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L'armée des ombres [videorecording] = Army of shadows / Janus Films ; Rialto Pictures ; une restauration ; Studio Canal ; Archives françaises du film ; CNC ; Les Films Corona présentent ; produit par Jacques Dorfmann ; adaptation et réalisation de [adapted and directed by] Jean-Pierre Melville ; co-production Franco-Italienne Films Corona (Paris), Fono Roma (Rome).

Contributor(s): Material type: FilmFilmPublisher number: CC1693D | Criterion CollectionLanguage: French Subtitle language: English Series: Criterion collection (DVD videodiscs) ; 385.Publication details: [Irvington, NY] : Criterion Collection, c2007.Description: 2 videodiscs (145 min.) : sd., col. ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 guide (41 p. : col., ill. ; 19 cm.)ISBN:
  • 1934121487
  • 9781934121481
Other title:
  • Title on disc label and container: Army of Shadows a Jean-Pierre Melville film
  • Army of shadows
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Disc one the film Opening -- Gerbier -- Internment -- Comrade -- Gestapo -- Hôtel Majestic -- Quick shave -- Job in Marseilles -- Traitor -- Jean-François -- Talent agency in Lyon -- Special delivery -- Saint Luc and Little Jean -- Midnight passage -- London -- News of Félix -- Parachute drop -- Disguises and hideouts -- Rescue preparations -- Denounced -- Transport for Félix -- "You better lie low" -- Certain death -- Isolation -- News of Mathilde -- "Nothing's sacred anymore" -- Color bars (145 min.) (1969); Commentary [optional audio feature]; Trailers (5 min.).
Disc two the supplements: Jean-Pierre Melville, cinéaste [featurette] (5 min.) (1968) -- Revisiting a masterpiece : Pierre Lhomme and "Army of Shadows" [featurette] (14 min.) (2007) -- Restoration footage (7 min.) -- Françoise Bonnot : Editing with Melville [featurette] (11 min.) (2007) -- L'invité du dimanche: Jean-Pierre Melville [featurette, b&w] (30 min.) (1969) -- Jean-Pierre Melville et "L'armée des ombres" (30 min.) (2002) -- Le journal de la Résistance [featurette, b&w] (34 min.) (1944) -- Simone Signoret and Lucie Aubrac [featurette, col.] (6 min.) (1984) -- Ouvrez les guillemets [featurette, b&w] (24 min.) (1973).
Production credits:
  • Directeur de la photographie, Pierre Lhomme ; montage [editor], Françoise Bonnot ; musique, Eric De Marsan ; decors, Théobald Meurisse ; conseiller aux dialogues ét́rangers, Howard Vernon.
Cast: Lino Ventura (Philippe Gerbier), Paul Meurisse (Luc Jardie), Jean-Pierre Cassel (Jean-François Jardie), Simone Signoret (Mathilde), Claude Mann (Claude 'Le Masque'), Paul Crauchet (Félix), Christian Barbier ('Le Bison'), Serge Reggiani, André Dewavrin, Alain Dekok, Alain Mottet, Alain Libolt, Jean-Marie Robain, Albert Michel, Denis Sadier, Georges Sellier, Marco Perrin, Hubert de Lapparent, Colin Mann, Anthony Stuart, Michel Fretault.Summary: L'Armee des Ombres is a stark and unvarnished story about Resistance fighters in Vichy France in 1942-43 when the French leadership allowed the Nazis to occupy the country. The members of this army are cold, hungry, desperate men and women, with false names and no addresses, who can be betrayed in an instant by a traitor or an accident. They know they will probably die. A meditation on the nature of resistance and the price of courage, these heroes can save their own country only by cutting themselves apart from it. Entangled in the political turmoil engulfing France in the wake of May '68--as a result received poorly there--the film was not distributed in the US until 2006.
Audiovisual profile: Click to open in new window
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult DVD Adult DVD Dr. James Carlson Library DVD WORLD Armee Available 33111007397538
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

