Film Forno

Okay, you all think I’ve lost it. Writing about a Lassie movie! Is he nuts! Just hold on a second, bear with me. I happened to catch the last hour of The Courage Of Lassie on TCM the other day, and it had quite an effect on me. First off any movie about an animal I find very moving, if you’ve ever had a pet or a relationship with an animal I’m sure you’ll agree. In this movie Lassie is called Bill. He’s separated from his mother and siblings as a puppy.

The first 20 minutes of the movie are kind of like a Disney animal adventure, bears, mountain lion, eagle, fox, skunk, wolf, Lassie has a run in with all these creatures. He finally bumps into a pre-teen Elizabeth Taylor, she chases the puppy when Carl”Alfalfa” Switzer and his pal, out hunting, accidentally shoot him. This is a strange coincidence as years later (in real life) Alfalfa would be shot and killed in a dispute over a hunting dog.

Alfalfa, Dead at 31.

Liz saves Bill and heals him up. He returns the favor and saves her one night when they’re out rounding up stray sheep in the snow on a mountain.

Bill saves Liz from an avalanche

In the spring while rounding up more sheep Bill is hit by a truck and taken to a vet in town. There Bill is grabbed by an Army recruiter and taken to training camp. Next thing you know he’s shipping out, he’s on a transport ship, he sees action.

The men of his platoon are pinned down on a mountain side under heavy fire. The radio man got blasted off the mountain, Bill is their only hope. He goes back to get reinforcements. He dodges mortar fire, machine gun bullets, runs through hell. He’s badly wounded but makes it back.

Now he has to lead the troops back. He’s lying there near death but when his soldier buddy pleads with him to get up and show them the way, he does. He’s a hero but he’s shell shocked. They ship him back to the states and we see him in a cage on a transport train. He can’t sleep, every time he closes his eyes, he’s back there in the midst of all that death and destruction! Bill is having a flashback! Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome!

Combat Flashback

The handlers take him out of the cage to shoot him up with drugs and he bolts, jumping off the moving train. He makes it back to his old neighborhood but now he’s bad. He lives under bridges, steals chickens, hunts. He’s a homeless Veteran!

Homeless Psychologically Damaged Veteran

The local farmers get together and hunt him, they keep showing Close Ups of Bill snarling like mad. Young beautiful Elizabeth Taylor is outside reading, she hears something, hunters shooting, then a dog, it’s Bill. She runs after him and finds him hiding in a dark cave.

He growls, she pleads with him to be quiet as the hunting party passes. Elizabeth approaches Bill, he growls, then charges! She tries to run but she trips and hits her head. She’s out cold. Bill approaches, will he kill her? No he snaps out of it and begins kissing her, licking her face! Lassie has a love scene with Elizabeth Taylor! This may be Liz’s first screen kiss! And it’s from a dog!

OK, all seems well when the sheriff comes by. There’s a court order for Bill to be destroyed! They have a courtroom scene. All the local farmers testify that Bill should be put down.

But Bill has a defender, none other than Frank Morgan! The Wizard Of Oz! He sees an ID tattoo in Bill’s ear and during recess calls the Army. When court reconvenes, The Wizard gives a beautiful speech, telling about Bill’s heroism, about his place in society, about how the community must help him re integrate, about his own son, who at this very moment is recovering from Post Traumatic Stress in a hospital in New York.

The Wizard Of Oz Defends Lassie

Of course Bill is set free and reunited with the girl he loves. What a brilliant way for a movie studio to deal with the problems of returned veterans. They didn’t want to show the men acting strangely, back then they would have called them nuts or cowards. It’s always a huge problem and we’re facing it again today. I remember when I was a kid, returning vets from Vietnam, and all the problems they had. A large percentage of homeless people today are veterans. I’ve always liked films that deal with the problems of the returned Vet. I wrote about Act Of Violence and one of my favorites is Edward Dmytryk’s Till The End Of Time, a great movie about the problems of three returned G.I.s. Courage Of Lassie is an incredible artifact, the result of a giant image making machine (MGM) coping with a very real problem in a dreamlike Technicolor way.

