Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

Ascenseur pour l'échafaud Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 14, 2015

Louis Malle's "Elevator to the Gallows" a.k.a. "Ascenseur pour l'échafaud" (1958) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Gaumont. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; new featurette produced by Pierre-Henri Gibert; and archival interview with French pianist Rene Urtreger. In French, with optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Is this a joke?

Louis Malle completed his first film, Elevator to the Gallows, in 1958, at the age of 24. To this day, it remains one of the most impressive directorial debuts in French cinema.

Julien Tavernier (Maurice Ronet, Purple Noon) is going to kill an innocent man (Jean Wall). He and his mistress, Florence Carala (Jeanne Moreau, Jules & Jim), who is married to the man, are certain that they have thought of everything and have the perfect plan. A few hours from now, when the man’s body is discovered, everyone will be convinced that he had committed suicide.

When Julien enters the man’s posh office and pulls a gun in front of his face, he smiles. The man thinks that it is a bad joke because for years Julien has been working for him and they have even become good friends. But Julien kills him, bolts the office door from the inside, and exits through the window. Moments later he gets in his fancy car, but then accidentally notices that a piece of rope is hanging from the window. He rushes back to remove the evidence, but gets stuck in the elevator when the guard shuts off the electricity and locks the building.

While Julien is trying to figure out how to get out of the elevator, his car is stolen by a feisty troublemaker (Georges Poujouly, Forbidden Games) and his naïve girlfriend (Yori Bertin). The young lovers head to the highway and after an exciting race decide to spend the night in a secluded hotel drinking champagne with a wealthy German couple. The boy uses Julien’s name to register in the hotel.

Meanwhile, sensing that something has gone terribly wrong, Julien’s mistress visits their favorite bars and restaurants and asks whether anyone has seen him. As she wanders around the city with her heart beating hard, a heavy rain begins to fall on the dark and empty streets.

The plot is structured as a big domino game. After Julien gets stuck in the elevator the perfect plan slowly begins to crumble and it increasingly becomes obvious that it is only a matter of time before various characters face the consequences of their actions.

Before the finale there are a number of good twists, but the real surprises come from the manner in which Malle makes a point that people love to wear masks and without exception have multiple identities. This isn’t done as part of a big social commentary, but it certainly moves the film outside of the crime thriller category.

The camera movement is simple but the visuals are quite striking. Indeed, considering the fact that Elevator to the Gallows was Malle’s first film, it is somewhat odd to see so many stylish close-ups and bold framing choices. (See the footage from the elevator and notice how effective the camera angles are). The manner in which light and shadow are captured also gives the film an unusually rich noir vibe, though this should not be surprising as it was lensed by the great cinematographer Henri Decae who had already worked with Jean-Pierre Melville on Bob Le Flambeur.

The improvised soundtrack by Miles Davis is legendary. It features indescribably lush trumpet solos that are an integral part of the film’s noirish atmosphere. This particular soundtrack is also credited for the emergence of acid jazz and various dub and trip-hop subgenres. (See DJ Krush & Toshinori Kondo, DJ Shadow, DJ Cam, etc).

Ascenseur pour l'échafaud Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Louis Malle's Elevator to the Gallows arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Gaumont.

The film has been recently restored, but the technical presentation is unusual and disappointing.

I've owned two different DVD releases of Elevator to the Gallows, but currently have only Criterion's release in my library. On previous DVD releases the film was presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, while this new Blu-ray release has the film framed in 1.37:1. Malle's Zazie dans le métro, which was completed after Elevator to the Gallows, is also framed in 1.37:1 and has been screened theatrically in that ratio, but I personally have not seen a theatrical release of this film in 1.37:1.

The new 2K restoration appears to be very good. Depth is improved a lot and fluidity is much better. Most unfortunately, the release is poorly encoded and as a result there are some quite distracting anomalies. The most serious issue is the presence of large patches of chroma noise that erode shadow definition and occasionally even collapse detail(s). The effects are very distracting because the chroma noise is practically in every sequences with plenty of light. Here are some examples: See the greenish/redish waves on the skirt in screencapture #4, the leather jacket and the car seats in screencapture #10, the grass on the left side of the frame in screencapture #13, and the glove in screencapture #21. Many of the darker sequences also have obvious banding and in some cases unusually large macroblocking patches. You can see an example at the bottom of screencapture #15. It does not appear that problematic degraining corrections were applied as grain is present throughout the entire film and actually appears quite well resolved, but it is easy to tell that the issues highlighted above have impacted its exposure. There are no problematic sharpening adjustments. Finally, image stability is excellent and there are no large debris, cuts, damage marks, or torn frames to report in our review. To sum it all up, it appears that the new restoration of Elevator to the Gallows is very good, but either a flawed master was created or something went terribly wrong during the encoding process. Regardless, at the moment this wonderful film does not look as it should. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

Ascenseur pour l'échafaud Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English and French SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I did some direct comparisons between the lossless track and the lossy track from Criterion's DVD release because Miles Davis' score has such an important role in the film and can confirm that there are very obvious improvements both in terms of depth and overall balance. The dialog is very crisp and clean. It is also very easy to follow. There are no pops, audio dropouts, or digital distortions to report in our review.

Ascenseur pour l'échafaud Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bande-annonce - original trailer for Elevator to the Gallows. In French, not subtitled. (2 min).

• L'espace d'une nuit - this new featurette takes a closer look at the early stages of director Louis Malle's career and the production history of Elevator to the Gallows. Included in it are new interviews with Candice Bergen (Louis Malle's widow), scenarist Jean-Claude Carrière (Belle de jour, Murmur of the Heart), sound editor Jean-Claude Laureux, and director Jean-Paul Rappeneau (The Horseman on the Roof, All Fired Up), amongst others. The featurette was produced by Pierre-Henri Gibert. In French, not subtitled. (32 min).

• Souvenirs du pianiste Rene Urtreger sur l'enregistrement de la musique de Miles Davis - in this archival featurette, French pianist Rene Urtreger discusses Miles Davis' soundtrack for Elevator to the Gallows. In French, not subtitled. (15 min).

Ascenseur pour l'échafaud Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

French label Gaumont's new Blu-ray release of Louis Malle's excellent directorial debut, Elevator to the Gallows, is very frustrating. The release is sourced from a new restoration of the film which appears to be quite wonderful. However, Gaumont's technical presentation of the restoration is problematic. My advice to you is to wait for a different label to release the new restoration on Blu-ray in a different market. SKIP IT.