Eentje uit de tijd dat films nog simpel mochten zijn. Vergeet verisimilitude. De plot ligt er vingerdik op en de personages zijn houten klazen die bikkeren op de maat van de regie. Maar met wat voor resultaat. Film noir, french style.

It doesn't get more sertsy - sexy plus artsy that is - than this and I'm all fore it. I love it when a movie takes you back to the roots where the combination of pictures and score (how can you even go wrong with Mr. Miles Davis?) lets you set up moo... (read more) It doesn't get more sertsy - sexy plus artsy that is - than this and I'm all fore it. I love it when a movie takes you back to the roots where the combination of pictures and score (how can you even go wrong with Mr. Miles Davis?) lets you set up mood more than the ready-made dialogue does. Nothing is served in a prepack but then again the aroma of cinema is so much better when you throw in your own ingredients.

Okay, there were a couple of implausible twists and it's also good to know something about the basics of the late 50's French political history before you snuggle in to your couch. That's still insignificant at the front of something significant. This is truly a Birth of The Cool.

A very cool, sexy, French neo-noir thriller, featuring an amazing soundtrack by Miles Davis, which I’d had the fortune of coming across prior to watching the film. Stars Jeanne Moreau. Interestingly, she apparently rarely wore any make-up during he... (read more) A very cool, sexy, French neo-noir thriller, featuring an amazing soundtrack by Miles Davis, which I’d had the fortune of coming across prior to watching the film. Stars Jeanne Moreau. Interestingly, she apparently rarely wore any make-up during her scenes, and most of her shots were filmed with natural lighting, hinting toward, or reflecting (depending on your POV), the influence of the French New Wave. This quality also runs through other aspects of mise-en-scène, as well as the narrative. Seriously worth seeking out.

Louis Malle's Elevator To The Gallows is an extraordinary piece of work, starring the never bad Jeanne Moreau and featuring a rapturous score by none other than Miles Davis.

Fuckin' boring, hard to follow, with a ridiculously cheap resolution. The cinematography is gorgeous, and Miles's score is creative. And the scene where Tavernier tries to escape from the elevator is pretty well-done particularly for the time. Howeve... (read more) Fuckin' boring, hard to follow, with a ridiculously cheap resolution. The cinematography is gorgeous, and Miles's score is creative. And the scene where Tavernier tries to escape from the elevator is pretty well-done particularly for the time. However, anyone looking for well-drawn characters or just a compelling yarn need look elsewhere.

aah, Jeanne Moreau is great, the noir atmosphere fun and all the little Paris detaljs charming. Must see with friends.

The best moments occur with Jeanne Moreau who is electrifying on screen. The lush score just oozes noir. The light storyline and suspense are a bit dated now, so the film doesn't work as effectively as it should. I could've just watched Moreau as ... (read more) The best moments occur with Jeanne Moreau who is electrifying on screen. The lush score just oozes noir. The light storyline and suspense are a bit dated now, so the film doesn't work as effectively as it should. I could've just watched Moreau as she clearly shines in her breakthrough performance.

Here is one of the stranger, more elaborate noir plots I've encountered: Moreau is Florence Carala, and her lover, Julien Tavernier (Maurice Ronet) gets stuck in an elevator just after killing her husband. He spends the night trapped; in the meantime... (read more) Here is one of the stranger, more elaborate noir plots I've encountered: Moreau is Florence Carala, and her lover, Julien Tavernier (Maurice Ronet) gets stuck in an elevator just after killing her husband. He spends the night trapped; in the meantime, a young couple steals his convertible for a joyride, uses his name when they check into a motel, and then kill another couple when they're caught trying to steal their Mercedes. They skip out in the middle of the night, and the police begin searching for the killer: Julien Tavernier. Once they find him, he's hesitant to confess his alibi, since it will link him to Carala's murder. Thanks, however, to the developed photos from the miniature camera in Tavernier's glove box (both of him with Ms. Carala and of the actual killers drinking champagne with the victims), all the murders are solved.

And yet it is more a tone poem for film than a thriller. Director Malle seems to completely rely on the moody Miles Davis score to color the smoky closeups of Jeanne Moreau's face with relevant emotion, to a degree that the movie seems more an illustration of the music than the music an accompaniment to the film. The score outperforms the picture to such a degree that when the music fades away to give room for Moreau's voice (which is saddled with a clumsy, overwrought voice over), our attention flags. And though Moreau became the star, Yori Bertin, who plays the young Véronique is far more interesting, mercurial, promising, even if it's sacrilege to say so.

Classic French noir, setting mood over plot and dread draped over the whole movie like a wet overcoat.

Malle's first feature film is a noir of the first order while simultaneously deconstructing that form with its bumbling heroes, non-dangerous femme fatales, etc. An important predecessor to filmmakers like Godard and Melville.