Army Of Shadows (1969) ( L'Armée des ombres ) ( L'Armata degli eroi )

Army Of Shadows (1969) (Blu-Ray) (*)

Out of Stock

Original Title: L'Armée des ombres
Alternate Title: L'Armata degli eroi
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
French ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
French ( Dolby DTS-HD Master Audio )
French ( Subtitles )
German ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
German ( Dolby DTS-HD Master Audio )
German ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( Blu-Ray/Region B )

Running Time:
145 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.85:1)

Special Features:
Documentary
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Booklet

Movie filmed in 1969 and produced in:
France ( France, Benelux )
Italy ( Italy, Greece )

Directed By:
Jean-Pierre Melville

Written By:
Jean-Pierre Melville
Joseph Kessel

Actors:
Lino Ventura ..... Philippe Gerbier
Paul Meurisse ..... Luc Jardie
Jean-Pierre Cassel ..... Jean François Jardie
Simone Signoret ..... Mathilde
Claude Mann ..... Claude Le Masque
Paul Crauchet ..... Felix
Christian Barbier ..... Le Bison
Serge Reggiani ..... The hairdresser
André Dewavrin ..... Colonel Passy (Himself)
Alain Dekok ..... Legrain
Alain Mottet ..... Commander of the camp
Alain Libolt ..... Paul Dounat
Jean-Marie Robain ..... Baron de Ferte Talloire
Albert Michel ..... Gendarm
Denis Sadier ..... Gestapo's doctor

Synopsis:

Dark as pitch and utterly without compromise, Jean-Pierre Melville's "Army of Shadows" traces the harrowing feats of a small band of Resistance fighters operating during the German occupation of France in World War II. Melville first read Joseph Kessel's slim novel of the same title in 1943, the year it was published, and for the next quarter-century nurtured a desire to turn it into a film. He finally did so in 1969. When "Army of Shadows" was originally released, a French critic wrote that "this Resistance epic was, in the end, a sublime thriller." Melville rejected the comparison, even if it is also entirely possible to see his sublime thrillers as epics of resistance. The great man died in 1973 at the unfair age of 55, collapsing into the arms of a male friend. He left behind one short film and 13 features, a few of which, including "Army of Shadows," are worthy of that overused superlative masterpiece. It is that rare work of art that thrills the senses and the mind.

Jean-Pierre Melville's masterpiece completes his triptych about the German Occupation of France and the Resistance after Le Silence de la mer and Léon Morin, prêtre. "Now I have said everything about the war" he told the newspaper Paris-Presse. Atmospheric and gripping, ARMY OF SHADOWS is Melville's most personal film, featuring Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, and the incomparable Simone Signoret as intrepid underground fighters who must grapple with their own brand of honour in their battle against Hitler's regime.

France, 1942, during the occupation. Philippe Gerbier, a civil engineer, is one of the French Resistance's chiefs. Given away by a traitor, he is interned in a camp. He manages to escape, and joins his network at Marseilles, where he makes the traitor be executed... This non-spectacular movie (do not expect any Rambo or Robin Hood) shows us rigorously and austerely the everyday of the French Resistants : their solitude, their fears, their relationships, the arrests, the forwarding of orders and their carrying out... Both writer Joseph Kessel and co-writer and director Jean-Pierre Melville belonged to this "Army in the Shadows".

This product was added to our catalog on Monday 14 October, 2013.

Customers who bought this product also purchased

The Red Circle (Blu-Ray)

Department 36 (2004) (Blu-Ray)