A straightforward but classy thriller.
Comment
02/09/06
Elevator to the Gallows (1957)
95 %
Reviews Counted: 39 Fresh: 37 Rotten:2 Average Rating: 8.1/10
Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins
Synopsis: This psychological thriller is imbued with a wonderful Parisian atmosphere and a moody, improvisational score by legendary jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. A beautiful woman, Florence, and her lover, Julien, plan to murder her husband (who happens to be Julien's boss as well), so they can be... [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Georges Poujouly
Reviews
Top Critic
Louis Malle was just 25 when he made this moody piece of Gallic pulp fiction about a girl, a gun and a broken lift.
05/24/03
Top Critic
An intelligent thriller that served as an important precursor in the late 1950s to such New Wave classics as Breathless and The Four Hundred Blows.
02/20/02
Top Critic
A stylish noir-ish crime drama boasting, amongst other things, an improvised Miles Davis soundtrack.
01/01/00
Elevator to the Gallows is a treat for the film buff. Watching Moreau and Malle as they discover each other and a new trend in filmmaking, and listening to Miles Davis during their quest will remind you of what movies are all about.
03/23/07
It's devilishly clever, bleakly hilarious, and fatalistically romantic throughout, a celebration of grand, doomed gestures made for the sake of making them.
11/30/06
Made almost 50 years ago, the black-and-white French classic still grabs you by the throat.
10/05/06
A suspense thriller with a tense, jazzy score and a rich undercurrent of fatalistic irony.
10/05/06
Director-writer Louis Malle's first feature at 26 is a stylish French New Wave noir-ish thriller that never satisfies as much as it should.
07/06/06
a perfect hybrid of French noir elegance and the New Wave's rough hewn realism
04/20/06
Henri Decaë's black-and-white cinematography brings out the melancholy mystery of Paris' boulevards and cafes, and Ms. Moreau, shot with natural lighting and without make-up, is like a mournful goddess of glamour.
04/07/06
It's easy to see why this is a classic. It's got a great story, pacing that keeps you on your toes, decent performances, and a style that's timeless.
04/07/06
"Gallows" was Malle's first film at the age of 24, and you can sense his eagerness to start pushing and kicking at the rigid noir plot structure to see what happens.
04/06/06
It's got an amazing score by Miles Davis, photography by one of France's best cinematographers and Jeanne Moreau in a cloud of love, pain and desperation.
11/11/05
The plot crackles with energy and misdirection, while the black-and-white film sharpens angles and amplifies the shadows lurking in every hallway.
10/14/05
The movie's most compelling element of all is Moreau, wandering the nighttime streets trying to find her lover. It's as if she's blown from one cafe to the next on a blended wind of passion, dread and the lonely trumpet wail.
09/22/05
These 1950s French noirs abandon the formality of traditional crime films, the almost ritualistic obedience to formula, and show crazy stuff happening to people who seem to be making up their lives as they go along.
09/15/05
Top Critic
What turns it fabulous, indeed mythical, is the presence of another entity: Paris at night in the '50s, to the tune of Miles Davis's score as realized in the dappled hues of Henri Decae's gorgeous poetic cinematography.
09/09/05
Related Forums
NEW 35mm restoration of Louis Malle's ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS opens June 24 in NYC!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 3/25/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 3/25/06
NEW 35mm restoration of Louis Malle's ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS opens June 24 in NYC!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 3/25/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 3/25/06
NEW 35mm restoration of Louis Malle's ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS opens June 24 in NYC!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 3/25/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 3/25/06
NEW 35mm restoration of Louis Malle's ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS opens June 24 in NYC!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 3/25/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 3/25/06
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