In a career-defining performance, Alain Delon (Purple Noon) plays Jef Costello, a contract killer with samurai instincts. After carrying out a flawlessly planned hit, Jef finds himself caught between a persistent police investigator and a ruthless employer, and not even his armour of fedora and trench coat can protect him. An elegantly stylized masterpiece of cool by maverick director Jean-Pierre Melville (Army of Shadows), Le samouraï is a razor-sharp cocktail of 1940s American gangster cinema and 1960s French pop culture with a liberal dose of Japanese lonewarrior mythology.
Jean-Pierre Melville (1917 1974) is one of the most revered French film directors of all time. Born in Paris during WW1, he was to become a member of the French resistance in the Second World War, an experience which he drew on in his later career as a film director, routinely plunging his characters into an underworld of secrecy and deception. The reluctant godfather of the French New Wave, Melville's highly individual style was influenced by the ideas of existentialism and surrealism, but arguably his greatest debt was to classical American cinema, the traditions of which he wove with inimitable style into his quintessentially French films. Hailed by many as the father of the French gangster movie, he was inspired by the classic film noirs of 1930s and 40s Hollywood, imbuing many his films with a sense of menace and impending peril, creating a sinister underworld to be traversed by his ubiquitous gun-toting hoodlums. This set contains six of his finest films, from his early bittersweet masterpiece, Bob Le Flambeur, to his final film, Un flic, his wonderfully fatalistic study of loss and deception; a fitting epitaph to one of the finest careers in contemporary cinema. Included Extras: LE DOULOS - NEW Interview with first assistant director Volker Schlondorff - 20 mins BOB LE FLAMBEUR - NEW retrospective documentary by the film critic Dominique Maillet - 20 mins LEON MORIN PRETRE - NEW Master class with Philippe Labro (friend and apprentice of Melville) + Rémy Grumbach (Melville's nephew) - 59 mins LE CERCLE ROUGE Interview with Le Cercle Rouge's first assistant director Bernard Stora 30mins Code Name Melville - 76mins) Interview with first assistant director Bernard Stora - 30mins Interview with novelist José Giovanni - 15mins Présentation by Ginette Vincendeau 21'30
A 19th century Italian prince (Burt Lancaster) presides over the transition from his old world to a modern one where his class will no longer rule...
Billed as the first East meets West' Western and directed by Terence Young, cult classic RED SUN (1971) is based on a true story from the American Wild West of 1870. When an outlaw named Link (Charles Bronson) is betrayed by his gang during a train robbery, he is forced by the Japanese Ambassador to help recover a priceless sword stolen by Link's double-crossing partner Gauche (Alain Delon). Link and the Ambassador's bodyguard, Kuroda (Toshiro Mifune), travel the West in pursuit of Gauche, kidnapping his girlfriend (Ursula Andress) along the way to lure him out. Joined in an uneasy alliance, they have only seven days to find Gauche or Kuroda must follow his samurai code of honour and die by his own sword. Delve deeper into the STUDIOCANAL catalogue with the curated CULT CLASSICS collection. Discover eclectic, boundary pushing rarities, genre classics, and forgotten cinematic treasures.
In a career-defining performance, Alain Delon plays Jef Costello, a contract killer with samurai instincts. After carrying out a flawlessly planned hit, Jef finds himself caught between a persistent police investigator and a ruthless employer, and not even his armor of fedora and trench coat can protect him. An elegantly stylized masterpiece of cool by maverick director Jean Pierre Melville, Le samouraï is a razor-sharp cocktail of 1940s American gangster cinema and 1960s French pop culturewith a liberal dose of Japanese lone-warrior mythology.
A Naval Secret Service agent's tough assignment is to stop the ruthless pirating of gold bullion in the Irish Sea. The trail takes him to a tiny port in the Hebrides where mysterious disappearances of boats yachts and people are commonplace...
Melville's masterful take on the American crime thriller perfectly combines the Hollywood gangster film with his uniquely French style. Starring Alain Delon as a master theif Yves Montand as an alcoholic ex-cop and Italian star Gian-Maria Volonte as an escaped criminal the trio plot a daring heist of an upmarket Parisian jewellery store against impossible odds.
Billed as the first East meets West Western, and directed by Terence Young, RED SUN is based on a true story from the American Wild West of 1870. When outlaw Link (Charles Bronson) is betrayed by his gang during a train robbery, he is forced by the Japanese Ambassador to help regain a priceless sword stolen by Link's double-crossing partner Gauche (Alain Delon). Link and the Ambassador's bodyguard, Kuroda (Toshiro Mifune), travel the West in pursuit of Gauche, attempting to lure him out by taking his girlfriend (Ursula Andress) as hostage. Although Kuroda plans to kill Gauche straight away, Link needs him alive to find the loot from their last robbery. Joined in an uneasy alliance, they have only seven days to find Gauche or Kuroda must follow his samurai code of honour and die by his own sword. EXTRAS: On the set of Red Sun - Extract from Pour le cinéma (Director: Pierre Mignot © INA 1971)NEW Interview with Steven Okazaki Original Trailer
Keanu Reeves stars as an aimless young man who scalps tickets, gambles and drinks, and agrees to coach a Little League team from a Chicago housing project.
