jbinfo Reviews

The Roads to Freedom (1970)

This should be available on DVD

[10/10 · 3 June 2008]

An excellent TV series from the BBC based on Jean-Paul Sartre's trilogy.

I am sure that B&W is an issue, but it was not a problem.

Great acting throughout. Being based on books by JPS can't hurt.

The characters of Mathieu, Daniel, Marcelle and not forgetting Russian Ivich were particularly interesting.

Some really memorable scenes; nearly forty-years on I can still recall two or three of them quite vividly.

So come on BBC, let's see this brilliant series again, from the era when the Beeb was really on the top of it's game (you know: The Wednesday Play etc.).

Elevator to the Gallows (1958)

This film should be widely available on DVD

[10/10 · 3 June 2004]

This film is a master piece. Miles Davis's music is superb. It is an object lesson on the art of combining sound and vision. The tension and the brooding Parisian atmosphere are heightened with cool and poignant playing. It is surprising (to the best of my knowledge) that this is the only complete original film score he produced.

The story of the crime is clever. It has reasonable human motivation and plot, and is steadily revealed. But, it is the study of 'being in the wrong place at the wrong time' that makes this film a classic. The series of chance events that will dramatically effect the characters' lives, give this film a similar feel to 'Run Lola Run' or 'Irreversible', dispute this film's linear structure and age. The dark cinematography is excellent.

I have only had an opportunity to see it once (I only just caught it because BBC4 listed it under its English title), but I would like to see it again.

The soundtrack is widely available, but I can not find the film on DVD or PAL VHS. This film should be available to a wider audience, for me, preferably in French with English subtitles.

P.S. This wonderful film is now available on DVD as part of the Louis Malle Collection: Volume 1. (Updated 11/10/2006.)