The Happy Ending

Lee Van Cleef VS. a Cucumber with Claws

I just noticed something. A guy I just met via email sent me a book he wrote about Lee Van Cleef. The guy’s name is Mike Malloy. Anyway I’m reading this book and I see that Lee Van Cleef’s first starring role in a film was given him by Roger Corman.

The Artful Roger

The film was called It Conquered The World and Van Cleef played a scientist who contacts a Venusian creature that wants to take over the Earth. And it almost does with Lee’s help, until he has to destroy it and save Mankind. I liked this movie when I was a kid.

The Monster Menaces The Beautiful Beverly Garland, doesn’t she own a motel in Studio City?

The only bad thing is the rubber monster. Van Cleef is great as always. Another thing, Corman gave Charles Bronson his first leading role in Machine Gun Kelly.

This is an excellent film and I whole heartedly recommend it to everybody. It features an outstanding performance by Maury Amsterdam of all people!

This movie got Bronson noticed in Europe and he was on his way. Van Cleef and Bronson both became huge stars through working in Europe.

Another thing Van Cleef and Bronson have in common. They both play the Harmonica!

They were both in their 40’s when they finally made it. Bronson had been in a lot of films, he was favored by Andre deToth and appears in several of his films. But even a giant talent like deToth didn’t or couldn’t give Charles a leading role.

Van Cleef is in High Noon and is very effective. But who gave him his first leading role? Roger Corman. Was it because he was a true independent filmmaker, answering to himself?

Was it Corman’s vision, ability to see talent for himself and the guts to take a chance? Probably a bit of both. These two stars were Galactic! International Box Office Giants. And they weren’t pretty faces, maybe to be a macho leading man you have to go to Europe and come back as one, like Clint Eastwood. Bronson’s nickname in Italy was Il Bruto (The Ugly), Van Cleef was mistakenly called “Mr. Ugly” in American ad campaigns after his appearence in The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly.(He played The Bad) Who are the macho leading men today? Russel Crowe? He’s from Australia, Mel Gibson? Ditto. Are there any home grown ones? I wonder why not.

I just saw a great movie! A spaghetti western called Ciak Mull,( Chuck Moll). It stars Leonard Mann, I’ve seen him in some polizottos but never in a Western. He’s done a few of them like Vengeance is a dish Served Cold, which I haven’t seen yet. I was supposed to see it and Ciak Mull in Venice at the film festival but at the last minute the trip was cancelled. Anyway some friends of mine, recently returned from Italy, brought me a DVD of Ciak Mull.

It’s in Italian with no subtitles but I understood almost all of it. I’ve been studying Italian for a while and I’m statring to get it. Also if there’s any kind of movie that’s pretty easy to understand, it’s a Western. OK, the movie starts with a band of bad guys setting a psychiatric prison on fire as a diversion so they can rob a bank. The inmates are going crazy, trying to break out of their cells so they aren’t burned to death. Woody Strode the black giant, veteran of many films both American and Italian, crashes through his cell door and starts freeing people.

A Man Called Woody

Then we see someone, standing in a cell, not moving. It’s as if he doesn’t care about what’s happening. It’s Chuck Moll (Leonard Mann). What a great introduction to a character! He gets out with Woody and two others and as they’re escaping one of the robbers is shot down right in front of them. The dying bandit takes one look at Leonard, his eyes widen in disbelief, he exclaims ” Ciak Mull!”. He points his Colt at Leonard, meaning to kill him but he’s too far gone, he can’t pull the trigger. Leonard grabs him, ” What did you say? Who am I? ” He has amnesia!

The Unholy Four

Well, the story turns positively Shakespearean after this with Chuck being tricked by enemies into gunning for his own father! It’s really cool.

Chuck is tricked into trying to kill his father

This film was directed by Enzo Barboni using the name E.B. Clucher, right before he did the super successful Lo chiamavano Trinità(They call Me Trinity) with Terence Hill.

