Silence de la mer / The Silence of the Sea (FR 1948). Howard Vernon (Werner von Ebrenac). "Je vous souhaite une bonne nuit".

/ / FR / 1948 / Melville, Jean-Pierre / drama / Meren hiljaisuus. FR © 1948 Melville Productions. EX: Pierre Braunberger. P+D+SC+ED: Jean-Pierre Melville – based on the novel by Vercors [Jean Bruller, 1941]. DP: Henri Decaë. M: Edgar Bischoff. CAST: Howard Vernon (Werner von Ebrenac), Nicole Stéphane (niece), Jean-Marie Robain (uncle). 86’ according to the BFI CD-ROM. B&w Academy. 35 mm print: Centre Culturel Français (Helsinki) / Ministère des affaires étrangères (France) ran 88’. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Tuesday 10 February 1998. **** Besides the Archive this film has only been seen in Finland on TV 20 years ago, when I first saw it. Now it had grown in laconic force. The exact cinematography, the precise composition and the strong music give tremendous impact to the simple, strange story of a German officer’s desillusion in Occupied France.