Elevator To The Gallows

Louis Malle's (My Dinner With Andre, Atlantic City, Au Revoir Les Enfants) first feature film is a quirky little puzzler that alternates between edge-of-your-seat suspense and outrageous comedy of errors. Maurice Ronet and Jeanne Moreau star as a pair of lovers who design the perfect crime--a murder dressed to look like a suicide of the man who is her husband and his boss. Only Ronet leaves something at the scene of the crime which he must return for...and gets stuck in the elevator. When a joyriding couple steals Ronet's car, they spend a drunken evening with an elderly German duo which ends in violence. The police, finding Ronet's car near the murder site, put out an a.p.b. for his arrest. Moreau, who has been walking the streets in a daze looking for Ronet, is totally confused by the morning paper's headlines about her lover's suspected involvement in a bizarre double murder. Ronet, meanwhile, is trying his damndest to get out of the stuck elevator. Henri Decae's luscious black and white cinematography and the late Miles Davis's moody soundtrack music lend a decidedly offbeat atmosphere to the decidedly offbeat story. A good thriller. Recommended. (R. Pitman) [DVD Review—Apr. 18, 2006—Criterion, 2 discs, 92 min., not rated, $39.95—Making its first appearance on DVD, 1957's Elevator to the Gallows sports a pristine transfer and Dolby Digital mono sound. DVD extras on this double-disc Criterion Collection edition include a featurette with jazz trumpeter Jon Faddis and critic Gary Gidding discussing the score (25 min.), a new interview with costar Jeanne Moreau (18 min.), a 1975 interview with filmmaker Louis Malle (17 min.), an interview with pianist Rene Urtreger (15 min.), a 1993 interview with Malle and Moreau (11 min.), Malle's short 1954 student film 'Crazeologie' (6 min.), 'The Recording Sessions' with composer Miles Davis and Malle (6 min.), a 1957 interview with costar Maurice Ronet (5 min.), and a booklet featuring a new essay by critic Terrence Rafferty, interview with Malle, and tribute by film producer Vincent Malle. Bottom line: an excellent extras package for a fine thriller.] [Blu-ray/DVD Review—Feb. 6, 2018—Criterion, 91 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $29.95, Blu-ray: $39.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1958's Elevator to the Gallows features a great transfer and an uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray release. Extras include footage from Miles Davis's recording of the score (46 min.); interviews with director Louis Malle (18 min.), star Jeanne Moreau (18 min.), Malle and Moreau (11 min.), and costar Maurice Ronet (5 min.); Malle's 1954 student film 'Crazeologie' (7 min.); and a booklet featuring an essay by critic Terrence Rafferty, an interview with Malle, and a tribute by film producer Vincent Malle. Bottom line: Malle's fine thriller sparkles on Blu-ray.]