This card playing scene reminds me of They Call Me Trinity

In Camera Card Tricks Foreshadow Terence Hill’s exploits in Trinity

This was the first of many Trinity films in a very popular franchise. But back to Ciak Mull, it’s got a few drawbacks, it looks low budget, the lighting isn’t great, and the score by Riz Ortolani, while very good is used in an odd way. They keep putting in the main title music even when it’s not appropriate. But the movie works really well in spite of it’s limitations.

He’s Good With a Knife

Leonard and Woody Strode are great. Woody’s name in the film is Woody but since there is no “W” in Italian, they keep calling ” Oody, Oody!”. Also Chuck finally remembers the name of the bad guy he’s sworn to kill. Tom Udo! Tommy Udo is the name of the evil character played by Richard Widmark in Kiss Of Death, a role that made Widmark famous.

Tom Udo! Tom Udo!

Leonard told me that Woody gave him an introduction to John Ford. Strode had appeared in several Ford films, Sergeant Rutlidge, Two Rode Together, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Woody’s last film was The Quick and The Dead which also featured Mark Boone Junior, star of One Night With You!

She’s My Sister! She’s My Lover! My Sister! My Lover!

Anyway I really enjoyed Ciak Mull. It’s my favorite Leonard Mann performance so far! He reminds me of a young Henry Fonda. Ciak Mullis also known as Chuck Moll and The Unholy Four, I don’t think it’s available here yet but I’ll recommend it to everyone I can and who knows? Maybe it will become available.

Of course Woody Gets Tortured!

Here’s a clip of Korla Pandit playing Miserlou. This is from the 50’s way before Dick Dale and his Deltones recorded it or the Beach Boys. Dale’s version got a famous boost when it was used in Pulp Fiction. It’s an old Greek folk song that’s been around a long time. Korla Pandit is in Ed Wood, I’m not sure why, maybe he knew the real Ed Wood? But he was cool.

In R.J. Smith’s excellent book The Great Black Way,( about the Central Avenue Jazz, R&B scene) he talks about Korla, his real name was John Roland Redd and he moved to L.A. in the late 30’s. To avoid racism and be able to tour and play music without being hassled he became Korla Pandit, Mystic Man of the East. The shit a brother had to do to get by!

Last year I was lucky enough to make it to a whole bunch of the GRINDHOUSE screenings at the New Beverly Theater on Beverly Blvd. in Los Angeles. Quentin Tarantino had programmed a months worth of films from his personal collection, mainly 70’s Gridhouse fare and they were great! Such a treat to see cool films on 35mm in a theater with like minded film lovers! One of the films I saw was Umberto Lenzi’s Eyeball or Gatti rossi in un labirinto di vetro, it’s not a great film, but to see it with an audience! What a treat, they loved it! It’s full of shocks, and gags and eyeball gouging goop! It played so well in a theater surrounded by people that screamed, laughed, jumped and were grossed out, I loved it! Movies are meant to be experienced in a communal setting, the electric thrills running through the audience are a big part of the experience. This movie really illustrated that fact to me because as I said it’s not that great, if I had watched it on a DVD by myself I might have thought it crap! But with an audience a whole different enchilada! So I hope you can get the opportunity to see it the way it was meant to be seen. on a big screen surrounded by shrieking moviegoers. Also it has a great score by the genius Bruno Nicolai!
p.s. the trailer is NSFW, some nudity(boobs) and gore.

They’re releasing a new DVD of Jack Nicholson’s directorial effort The Two Jakes. I always liked this movie, maybe I’m a sucker for anything set in 1940’s/50’s L.A. but I enjoyed it when it came out and thought it was unfairly condemned by critics. Sure it’s not Chinatown but what is? Only Chinatown! There are a lot of cool elements to this film, the locations (the Dresden Room!),

Are Marty and Elaine Still There?

the actors,( James Hong reprising his role as the faithful Manservant Kahn),

Jack & James, Hey! Wasn’t that guy in One Night With You!

the kind of overall melancholic atmosphere set against the boom town oil/real estate bonanza that was Los Angeles. I even like Van Dyke Parks music. I once had lunch with him and my old pal Bud Smith at Musso & Frank’s. He is a very funny guy!