WWII tale of heroic French Resistance fighters battling the occupying Nazi forces. Vignettes include an escape from Gestapo headquarters, the execution of a traitor and the attempted rescue of a tortured comrade. Critically ignored in France when it first opened in 1969, the film was later rediscovered and hailed as a lost masterpiece, finally receiving a U.S. release in 2006. Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Simone Signoret, Claude Mann, and Christian Barbier co-star. Written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, who served in the French Resistance himself before becoming a filmmaker. ~ Jack Rodgers, Rovi

Booklet contains the essays "Out of the shadows" by Amy Taubin, "Melville's French Resistance" by Robert O. Paxton, and "Melville on Melville: 'Army of Shadows'" interview [with Jean-Pierre Melville] by Rui Nogueria.

D'apres le livre de [After the novel by] Joseph Kessell.

Originally released as a French motion picture in 1969.

Disc one the film Opening -- Gerbier -- Internment -- Comrade -- Gestapo -- Hôtel Majestic -- Quick shave -- Job in Marseilles -- Traitor -- Jean-François -- Talent agency in Lyon -- Special delivery -- Saint Luc and Little Jean -- Midnight passage -- London -- News of Félix -- Parachute drop -- Disguises and hideouts -- Rescue preparations -- Denounced -- Transport for Félix -- "You better lie low" -- Certain death -- Isolation -- News of Mathilde -- "Nothing's sacred anymore" -- Color bars (145 min.) (1969); Commentary [optional audio feature]; Trailers (5 min.).

Disc two the supplements: Jean-Pierre Melville, cinéaste [featurette] (5 min.) (1968) -- Revisiting a masterpiece : Pierre Lhomme and "Army of Shadows" [featurette] (14 min.) (2007) -- Restoration footage (7 min.) -- Françoise Bonnot : Editing with Melville [featurette] (11 min.) (2007) -- L'invité du dimanche: Jean-Pierre Melville [featurette, b&w] (30 min.) (1969) -- Jean-Pierre Melville et "L'armée des ombres" (30 min.) (2002) -- Le journal de la Résistance [featurette, b&w] (34 min.) (1944) -- Simone Signoret and Lucie Aubrac [featurette, col.] (6 min.) (1984) -- Ouvrez les guillemets [featurette, b&w] (24 min.) (1973).

Directeur de la photographie, Pierre Lhomme ; montage [editor], Françoise Bonnot ; musique, Eric De Marsan ; decors, Théobald Meurisse ; conseiller aux dialogues ét́rangers, Howard Vernon.

Lino Ventura (Philippe Gerbier), Paul Meurisse (Luc Jardie), Jean-Pierre Cassel (Jean-François Jardie), Simone Signoret (Mathilde), Claude Mann (Claude 'Le Masque'), Paul Crauchet (Félix), Christian Barbier ('Le Bison'), Serge Reggiani, André Dewavrin, Alain Dekok, Alain Mottet, Alain Libolt, Jean-Marie Robain, Albert Michel, Denis Sadier, Georges Sellier, Marco Perrin, Hubert de Lapparent, Colin Mann, Anthony Stuart, Michel Fretault.

L'Armee des Ombres is a stark and unvarnished story about Resistance fighters in Vichy France in 1942-43 when the French leadership allowed the Nazis to occupy the country. The members of this army are cold, hungry, desperate men and women, with false names and no addresses, who can be betrayed in an instant by a traitor or an accident. They know they will probably die. A meditation on the nature of resistance and the price of courage, these heroes can save their own country only by cutting themselves apart from it. Entangled in the political turmoil engulfing France in the wake of May '68--as a result received poorly there--the film was not distributed in the US until 2006.

DVD; Region 1, NTSC; 1.0 Dolby Digital mono., 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo; widescreen presentation, aspect ratio 1.85:1; enhanced for 16:9 televisions; new high-definition digital transfer.

In French with optional subtitles in English.

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