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‘Hands off the Loot!’ Jacques Becker’s crackling Paris crime tale is a time machine to an age of Parisian tough guys in double breasted suits, who never show their cards, and mistreat women in ways the Hollywood production code would never allow. Old thief Jean Gabin’s ill-gotten wealth is threatened by the newcomer creep Lino Ventura, thanks to the treachery of a very young Jeanne Moreau; the struggle revives weapons and tactics not used since the Occupation. One of the Great Euro crime classics is now looking terrific in Kino/Studio Canal’s restoration.

Touchez pas au grisbi

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1954 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 96 min. / Honor among Thieves / Street Date August 13, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Jean Gabin, René Dary, Paul Frankeur, Lino Ventura, Jeanne Moreau, Dora Doll, Daniel Cauchy, Michel Jourdan, Marilyn Buferd, Denise Clair, Gaby Basset, Delia Scala.

Cinematography: Pierre Montazel

Film Editor:...

It’s a world of rigor and solemnity, a world of devotion, isolation, and self-control. Most often shown within the stylish realm of studied gangsterdom, the cinematic province of Jean-Pierre Melville, realized in just 13 features, was generally consistent in tone, subject matter, and formal order. But it’s because this vision was so thoroughly entrenched in one prominent genre, that a film like When You Read This Letter (Quand tu liras cette lettre), Melville’s third, is regarded as such a discernible outlier. In any event, Melville himself dismissed When You Read This Letter as a mere commercial exercise, a means to the end of funding his own studio. And auteurist critics, just before establishing Melville as one of their pioneering exemplars, were also quick to sweep aside this purportedly blasé work of creative compromise. Contemptuous evaluations are unfortunate, for while When You Read This Letter does stand out from...