Red-Barracuda This film is possibly most notable for being regarded as the first film of the celebrated French New Wave, a film movement which would modernise cinema and change it forever. With this in mind, Elevator to the Gallows has to be considered something worth a viewing. Like many others in the New Wave, the influence of the British director Alfred Hitchcock is not too far from the surface in what is essentially a crime thriller. More specifically, this one could be more usefully categorised as a French neo-noir which has a plot typical of this bracket of film with a story propelled by a woman and her lover scheming to murder her husband. This plot point is dealt with quite quickly and early though and it is the fall-out of this crime which is what the film is really about, with the excellent central conceit of the murderer trapped in an elevator one which is highly distinctive. The film essentially is made up of two connected crime stories of young lovers, the older of which are the two whose actions kick-start the plot and who never physically meet throughout the course of the story, while the other two are that new staple of 50's cinema, juvenile delinquents. It's an interesting story, with some nice twists and turns. It looks splendid too, with scenic views of 50's Paris doing it no harm at all. Not only this but it also is fortunate enough to sport an improvised score from jazz legend Miles Davis, which perfectly enhances the urban melancholy unfolding on screen.

ElNeilo I am a great fan of noir and thus was severely underwhelmed by this considering the glowing reviews. Jeanne Moreau looks great and the photography is suitably stylish and atmospheric but it's just that the story is so routine, so mundane, so ordinary. It looks like there might be a few clever twists but they never come, no, the clever cops work it all out and the silly chumps leave incriminating photos to seal their fate and by the way, who took the photos anyway? I hardly think they had selfies in those days, especially not on a spy camera, but rather indiscreet nonetheless considering the circumstances. However, justice is done, the bad guys get theirs and that's that. There is none of the moral ambiguity, nihilism or hopelessness that true masterpieces of the genre like Scarlet Street, Kiss Me Deadly or The Third Man have in spades. This plays out more like a routine episode of Colombo with all loose ends nicely tied up, thank you very much. A real disappointment.

blanche-2 Louis Malle made his striking directorial debut in this French film, "Elevator to the Gallows" in 1958, with the script cowritten by him and Roger Nimier.Jeanne Moreau plays an unhappily married woman who colludes with her lover Tavernier (Maurice Ronet) to kill her husband (Jean Wall), for whom he works. Tavernier takes a gun, goes up to his boss' office via a rope out his own office window, and kills him. As he's leaving the building, he sees that he did not collect the rope. He leaves his car running, leaving his coat and gun inside while he runs in to retrieve the rope. Unfortunately, while he's in the elevator, the building is closed, and that includes the power. He's stuck.Meanwhile, two young people, an impulsive, cagey young man and his girlfriend from a flower shop (Georges Poujouly, Yori Bertin) steal Tavernier's fancy car and take off.Fabulous noir set in rainy France with captivating scenery and Miles Davis music, perfectly catching the atmosphere - Moreau, not knowing where Tavernier is, walking in the rain, going from bar to bar trying to find him; the two young lovers on an adventure, the girl with a romantic, Juliet-like attitude, the boy headstrong; Tavernier, smoking in the elevator as he works on how to get out; people still talking of the Occupation and war in Algiers...Malle weaves a fascinating story of fate and random circumstance.There isn't a lot of dialogue in this film, but the actions say it all. Paris in the rain and suspense - it doesn't get much better.

evening1 Intriguing policier with a very off-beat plot and a neat little reminder about the best-laid plans of mice and men. As much as we may think that we can plan our lives, a simple little thing -- say, taking an elevator, or leaving a camera in one's car -- may turn out to have life-or-death consequences. I found it quite interesting that the two romantic leads, Mrs. Carala (Jeanne Moreau) and Tavernier (Maurice Ronet), spend the entire length of the film apart.I think the movie falters toward its end, when Mrs. Carala turns detective and the police case falls too neatly into place. However, I enjoyed the little steps of the cat-and-mouse game.The younger, all-too-ordinary, unintelligent lovers' antics, and the way their lives go down the tubes in a heartbeat, is fascinating to watch and, sadly, not that hard to believe.This was a fun, if not totally coherent, highly atmospheric viewing experience. It kept my attention thoroughly.