Rififi
French Film Guide
1st Edition
Published on 30. November 2009
136 pages
978-0-85771-648-4 (ISBN)
Description
"Du rififi chez les hommes" (1955), directed by the exiled American film director Jules Dassin, recounts the nail-biting tale of a Parisian gangster heist gone wrong. Famed for its extended dialog free robbery sequence, it is both a classic French film noir and one of the greatest, most influential crime films. In this lively companion to the film, Alastair Phillips reveals Dassin's role as a director of socially conscious Hollywood film noir and argues that his seminal contribution to the regeneration of the thriller in post war France therefore uniquely complicated relations between French genre cinema and American mass culture. Phillips also examines the film's innovative narrative construction and use of sound, its performance style and mise-en-scene, and discusses the film's legacy, showing how even today, the term 'Rififi' remains a byword for both criminal glamor and the enduring virtues of French popular classical film making.
More details
Series
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Illustrations
15 b+w illustrations
ISBN-13
978-0-85771-648-4 (9780857716484)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
The author of this title is associate professor, Department of Film and Television Studies, University of Warwick. His publications include "City of Darkness, City of Light", "Emigre Filmmakers in Paris 1929-1939", "100 Film Noirs" (with Jim Hillier), "Journeys of Desire", and "European Actors in Hollywood" (with Ginette Vincendeau).
Content
Contents
Acknowledgements
Synopsis
I: Introduction
II: The Route to Rififi
A Cosmopolitan Life
Hollywood and Film Noir
The Politics of Exile
The Tradition of French Film Noir
Auguste le Breton and the Serie Noire
Production History
III: Reading Rififi
Beginnings
Du rififi chez les hommes and the Aesthetics of the Heist Thriller
Space and Genre: the Nightclub
Space and Genre: the City
Men and Trouble
A Transnational Film Noir?
IV: Reviewing Rififi
A Surprise Success
'A Film Without Indulgence'
The Politics of Realism
Audiences, Trade and Culture
V: Reviving Rififi
After Du rififi chez les hommes
Influences
The Rififi Brand
Rififi Returns
Appendix 1: Credits
Appendix 2: Jules Dassin Filmography
Appendix 3: Auguste le Breton Filmography
Appendix 4: Films referred to in the book
Appendix 5: 'Rififi a travers le monde' Bibliography
Appendix 6: Select Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Synopsis
I: Introduction
II: The Route to Rififi
A Cosmopolitan Life
Hollywood and Film Noir
The Politics of Exile
The Tradition of French Film Noir
Auguste le Breton and the Serie Noire
Production History
III: Reading Rififi
Beginnings
Du rififi chez les hommes and the Aesthetics of the Heist Thriller
Space and Genre: the Nightclub
Space and Genre: the City
Men and Trouble
A Transnational Film Noir?
IV: Reviewing Rififi
A Surprise Success
'A Film Without Indulgence'
The Politics of Realism
Audiences, Trade and Culture
V: Reviving Rififi
After Du rififi chez les hommes
Influences
The Rififi Brand
Rififi Returns
Appendix 1: Credits
Appendix 2: Jules Dassin Filmography
Appendix 3: Auguste le Breton Filmography
Appendix 4: Films referred to in the book
Appendix 5: 'Rififi a travers le monde' Bibliography
Appendix 6: Select Bibliography