But let me get on to Part II of my tale. Jere Huggins is an old friend. He’s an editor, he worked on Woodstock and a lot of other films. He worked with Robert Towne on Personal Best and was hired to edit The Two Jakes when Towne was going to direct and the two Jakes were to be Nicolson and Robert Evans. Jere was even going to play a small part in the film. He looks like a guy from the ’40’s tall, all American, a little Clint Eastwoodian. So Jere goes to work on the first day of shooting, he gets his period costume goes to the set, nothing happens, finally they call lunch. The caterers serve steak and lobster. After lunch they call a wrap for the day. Jere goes home, he gets a call, the film is cancelled! I guess Towne would not proceed with Evans playing the other Jake. So the film languished in turnaround for a while until they hashed out a compromise- Evans doesn’t act, Towne doesn’t direct. Jack does and Harvey Keitel plays the other Jake. And Jere Huggins doesn’t get to edit or play a bit part. That’s Hollywood!

I knew this re-release was in the pipeline a while ago, I know the brother of the colorist who did the new transfer for this DVD, he said Nicholson was supervising the color correcting himself so I figured it was for something big. I haven’t seen The Two Jakes for a long time, so I’m looking forward to this new release, why don’t they make a new print as well and show it in the theaters too! Hey Jack, my friends over at Triage Motion Picture Services will give you a great deal! But seriously, I love the attention to detail in this movie, I think it’s Nicholson’s directorial masterwork. You can tell he took this story to heart and gave it his all. It shows in every frame. I especially like the ending , it’s emotional tone is unique in Cinema. It expresses loss in a rare human way for such a larger than life character. There’s a third screenplay Towne wrote called Cloverleaf. The unproduced third act of the Jake Gittes Trilogy. I hope they make it soon.

Two Jakes Trailer

Maestro

Here’s a clip of Alessandro Alessandroni performing in Italy. Once you hear the music you’ll know who he is. One of the Unsung Heroes Of Italian Soundtracks. He plays that great gigantic Electric guitar on the Leone/Morricone Westerns. He also whistles, plays ocarina, sitar, mandolin, etc. etc. He had a vocal group called I Cantori Moderni and they did all the chorus singing on these soundtracks as well. Thanks to Daniele Luppi I was fortunate enough to meet this great man, so humble and unassuming, and get him to perform on the soundtrack of my film One Night With You. I can never thank him enough.

And here’s the opening credits to Sette uomini d’oro(Seven Golden Men), check out I Cantori Moderni’s super jazzy singing!

It must be some kind of conspiracy!

My new spam filter has deleted all comments sent in the past few days so if you commented but didn’t see it, please resubmit. Thanks and sorry about that.

I went to the American Cinematheque to see Murray Lerner’s filmThe Other Side Of The Mirror. It’s a film about Bob Dylan. It was shot at The Newport Folk Festival in 1963, 1964,& 1965 and it shows how Dylan changed over that time period.

He starts off as a young folksinger. Singing songs about oppression , social iniquity, racism and other divisive techniques used by politicians. Anti-War songs, beautiful stuff. He does one of my favorite early Dylan songs, The Chimes Of Freedom Flashing.

If you’re a Dylan fan I recommend this film. But gradually Bob changes, he becomes more of a Media figure, more of an icon. His music becomes more abstract, more personal, more about himself in a way and less about oppressed people.

Finally in 1965 he performs with an electric band, Mike Bloomfield on guitar, Al Kooper on Organ, Sam Lay on Drums. The crowd boos him!

