Amazon.com: Though he had forced his way into French film culture by working entirely outside his country's studio system in the 1940s and 1950s, by the 1960s director Jean-Pierre Melville was working with larger budgets and well-known actors such as Jean-Paul Belmondo, star of Le Doulos. An extension of Melville's fascination with the existential milieu of American gangster films, Le Doulos presents New Wave icon Belmondo as Silien, a man newly released from prison and by reputation a professional informer. A figure, then, of possible duplicity and ambiguity, Silien is the perfect Melvillian hero, difficult to read but propelled by internal forces manifested as direct action. Maintaining friendships with both cop and crook, Silien's notoriety as a "finger man" who informs on the latter is underscored when one acquaintance, a police inspector (Daniel Crohem), waits in ambush for another, a burglar (Serge Reggiani), to perform his next job. But did Silien actually rat out the fellow? Melville pushes the envelope of our perceptions by making it appear Silien did, and then goes through the tale again to reveal another story. A much darker film than his celebrated Bob le Flambeur, Le Doulos is an absorbing tale of a world that seems to exist between light and shadow. --Tom Keogh
Melville on speed Le doulos = hat = police informant.
For Jean-Pierre Melville, this is a surprisingly fast-moving story based on the distrust between criminals, police and police informants. It turns into a fine whodunnit so it helps to keep you wits about you.
This is the second Jean-Paul Belmondo performance I've seen in a Melville films and they were both outstanding. He is more subdued in these films than is typical for Jean-Paul, yet he has more life and dimensions than Alain Delon who would become Melville's choice for later films. Lesser-known Serge Reggiani is equally splendid in the other major role of the film (he is the focus of the first half of the film).
This is a B&W film with 60s clothing styles for the women and 50s style for the men (trenchcoat and hats). Not as distinctive as the other films I've seen of Melville's, but, because of its storytelling and pacing, it's one I can recommend to people who wouldn't tolerate his slower-paced films. In other words, this one is just plain fun.
If you're lucky, your DVD will include commentary for selected scenes and an on-camera lecture by French film expert, Ginette Vincendeau. If so, it will likely include comments by Assistant Director to Melville, German-born Volker Schlondorff. Both are extremely fluent in English and offer fascinating information.
Hopefully, there is or will be a Region 1 DVD available. If you have a multi-region DVD player, there's a Region 2 available at the Amazon.co.UK website (it ain't cheap).
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
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