“FRENCH BURGLARS
AND SHAKESPEAREAN SAMURAISâ€
By Raymond Benson
Two
of the superb releases recently issued by The Criterion Collection are classics
from the 1950s international scene. One
is arguably the best caper/heist movie ever made, and the other is perhaps the
best Shakespearean adaptation ever produced.
First
up—Rififi, released in 1955 and
directed by American director Jules Dassin—who had exiled himself from America
due to the blacklist. It’s a film noir
made in France with French and Italian actors and a French crew. As the lyrics in a cabaret number, sung by
Magali Noel in the film, reveal, rififi
means “rough and tumble.†In other
words, Rififi is about riff-raff,
tough guys, and would-be gangsters. In
this case, the protagonists are a quartet of jewel thieves who plan a big caper
together—to break into the safe in a notable jewelry store in Paris. Led by Tony (Jean Servais), the motley crew
also includes an Italian safecracker played by Jules Dassin himself, mainly
because the original actor became unavailable at the last minute. Dassin stepped in and his performance is,
frankly, one of the best things in the picture.
Rififi earned Dassin the
Best Director prize at Cannes that year, and it’s no wonder why. It’s safe to
presume that most caper/heist pictures that came afterward owe a big debt to Rififi. The structure of the film—the gathering of the crooks, the meticulous
planning, the showpiece of the robbery execution, and the tragic aftermath—has
been copied in one way or another. Of
note is the half-hour sequence in which the four thieves break into the store
at night and perform their handiwork. It’s completely without dialogue or music. The men use hand signals to communicate with
each other, for the robbery is so well planned that they don’t need to
talk. The addition of the time limit—they
have to get it done before sun-up—makes it one of the most riveting set pieces
in the crime movie genre. In a
supplement on the disk, Dassin (interviewed in 2000) reveals that the film’s
composer insisted on writing music to accompany the scene. Dassin expressed reservations, but the guy did
it anyway. When it was done, Dassin ran
the film for the composer first with the music, and then without. After seeing the footage, the composer
acquiesced to Dassin’s original vision. The
sequence was better with no music. It turned
out so well that several countries banned the film because the heist scene was
something of a “master class†on how to do it!
The
transfer is a new 2K digital restoration, and it’s an improvement over
Criterion’s previous release of the title. The aforementioned interview with Jules Dassin is a delight, for the
director is candid about the blacklist, his struggle to get his career back on
track after his exile, and the origins and making of Rififi. Also included are
set design drawings by art director Alexandre Trauner, production stills, the
trailer, and an optional English-dubbed soundtrack. The booklet contains an insightful essay by
critic J. Hoberman.
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Throne of Blood is Akira Kurosawa’s 1957
masterpiece that brilliantly transposes Shakespeare’s Macbeth to the Japanese feudal era. It works like a charm. Drawing
extensively on some of the formal elements associated with traditional Noh
Theatre, Kurosawa choreographs a danse
macabre that is at once graceful, poetic, and most certainly violent.
Starring
the masterful Toshiro Mifune in the Macbeth role (he’s called “Taketoki†in the
film) and Isuzu Yamada as the Lady Macbeth equivalent, the picture is a
powerful concoction of directorial originality, superb acting, and striking
imagery. Asakazu Nakai’s cinematography
is especially important to the film’s success. The outdoor scenes, often filmed in real fog, are eerily beautiful, supporting
the notion that Macbeth is, after
all, a ghost story. The scene in which
Mifune encounters the witch (one instead of three) is creepy as hell. And as good as Mifune is, this is
unquestionably Yamada’s picture. As Lady
Asaji, Yamada exhibits a wide range of emotional display, from the quiet and
sinister to the raging, mad bloodlust of power. She is the scariest thing in
the movie!
Thankfully,
the Criterion Collection saw fit to re-issue the DVD on Blu-ray. Again, the new 2K digital restoration is an
improvement over the earlier release. There are two subtitle translations to choose from—one by Japanese film
translator Linda Hoaglund, and another by Kurosawa expert Donald Richie—as well
as an audio commentary by Japanese film expert Michael Jeck. A too-short documentary on the making of
film, originally a segment of the Toho
Masterworks series on Japanese television, features interviews with
Kurosawa, Yamada, and other members of the creative team. Film historian Stephen Prince supplies the
essay in the booklet.
Kurosawa
gave us many great pictures, and for my money, Throne of Blood ranks in the top five. Treat yourself... and discover or reaffirm
why Kurosawa is one of cinema’s legends.
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