They were upset that he was playing amplified music, they wanted Mr. Tambourine Man. But I have to say watching the film this time, I agreed with them! Seeing that young Bob Dylan, so pure, so talented, just him, his guitar, his voice, his lyrics, entertaining thousands of people, singing about inequality, about people being the pawns of government, about life in a mining town, was so moving and inspiring. Especially today when such voices are not allowed to be heard.

Then seeing him with his rock band, Bleah! Commercialism, Sell Out! It just wasn’t as good! In 1963 he looked like an androgynous Pixie. his hair piled on top of his head, his skinny face, he was like Snap, Crackle, & Pop, a magical figure, not of this earth. Then suddenly he’s Lou Reed’s cousin, playing with junkie geniuses, down in the mud of existence. No wonder they booed. Lerner interviews some very young fans and they said ” Who needs Dylan anymore. He’s here, part of the establishment” He rode the folk scene until he was big enough to become an icon, a God not a human. He went to the other side of the mirror.

Joan Baez sings with you know who

A very young Johnny Cash appears in this film and comments on what a great songwriter Dylan is, and performs a song. Very Cool!

Murray Lerner makes a profound statement about the nature of fame, Art, Perception, and human frailty.

And he makes it in a deceptively simple way. That’s what makes it so powerful. It took Murray 44 years to get this film released. Bravo for not giving up.

Keith Robinson & Murray Lerner, two veterans of 630 9th Avenue, The Film Center Building

Like I said if you’re a Dylan fan, check it out. If you don’t know anything about Dylan it’s still worth seeing, you may learn something about the culture of those days and about the incredible music Mr. Dylan was making then.

Another gem from this wonderful noir collection.

Decoy is a great little film, in a similar vein to Edgar G. Ulmer’s Detour. Low budget but bursting at the seams with creativity, Decoy was recently re-discovered by a neighbor of mine, Bill Rush, who works at Warner Brothers. It hadn’t been seen since 1970 and it’s screening at the American Cinematheque Noir Program caused a sensation. Okay let’s begin at the beginning! A great weird opening! Close up on a battered, chipped porcelain sink, dirty hands come into frame, turn on hot water, steam blasts into the sink! Cold water will do, pan to a roll of paper towels suspended on a piece of twine, pan and tilt to a chunk of broken mirror revealing a disheveled zombie looking guy. We later find out he’s a dishonored doctor(Herbert Rudley).

Is this a Zombie Movie or a Film Noir?

He exits the gas station rest room, stumbling like the undead, ignoring the cheerful good morning patter from the pump jockey, Hitching a ride into the city. He goes into a snazzy apartment building , followed closely but not close enough by Sheldon Leonard who plays Sgt. JoJo Portugal. By the way Leonard looks exactly like Mickey Cohen in this movie, his hat, his suit, his manner.

Sheldon Leonard as Mickey Cohen…I mean, Sgt JoJo Portugal!

Mickey Cohen as Mickey Cohen, The Mickster

Portugal follows the Zombie but misses the elevator. When he gets off at the 2nd floor he has his gun out but he puts it away upon hearing a shot fired in a nearby apartment. Portugal busts in, the maid is crying, the zombie is finally dead and lying mortally wounded is one of the most evil females ever captured on Celluloid. Margot Shelby (Jean Gillie)

Beautiful, Ruthless, Deadly

She tells Portugal the story in flashback, a story so heartless and calculating, it makes you question your sanity. Let’s get this straight right now, this film is out there, crazy!

Let the Flashback Begin!

Margot wants money, she lives for the finer things, and she will do anything to get them, I mean anything! Her older beau is in stir, he killed a bank guard while stealing $400,000 and now he’s gonna get the big whiff! Cyanide gas up in Q.
She’s playing with the old letch, Robert Armstrong ( He was Carl Denham in King Kong!)

Trouble is he hasn’t told Margot where he stashed the loot and he won’t tell her unless he gets out. She hatches a diabolical plan with the aid of a gangster named Jimmy Vincent. But there’s a catch Vincent wants her and half the money.

