Favorite Forgotten Films

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Roger Deakins, ASC

French Director Jean-Pierre Grumbach worked under a pseudonym, Jean Pierre Melville, recalling his favorite author, Herman Melville. It is easy to see the connection in the director's brooding existential crime movies , such as Second Breath, Red Circle, Dirty Money, and in particular The Samurai.

Such films established Melville as one of the most stylish and influential directors working in Europe during the sixties. For me, it is his 1969 movie Army of Shadows (L'Armee des Ombres) which is a true classic.

Based in part on the director's own wartime experiences, it is a study of the French resistance which beautifully utilizes the noirish texture of his great crime movies. The photography is superb as are the underplayed performances by Leno Ventura and Simone Signoret, but all combine so well that I was never aware of any individual elements, the first, or even the second, time I saw this film. I think that is the way it should be.

Perhaps in viewing this film, you will forgive the two particularly bad model shots. Melville never had large budgets to work with and it seems he spent his money first on character development and not special effects. A wise man.