Touchez Pas Au Grisbi

French crime dramas don't get any more suave than Touchez Pas Au Grisbi (or Hands Off the Loot!), a sublime showcase for the late French film icon Jean Gabin. Director Jacques Becker knew just how to utilize Gabin's timeless screen presence by casting him as Max le Menteur, an aging gangster who's just pulled off the biggest heist of his career. Unfortunately, Max's partner has blabbed about the haul to his gossiping girlfriend (played by the very young Jeanne Moreau), and pretty soon the entire underworld is vying for a piece of the action. Not so much a thriller as a study of conflicting and competing agendas, Touchez Pas Au Grisbi is also surprisingly risqué for a film from 1954, including a fair amount of gutter-slang and burlesque nudity in the film's predominant milieu of nightclubs and bistros. Another gorgeous-looking Criterion Collection release, DVD extras here include a 2002 interview with French actor Daniel Cauchy, a vintage excerpt from French TV featuring several of Becker's collaborators, and a booklet containing two critical essays. For Francophiles and cinephiles alike, this is highly recommended. [Note: also newly available from Criterion is Becker's 1952 Casque D'Or.] (J. Shannon) [Blu-ray/DVD Review—Aug. 13, 2019—Kino Lorber, 83 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $19.99, Blu-ray: $29.99—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1954’s Touchez Pas Au Grisbi features a good transfer and a DTS-HD 2.0 soundtrack on the Blu-ray release. Extras include audio commentary by film critic Nick Pinkerton, and interviews with filmmaker Jean Becker (14 min.), professor/film critic Ginette Vincendeau (8 min.), and costar Jeanne Moreau (5 min.). Bottom line: this foreign classic makes a welcome debut on Blu-ray.]