Eureka Entertainment to release Luchino Visconti's ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS, the melodramatic 1960 masterpiece with an extraordinary cast, on Blu-ray for the first time in the world on 14 March 2016 From Luchino Visconti the master director of such classics as La terra trema, Bellissima, and The Leopard comes this epic study of family, sex, and betrayal. Alongside Fellini's La dolce vita and Antonioni's L'avventura, Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers ushered Italian cinema into a new era, one unafraid to confront head-on the hypocrisies of the ruling class, the squalor in urban living, and the collision between generations. When a tight-knit family moves from Italy's rural south to metropolitan Milan, the new possibilities - and threats - present in their fresh surroundings have alarming, unforeseen consequences. Operatically weaving the five brothers' stories across a vast canvas, with an extraordinary cast including Alain Delon, Annie Girardot and Claudia Cardinale, Rocco and His Brothers stands as one of the most majestic and influential works of its era. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present one of Visconti's most revered films for the first time in the world on Blu-ray. Special Features: Gorgeous high-definition 1080p presentation from a new 4k restoration Optional English subtitles Two audio choices; the original Italian, and the French dub Les coulisses du tournage, a 2003 French documentary about the film A 1999 interview with Visconti's cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno An interview with actress Claudia Cardinale A 2002 interview with actress Annie Girardot Luchino Visconti, an hour-long documentary about the life and work of Visconti Two vintage newsreels Original Italian trailer PLUS: A 40-PAGE BOOKLET featuring writing by Guido Aristarco, an essay written by the director in 1960, a vintage interview with Visconti and rare archival imagery. Click Images to Enlarge
L’Eclisse was the final film in Antonioni’s informal trilogy on contemporary malaise (following L’Avventura and La Notte), a series of films that redefined the concept of narrative cinema. Filmed in sumptuous black and white, and full of scenes of lush, strange beauty, it tells the story of Vittoria (the beautiful Monica Vitti - Red Desert - Antonioni’s partner at the time), a young woman who leaves her older lover (Francisco Rabal – Viridiana), then drifts into a relationship with a confident, ambitious young stockbroker (Alain Delon – Le Cercle Rouge). But this base narrative is the starting point for much, much more, including an analysis of the city as a place of estrangement and alienation and an implicit critique of colonialism. Using the architecture of Rome - old and new - as a backdrop for this doomed affair, Antonioni achieves the apotheosis of his style in this return to the theme that preoccupied him the most: the difficulty of forming true connections amidst the meaninglessness of the modern world. The final shot remains one of the greatest endings in cinema.
ALAIN DELON, GIAN MARIA VOLONTà and YVES MONTAND star as the elegant, mis-matched trio, locked in an elaborate and dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with the inscrutable police inspector (ANDRà BOURVIL), who is determined to foil their attempts to pull off the perfect crime, despite being drawn irresistibly to his prey. As the day of the heist dawns, the story unfolds, with all four players determined to cheat fate. Extras: The Perfect Circle Under the Name of Melville Interview with Bernard Stora Interview with José Giovanni Ginette Vincendeau Presentation of Le Cercle Rouge
This brand-new restoration of the César Award-winning political thriller directed by Joseph Losey is starring Alain Delon in a career defining role with a special appearance from Jeanne Moreau. Mr. Klein, with its Kafkaesque focus on the themes of identity and obsession, has become a classic of the doppelgänger paranoia genre and is one of Losey's darkest films. Paris, January 1942 - art dealer Robert Klein (Alain Delon) is making a killing. For this loyal Frenchman the Nazi occupation is a unique business opportunity. He stands to profit from the Jewish people's misfortune, as they sell their possessions in a hurry to leave the country. But when a Jewish newspaper turns up on Klein's doorstep, his comfortable life begins to unravel. It seems there is another Robert Klein, a suspected Jewish Resistance fighter, who is content to live in the shadows and let his namesake take the fall. As Klein's investigation of his double progresses, the mood shifts from Hitchcock to Kafka and proving his innocence becomes less important than confronting his doppelgänger... Extras: Introduction by Jean-Baptiste Thoret Mr Klein Revisited by Michel Ciment Interview with Henri Lanoe
Against a dramatic 19th century backdrop of radical Italian Nationalism Luchino Visconti's masterful epic The Leopard follows the Sicilian Prince of Salina and his family as they adjust to the social turbulence of revolutionary times. Burt Lancaster's formidable portrayal of the Prince is deftly supported by charged performances from the outstanding Alain Delon and incomparable Claudia Cardinale. Visconti's sumptuous evocation of an era - with beautiful photography design costumes and Nino Rota's rousing score - glitters with set pieces culminating in the acclaimed ballroom sequence as the film moves gracefully to its meditative climax. Presented complete and uncut this stunning High Definition transfer - from the original 70mm negatives - was overseen by the film's director of photography Giuseppe Rotunno and features fully restored picture and sound.
