Customer Ratings & Reviews

The only exposure I had with Mr. Louis Malle was his last film in 1994, the experimental Vanya at 42nd street. A stark contrast to his first full feature noir film in 1957, Elevator to the Gallows (Original title: Ascenseur pour l’échafaud ) “I was split between my tremendous admiration for Robert Bresson and the temptation to make a Hitchcock-like film,” was how director Louis Malle described his debut feature, made when he was just 24. In fact the film stands at a stylistic crossroads between the French cinema of the classic period and the new wave films that were about to usher in a new mode of expression a year later. The excellent score by Miles Davis (a soundtrack worth picking up, jazz aficionado or not) heightens the unpredictability of the plot with freeform jazz and grooves while, at its core, provides one of cinema’s most pensive musical themes: a majestically remote trumpet. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. https://ryanrod14.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/elevator-to-the-gallows-ascenseur-pour-lechafaud-1957/

Louis Malle's supremely stylish New Wave thriller combines Miles Davis's music, Henri Decae's wonderfully evocative black & white cinematography of Paris & plenty of closeups of a young Jeanne Moreau looking very anguished. Toss in a touch of Hitchcockian suspense & you've got a truly engaging French noir.

I was lucky enough to see this when Criterion re-released it in theaters. Since then, it remains one of my all time favorite films. Moody, sexy, and thrilling. Jeanne Moreau makes her first film appearance in this, and she couldn't be more mesmerizing. To me, she makes the film. It pivots on her performance as she wanders the streets in despair. This was also Louis Malle's first film. I have seen almost all of his films, but I am very fond of this one. The score by Miles Davis adds the perfect atmosphere to this fantastic film. Definitely recommended! For more Louis Malle and Jeanne Moreau: check out a film they did together (also on Criterion) called The Lovers.