Le Doulos

Although he initially forced his way into the film world by working entirely outside of France's studio system in the 1940s and 1950s, by the 1960s director Jean-Pierre Melville was commanding larger budgets and attracting well-known actors such as Jean-Paul Belmondo, star of 1962's Le Doulos. An extension of Melville's fascination with the existential milieu of American gangster films, Le Doulos features New Wave icon Belmondo as Silien, a man newly released from prison and a professional informer by reputation. A figure of possible duplicity and ambiguity, Silien is the perfect Melvillian hero: difficult to read. Maintaining friendships with both cops and crooks, Silien's notoriety as a 'finger man' is underscored when a police inspector (Daniel Crohem) ambushes a burglar (Serge Reggiani). But did Silien actually rat out the thief? Melville initially makes it appear that Silien is indeed guilty, but then takes viewers through the tale again to reveal another story. A much darker work than Melville's celebrated Bob le Flambeur, Le Doulos is an absorbing film about a world that exists not so much between light and dark, but rather light and shadow. DVD extras include selected-scene commentary by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau, video interviews with directors Volker Schlondörff and Bertrand Tavernier, archival interviews with Melville, Belmondo, and Reggiani, and a new essay by film critic Glenn Kenny. Highly recommended. [Note: also newly available from the Criterion Collection at the same price is Melville's 1966 film Le Deuxième Souffle.] (T. Keogh) [Blu-ray/DVD Review—July 16, 2019—Kino Lorber, 108 min., not rated, DVD: $19.99, Blu-ray: $29.99—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1962’s Le Doulos features a great transfer and a DTS-HD 2.0 soundtrack on Blu-ray. Extras include audio commentary by film historian Samm Deighan, the 'Birth of the Detective Story Melville Style' featurette (33 min.), and 'The Demon Within Him' interview with assistant director Volker Schlöndorff (30 min.). Bottom line: an excellent edition of this French gangster classic.]