Tough Guy Jimmy Vincent, just another sucker

She needs a doctor to help with her plan to spring her death row beau, Frank. They’re going to revive him after he’s pronounced dead! OK, this evil, amoral monster finds a dedicated doctor, he works in a poor neighborhood, he volunteers at a clinic. He cares about curing people not making money.

Fetishistic Detail #1 The Nurse’s Hair

But our femme fatale seduces him, not only does she seduce him, he falls so in love with her he sacrifices his ideals, his career, his life, everything for her. As a matter of fact every man in this film falls for this icy goddess of evil! They all want her for themselves and this enables her to destroy them all. Frank gets the gas chamber, the scene is shot from his point of view and the audience watching the execution looks like people in a movie theater watching a film! Maybe the director was holding up a mirror to the audience as if to say” Look at yourselves, entertained by watching a man suffer and die!”.

Mirror, Mirror

They steal Frank’s body and Dr. Craig brings him back to life.

Elements Of A Horror Film

He draws a map of where the money is hidden and then they kill him! They brought the guy back to life and 5 minutes later they kill him! Insane!

Fetishistic Detail #2- Jeweled Hands Strap A Dead Man’s Ankle To An Operating Table

They go to dig up the cash, along the way they stop for a quick bite and a drink. Dr. Craig gets drunk. Margot exits before the boys and let’s the air out of a tire. They drive a ways and it seems like they have a flat. Jimmy Vincent gets out to fix it and after he finishes, she runs him over! She’s not sharing the boodle with anyone! In the print shown at the Cinematheque she runs him over, backs up over him, then runs him over again! This is cut to just one run over in the DVD, too bad! She coldly takes the map and a gun from Jimmy’s dead body, gets back into the car where the doctor says ” I want to kill you!” She hands him the gun,but she has faith in her power over this yutz, he can’t do it!

Even Though she destroyed his life, killed a man in front of him, and will soon kill him, he can’t kill her, he still loves her and she knows it!

Margot drives gleefully to the buried treasure burial spot, paces it off, and goes crazy with gold lust, scratching at the ground and shrieking for the doctor to get something to dig with. He comes up with a huge knife, he raises it over his head, it looks like he’s about to kill her, but he drops to the ground and begins digging like a madman.

It looks like he might kill her, but no! He drops to the ground and digs like a will-less puppet!

He hits paydirt in the form of a small trunk. Margot laughs and screams like a delighted Banshee, then she pumps several slugs into the doctor. She grabs the trunk and splits, hysterically laughing in ecstasy.

The Ecstasy Of Gold

This is where we came in, the doctor wasn’t dead, he made it back town on willpower and sheer hate, and blasted Margot with his last bit of strength. The flashback ends, JoJo the cop has placed Margot on a couch. She looks up at him, flutters her eyelids. “Do you love me, JoJo?” she whispers. Jojo stops, looks at her, he does love her! He moves in for a last kiss. She laughs in his face! Makes a fool out of a man with her dying breath!

She died as she lived, laughing at foolish Men

Jean Gille gives a tour de force performance. She is incredible. This movie was made at Monogram Pictures, a low budget outfit that cranked out Bowery Boys films and some of Bela Lugosi’s final films. But the cheapness of this production actually adds something to this film. A mysterious element of inevitability, like we’ve seen it before but there’s nothing we can do about it. Jack Bernhard’s direction is top notch. Excellent understated camera moves, scenes that play in one shot. Fetishistic details that add an eerie underlying atmosphere of a Horror movie, a cross genre fertilization. The lighting is great, all broken light with shadows of leaves, venetian blinds etc., real noir touches. I also liked the props and the clothes, rings, jewelry, all felt hand picked. Once again the low budget gave the filmmakers a freedom to explore dark depths, to shed light on idiosyncratic psychology, to show us something we hadn’t ever seen before. Jean Luc Godard was a big fan of this movie and Monogram Pictures in general. He even dedicated his first film Breathless to Monogram. So once again I heartily recommend the Warner Bros. Film Noir Classics Collection, Vol.4, every film in this set is great!

