Having recently discovered director Jacques Becker and come to realize that his movies (especially "Touchez pas au Grisbi") were a substantial bridge between the movies of Jean Renoir (on which Becker was an assistant director and played some small onscreen parts) and those of Jean-Pierre Melville and the New Wave directors, notably Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. I have also more clearly realized that there were quite a few masterpieces from France between the end of World War II and the start of the New Wave.

The one that demands comparison with Becker's final (1960) movie "Le Trou" (The Hole) is Robert Bresson's Un condamné à mort s'est échappé(A Man [Condemned to Death] Escapes). Indeed, it is surprising to me that any French director would have dared to make a prison escape movie so soon after Bresson's (1956) sublime masterpiece. Bresson's film is about a Resistance prisoner who has been condemned to death meticulously preparing his escape. When he is almost ready, another prisoner is put in his cell, and he must decide whether the newcomer is a spy for the prison officials or can be trusted.

At the start of Becker's film, Gaspard (Mark Michel) a handsome, polite, young, and open-faced prisoner is being moved and has been found to be carrying a gold cigarette lighter (without any fluid), which is considered contraband. The warden lets him off without punishment. The four men in the cell to which he has been assigned grouse about the cell already being full, especially since they are going to start assembling boxes in their cell. Gaspard has a package with many delectables, which he readily shares, and his cellmates decide to trust him and include him in the escape they are planning.

Almost the entire movie shows the prisoners in this one cell evading detection and hacking out their escape route (very hard work which is not faked for the camera), so saying anything about how they do what they do would detract from enjoyment of the film by those who have not seen it.

The movie has none of the jauntiness of "The Great Escape" or "Papillon." It has some flashier black-and-white cinematography (by Ghislain Cloquet) and many fewer closeups of hands working at the tasks of escaping than "A Condemned Man Escapes," but is like Bresson's film in providing an extremely meticulous recreation of a real-life escape attempt. The leader of the group, Roland, was played by Jean Keraudy, who had been among those in the 1947 escape attempt at Santé Prison. Two of the other escapees served as technical advisors (and Keraudy introduces the film, vouching for it showing exactly what they did in 1947). Marc Michel was the only professional actor in the cast.

Gaspard is the only one who receives a visitor during the course of the film, and the one who is twice questioned by the warden. There is more dialogue than in "A Condemned Man Escaped," but no music. The sounds of chisels (etc.) and of guards moving about are the source of suspense, and the audience, like the prisoners, listens carefully to them. There is one scene in which two of the prisoners are evading two guards who have gone to smoke that is quite funny, and shows the prisoners' quick-thinking and resourcefulness (and desperation). The nervous tension builds though the quite long movie (131 minutes running time).

I think that 131 minutes is too long, with too much pounding concrete, etc. The extended focus on doing the job recalls not only "A Condemned Man Escapes," but also the heists in Jules Dassin's "Riffifi" and Melville's Le Cercle Rouge, especially in the lack of any music in the suspensful representations while the men work at their (self-appointed) task (breaking out or breaking in and getting out). Like the latter two, "Le Trou" shows a group working together, whereas most of Bresson's prison-break film is about one man's escape.

The Criterion print is perfect for all practical purposes both sound (monaural) and visuals. There are no bonus features (see running time above),but there is a booklet with information, including some from the pressbook for the 1964 US release and an essay by Chris Fujiwara. As for Grisbi, I am not entirely certain that no commentary track is better than getting information along with annoyance by Peter Cowie, the ubiquitous Criterion commentator. The English subtitles can be turned off (much of the movie has no speaking).

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"Le Trou" was Becker's last film and one of only three available on DVD. I've already reviewed Criterion's similarly beautiful prints of Casque d'or and Touchez pas au Grisbi.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD