Blu-ray, DVD Release: Elevator to the Gallows

By
Laurence
– February 13, 2018Find Others: Blu-ray, DVD, Movie, New Release, NewsGet More: , , , ,

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Feb. 6, 2018
Price: DVD $20.52, Blu-ray $25.99
Studio: Criterion

For his feature debut in 1958, twenty-four-year-old Louis Malle (Zazie Dans Le Metro) helmed the thriller Elevator to the Gallows, bringing together a mesmerizing performance by Jeanne Moreau (La Notte, The Train), evocative cinematography by Henri Decaë (The 400 Blows, Purple Noon), and a now legendary jazz score by Miles Davis.

Taking place over the course of one restless Paris night, Malle’s richly atmospheric crime thriller stars Moreau and Maurice Ronet (Purple Noon) as star-crossed lovers whose plan to murder her husband (his boss) goes awry, setting off a chain of events that seals their fate.

A career touchstone for its director and female star, Elevator to the Gallows was an astonishing beginning to Malle’s eclectic body of work, and it established Moreau as one of the most captivating actors to ever grace the screen.

Presented in French with English subtitles, Criterion’s DVD and Blu-ray editions include the following:

* New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
* Interview from 2005 with actor Jeanne Moreau
* Archival interviews with Moreau, director Louis Malle, actor Maurice Ronet, and original soundtrack session pianist René Urtreger
* Footage of Miles Davis and Malle from the soundtrack recording session
* Program from 2005 about the score featuring jazz trumpeter Jon Faddis and critic Gary Giddins
* Malle’s student film Crazeologie, featuring Charlie Parker’s song “Crazeology”
* Trailers
* A booklet featuring an essay by critic Terrence Rafferty, an interview with Malle, and a tribute by film producer Vincent Malle

Buy or Rent Elevator to the Gallows

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About Laurence

Founder and editor Laurence Lerman saw Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest when he was 13 years old and that’s all it took. He has been writing about film and video for more than a quarter of a century for magazines, anthologies, websites and most recently, Video Business magazine, where he served as the Reviews Editor for 15 years.