Elevator to the Gallows (1958)

Film: Elevator to the Gallows

Stars: Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Georges Poujouly, Yori Bertin, Jean Wall

Director: Louis Malle

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 5/5 stars

Throughout the month of June we will be doing a Film Noir Movie Marathon, featuring fifteen film noir classics that I'll be seeing for the first time.  Reviews of other film noir classics are at the bottom of this article.

The style of filmmaking known as film noir lasted from about 1940-60, with most films made after that considered to be "neo-noir" which we'll get into some examples of in a few days.  By the late 1950's, though, Hollywood was not interested in noir as a major filmmaking style.  Though Hitchcock paid homage to it in Vertigo, and Orson Welles made his in-the-wilderness opus Touch of Evil, neither of these films were hits (no matter how revered they might be today), and by-and-large noir was something that was relegated to lesser stars, lesser studios, and B-movie slots at the theaters.  What's fascinating about this is that arguably the most important new film movement of the era was becoming obsessed with the film noir structure: The French New Wave.  The French New Wave was a film style that dominated arthouse cinema in the late 1950's through the end of the 1960's, and was a clear predecessor to New Hollywood.  They also borrowed heavily from film noir, and one of the best examples of this was also one of the earliest French New Wave films, one that introduced us to two key figures in the movement: director Louis Malle & actress Jeanne Moreau.

(Spoilers Ahead-and this is a twisty film so I want to double underline the Spoiler Alert) The movie is about two lovers, Florence Carala (Moreau) and Julien Tavernier (Ronet).  Julien works for Florence's husband Simon (Wall), and together they plan the perfect murder, essentially concocting a locked room death for Simon where it looks like he committed suicide (when actually Julien killed him).  It goes off perfectly, except Julien forgot the grappling hook he used to climb in Simon's window, so he goes back into the office to retrieve it...and gets stuck in an elevator.  This sets off a chain reaction that includes a young couple joyriding in, and then impersonating, Julien in his car, and Florence confusing the joyride for being Julien with a young woman, setting off a jealousy in her as she thinks he's dumped her.  The young couple kill two Germans, and it soon becomes a bit of a puzzle-Julien's only alibi for the murder this young couple committed (while impersonating him) is for the murder that he did commit.

We've talked a lot this month about film noir's reliance on excessive plot, oftentimes shoving in extra twists & characters to ratchet up the suspense (and the body count).  This is kind of the fun of film noir-it has a gaucheness that's delicous to ruminate within.  But Elevator to the Gallows doesn't do that, and it's the better for it.  Every scene is leading to an eventual conclusion (when both Julien & Florence are caught, even while Florence's descent into her romantic fantasy remains impenetrable), and it locks together perfectly.  This is proof of a brilliant screenplay, but it also poses a risk-films that work too well come across as a ticking clock, something that risks being dull because it's too premeditated or obvious.

But Malle's approach makes Elevator to the Gallows a masterpiece, and he's aided by a fascinating, breathtaking turn by Jeanne Moreau in her breakout role.  The woman that Orson Welles once called "the greatest actress in the world" is impossibly beautiful, glamorous, and tragic as Florence, and Malle interrupts his perfectly calibrated movie with scenes of just her face.  Few directors had done something like this before, just focusing on an actress walking down the street, lit in Paris cafe lights, to accentuate the anguish she's going through, and hoping that her talent was able to fill in her mood, but Malle does & Moreau succeeds.  This is a spectacular pairing of director & actress (the two would become lovers in real-life and make another movie together soon after...titled The Lovers), and it creates one of the most moving films I've seen in a while.  Throw in a fabulous improvisational score by Miles Davis (that's remarkable in its simplicity and the way it gives us a sense of Paris in the 1950's), and you have a masterpiece.

1940's: Act of Violence, The Big Sleep, The Blue Dahlia, Blues in the Night, Brighton Rock, Criss Cross, Crossfire, Daisy Kenyon, Dead Reckoning, Detour, Fallen Angel, The Fallen Idol, Force of Evil, Gilda, High Sierra, I Walk Alone, I Wake Up Screaming, The Killers, The Lady from Shanghai, Leave Her to Heaven, Ministry of Fear, Moonrise, Murder My Sweet, Nightmare Alley, Out of the Past, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Raw Deal, The Reckless Moment, Ride the Pink Horse, Scarlet Street, Sorry, Wrong Number, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, They Won't Believe Me, Too Late for Tears, The Woman in the Window, The Woman on the Beach

1950's: Ace in the Hole, Affair in Trinidad, The Asphalt Jungle, Beat the Devil, The Big Combo, The Big Heat, The Blue Gardenia, The Breaking Point, The Burglar, Cast a Dark Shadow, The Crimson Kimono, Gun Crazy, The Hitch-Hiker, House of Bamboo, In a Lonely Place, The Killing, Kiss Me Deadly, Murder by Contract, Night and the City, On Dangerous Ground, Pickup on South Street, The Prowler, Slightly Scarlet, Sudden Fear, Sweet Smell of Success, They Live By Night, While the City Sleeps

Neo-Noir: Blade Runner, Body Heat, Farewell My Lovely, Fargo, From Afar, The Long Goodbye, Night Moves, Nightcrawler