Here’s something in honor of our recent trip to New Orleans. Professor Longhair laying down one of his seminal hits, Tipitina.

Good Luck trying to see this one! I was able to see it last night at the American Cinematheque aka The Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Blvd. next door to the famous Pig & Whistle. It was great, such a treat to see a beautifully shot Black and White movie on a big screen.

The opening is a study in economy and atmosphere as three men make a break from a prison. The image is very dark and the setting stark, a few high walls, a watch tower with spotlight, some guards walking a narrow alley between the high walls. One of the three escapees dies in the attempt. The other two make it and after running through a deserted forest board a moving freight train. the older of the two almost doesn’t make it, he’s helped by the younger guy, who pulls him onto the moving train. Gus( Lino Ventura) lies there struggling to catch his breath and we feel for the man, getting older, on the run, with nothing in his pockets. Maybe this is illustrative of the title The Second Breath or second wind, where after being exhausted one gets a renewed burst of energy. Gus will soon put this energy to use but first we are plunged into a vortex of underworld connections, deals, murder, police procedures, and in the process we meet the rest of the players in this drama.

Manouche with Inspector Blot

Manouche ( Christine Fabréga ) runs a chic Parisian restaurant, she is very concerned when she learns of Gus’s escape. Is she his girlfriend? An ex-lover? No, she is in fact his sister and their relationship is an intriguing and unique one.

The Great Melville!

In Melville by Rui Nogueria, Melville says that in French gangster slang “sister” is a term for girlfriend. I believe Manouche is really Gu’s sister but the implied incest adds a compelling dimension to their relationship and Melville says “If I’ve let it be understood that Manouche is Gu’s sister, it’s because of the Enfants Terribles part of me- or rather because of the great homonyms Pierre or the Ambiguities.”

A Great Book, Rare these days!

We also meet Inspector Blot (Paul Meurisse) a wise and very human police chief. He comes across almost as a father figure trying to understand these criminals and guide them to justice rather than smash them to bloody bits. He respects their code of ethics, maybe even admires them. He first appears in a tour-de-force scene right after a murder, where he explains how each witness didn’t see anything. It’s a long, complicated scene with a lot of movement and it’s done in one take. Brilliant!

Figures In A Landscape

Setting Up The Heist

There’s also a armored car heist, pulled off with calculated ruthlessness that includes the cold blooded assassination of two motorcycle cops. Brutal.

These Masks will appear in Melville’s Masterpiece- Le Circle Rouge

And a torture scene, like something from Melville’s resistance film Army Of Shadows.

Give Him A Drink!

Except in this film it’s the French police doing the torturing. The censors didn’t like that so the scene fades out as the torture starts and fades in when it’s over. We have stills of the missing footage but can’t someone locate the original footage and restore it to the way Melville intended? It must exist somewhere, even just a workprint. It would be a wonderful addition to a great film.

A Still From The Missing Scene

The end of the film has an element reminiscent of Out Of The Past. When Gu lies dying, his last word is “Manouche!”. Later when Manouche asks Inspector Blot if Gu said anything, he says “No”. Trying to free her from a hopeless obsession. Like the deaf boy in Out Of The Past telling Jeff’s girl Jeff wasn’t coming back for her but was running off with the other woman when he was killed. A beautiful touch, one of the greatest endings in Cinema. This film was made at Studio Jenner. Melville’s own film studio in Paris. Unfortunately it burned a few years later and I understand there is no trace of it left today. I don’t think that Rue Jenner even exists. What a shame.

Lino Ventura, He and Melville didn’t get along but they made great films together

Le Deuxième souffle has never been released here in the USA. It’s not available on DVD here (I think it is in France). I was fortunate enough to see it through the good graces of the excellent programmers at The American Cinematheque during their French Crime Series. See it if you can. And to those that don’t think much of this film I can only say, open your eyes, you’re missing the Cinematic Part.