Louis Malle Collection (Vol. 1)

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Film Description

Four films from director Louis Malle, one of the most interesting and talented of all the French auteurs. Features: Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud / Elevator to the Gallows (1958): Malle's debut with its famous Miles Davis score. Les Amants (1958): Jeanne Moreau stars as a bored housewife tempted to have an affair. Zazie Dans Le Metro (1960): A precocious 12 year-old runs loose across Paris. Le Feu Follet (1963): A depressed alcoholic searches for human contact in Paris.

Film Information

DVD Extras

4 discs. Introductions To Each Film.

Technical Details

Film Media

10 Stills

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Reviews & Articles

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Review by Barry Forshaw on 6th June 2006

Louis Malle's reputation as one of the most accomplished of French arthouse directors is assured, but it shouldn’t be forgotten just how approachable his work is, from the zany humour of Zazie dans le Metro to the erotic Les Amants, both in this welcome collection. It’s instructive to remember how shocking the latter film was on its initial release, for the oral sex practised Jeanne Moreau. Interestingly, even in these more unbuttoned times, the scene still packs a punch.

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Review by David Parkinson on 3rd May 2006

Zazie dans le Métro: Packed with allusions to Ferdinand Zecca, Georges Méliès, Mack Sennett, Buster Keaton and Federico Fellini, this freewheeling reworking of Raymond Queneau's cult novel fizzes with the exuberance of youth and the liberation of the moving picture, as it transforms Paris into a surreal Wonderland for mischievous out-of-town tweenager, Catherine Demongeot.

Elevator to the Gallows: Like so many New Wave outings, Malle's debut turns an indifferent dime novel into a striking cinematic work by using the camera to tell the story rather than the text. Consequently, Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet's murder of her husband is as much a film as it is a noir.

Les Amants: Serenely photographed by Henri Decaë, Malle's adaptation of Dominique Vivant's novel Point de Lendemain has the feel of a latterday Madame Bovary, as it exposes the emptiness of provincial life and iconises Jeanne Moreau as the emancipated modern wife who seizes her chance of happiness with younger lover, Jean-Marc Bory.

Le Feu Follet: Malle's meticulous craftsmanship was rarely bettered than in this relentless portrait of writer Maurice Ronet's helpless descent into alcoholic oblivion. Ghislain Cloquet's melancholic monochrome photography deftly establishes the sense of forbidding, as Ronet revisits old haunts before finally giving up the ghost, but Erik Satie's brooding music makes it indelible.

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