René Clément's (Forbidden Games Gervasise) 1960's stylish thriller Plein Soleil is adapted from Patricia Highsmith's novel The Talented Mr. Ripley. Alain Delon (le Cercle Rouge Le Samourai) stars as Tom Ripley an American who travels to Europe on an all-expenses-paid mission to convince his friend the charismatic playboy Philippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet - Le Feu Follet) to travel to San Francisco at the request of the wealthy Greenleaf family. Initially the pair enjoys the good life in Italy often to the anger and dismay of Philippe's much put-upon fiancée Marge (Marie Laforet). However as Tom's funds begin to run dry it becomes more and more apparent that Philippe has no intention of returning to the U.S. forcing Tom to consider more calculated means of maintaining his extravagant lifestyle. Special Features: Interview with Alain Délon The Restoration of Plein Soleil Réné Clémént: At the Heart of the New Wave - a documentary by Dominque Maillet
Featuring screen icons and delectable starlets, Texas Across the River is a wild spoof of early frontier life!The Louisiana wedding of debutante Phoebe Ann Naylor (Rosemary Forsyth) to the aristocratic Don Andrea Baldazar (French heartthrob, Alain Delon, star of Rocco and His Brothers) is stopped by the Cavalry over a matter of honour. Don Andrea flees across the river to Texas, where he meets up with Sam Hollis (the incomparable Dean Martin) and his Indian sidekick, Kronk (Joey Bishop), who are carrying rifles to the town of Moccasin Flats. In the course of his adventure Don Andrea rescues an Indian maiden, Lonetta (Tina Marquand), tames some longhorns and eludes a Comanche war party and the Cavalry.
Master thief Corey is fresh out of prison. But instead of toeing the line of law-abiding freedom he finds his steps leading back to the shadowy world of crime crossing paths with a notorious escapee and an alcoholic ex-cop. As the unlikely trio plots a heist against impossible odds their trail is pursued by a relentless inspector and fate begins to seal their destinies. Taking its title from Buddhist Iore Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Cercle Rouge combines honorable anti-heroes coolly atmospheric cinematography and breathtaking set pieces to create a masterpiece of crime cinema.
From Luchino Visconti - the master director of such classics as La Terra Trema Bellissima and The Leopard - comes this epic study of family sex and betrayal. A widow Rosaria moves to the metropolis that is Milano from Lucania - Italy's rural south - with her 4 sons; one of whom is Rocco. The shock of the new is violent and immediate. A mother meddles. A whore beguiles. Brother faces brother.
Caught midway between 1970s soft-porn clunker The Story of O and Bunuel's sado-masochistic fantasy Belle de Jour, the 1968 erotic curio Girl on a Motorcycle is one of Marianne Faithfull's chief claims to notoriety. She stars as Rebecca, a leather-clad, former bookstore clerk in search of sexual fulfilment who flees her dependable schoolteacher husband for a dangerous liaison with Daniel (Alain Delon), a dashing Professor addicted to speed. The story is told entirely in flashbacks as Rebecca rockets along the road, having donned her leathers and walked out on her sleeping husband at the crack of dawn. It all must have seemed fairly daring and provocative in 1968, providing viewers with ample opportunities to view a naked Faithfull at the height of her allure. But today the existential musings of the lead character seem achingly pretentious, the erotic symbolism merely gawky and unintentionally amusing: the sight of Alain Delon with a phallic pipe dangling from his mouth is like something out of a Rene Magritte painting. The sex scenes between Delon and Faithfull are all swamped in a polarised visual effect that, while garish and psychedelic, is dated and distinctly unerotic. Director Jack Cardiff is better known as a cinematographer on classics such as The African Queen and Black Narcissus. Among Cardiff's other directorial credits is a worthy adaptation of DH Lawrence's Sons & Lovers, but Girl on a Motorcycle is a saucy road movie with no final destination. On the DVD: This DVD version is misleadingly presented as being the fully restored and uncut version of the film. Yet it was the US version not the European one that was heavily cut (and titillatingly re-titled "Naked Under Leather"). The restoration certainly does not refer to the print quality: although the colours are vivid and bright, the print used to master the DVD (in 16:9 anamorphic format) is extremely grainy and, at times, speckled with dirt and scratches. Included as one of the special features, a theatrical trailer loaded with innuendo shows just how much the film was marketed to a prurient audience. Director Jack Cardiff provides an audio commentary but has few revelatory things to say about his film beyond technical considerations, and even makes several clunking errors (recalling his casting decisions concerning a scene that takes place in a provincial German café, he raves about how he strove to find authentic French locals!). He does reveal that the film's use of a voice-over was inspired by the internal monologue that forms the basis of James Joyce's Ulysses. Given Cardiff's age and experience one feels that he must have more interesting anecdotes and insights, making this commentary feel like a wasted opportunity. --Chris Campion
Please wait. Loading...
This site uses cookies.
More details in our privacy policy