Classe Tous Risques Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

Classe Tous Risques Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 9, 2014

Claude Sautet's "Classe Tous Risques" a.k.a. "The Big Risk" (1960) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of the British Film Institute. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers for the film and the documentary film "Monsieur Ventura". The release also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring John Patterson's essay "Classe tous risques" and Geoff Andrew's essay "Claude Sautet: The Underrated Auteur". In French and Italian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked'.

"The guy shadowing me is still alive. So are you. You should be happy."

French gangster Abel Davos (Lino Ventura, The Beast is Loose) and his best pal Raymond Naldi (Stan Krol) desperately need cash to move back to France. In downtown Milan, they mug two bank clerks and quickly disappear. Shortly after, the Italian police block all major roads leading to and out of the city.

Despite the heavy police presence, the fugitives successfully join Davos' wife, Therese (Simone France), and their two boys in Ventimiglia. There they also meet another gangster with plenty of connections (Corrado Guarducci, Les Cousins), who urges them to use a boat and reach the beautiful coastal city of San Remo, and from there try to sneak into France. Davos and Naldi like the idea, but later that same day, when they reach the border, two Italian guards notice their boat and open fire. During the shootout, Naldi and Davos' wife are killed.

Davos and his boys manage to get to Nice, where a retired thief who owes him a favor (Charles Blavette, Quai des Orfèvres) allows them to stay in his hotel. Davos immediately phones his associates in Paris and asks them to figure out a way to safely move him out of Nice. However, no longer interested in dealing with him, his associates place his fate in the hands of Eric Stark (Jean-Paul Belmondo, The Professional), a loner willing to risk his life for money, hoping that he will make a crucial mistake and the police will either capture Davos or kill him while trying. A few days later, Davos and Stark connect in a post office in Nice.

On the way back to Paris, Stark picks up Liliane (Sandra Milo, 8½), a beautiful young girl who wants to be an actress, after he sees an angry man trying to beat her up on the side of the road. The two arrange to see each other again.

After successfully reaching Paris, Davos meets his associates in a bar and instantly figures out that he can no longer trust any of them. In the hours after the meeting, he follows Stark's advice to hide in the empty maid’s room in his building while the two figure out what to do next. However, sensing that time is not on his side, Davos changes his mind and instead makes a very risky play to secure enough cash for yet another desperate run.

Claude Sautet, one of the great French directors of the last century, made The Big Risk a.k.a. Classe Tous Risques while working with original material penned by reformed gangster Jose Giovanni, whose name is attached to some of the best French crime films from the 1960s and 1970s. (Jacques Becker’s Le Trou, Jean-Pierre Melville’s The Second Wind, and Henri Verneuil’s The Sicilian Clan all display Giovanni’s name). In the 1970s, Giovanni also stepped behind the camera and directed a couple of excellent character studies about men on the run, starring Alain Delon. (Two Men in Town, Boomerang, The Gypsy).

The Big Risk is about the code of honor that once existed amongst gangsters. Small parts of it look as if they have been extracted from an old documentary, but the bleak atmosphere and stylish visuals remind of Melville’s big and popular gangster films.

However, unlike Melville’s famous protagonists, the men and women populating Sautet’s films are typically ordinary, vulnerable individuals who can easily be hurt. This is precisely the case with Ventura’s loyal gangster, who also happens to be a loving father, trying to be good in the same way different men and women do in Sautet’s great romantic dramas. (César et Rosalie, A Heart in Winter, Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud).

Ventura, who frequently said that he is a child of the streets, is the heart and soul of The Big Risk. In some of the best sequences, Ventura simply smokes or looks around to see if anyone is following him, but the visuals are brilliant. The supporting cast is similarly impressive. The young Belmondo is terrific as Ventura’s partner. As usual, Milo looks very elegant and sexy. Despite having limited time in front of the camera, even Krol, a former prisoner, leaves a lasting impression.

The Big Risk was lensed by Belgian cinematographer Ghislain Cloquet, who worked with Robert Bresson on Au Hasard Balthazar and Mouchette, and Roman Polanski on Tess.

The soundtrack was created by future Oscar-winner Georges Delerue (Day for Night, One Deadly Summer).

Classe Tous Risques Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.64:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Claude Sautet's Classe Tous Risques arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of the British Film Institute.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"TF1 transferred the film in High Definition using the original 35mm negative for picture, and audio sourced from the original 35mm interpositive. Dirt and debris were removed using the NTI restoration system. Black frames which are visible intermittently throughout the film were present in the original 35mm negative and were retained in TF1's restoration so as to respect the film's original production processes, and guard against any re-editing of the film's original soundtrack.

Technical coordinator: Stephanie Bellaud (TF1)."

Excluding a few specks that pop up early in the film, the new restoration of this classic French gangster film is quite beautiful. Indeed, image depth, clarity, contrast stability, and color saturation are dramatically improved. Direct comparisons with Criterion's R1 DVD release also immediately reveal major improvements in terms of shadow definition (see screencapture #6). The best news, however, is that there are no traces of problematic degraining corrections. Compromising sharpening adjustments also have not been performed. Rather predictably, the film has a solid and very convincing organic look. Compression and encoding are very good, though I feel that some minor improvements can be made in select areas. Regardless, when projected, the film looks simply fabulous. Lastly, there are no serious stability issues to report in this review. All in all, I am very pleased with this new release of Classe Tous Risques. The film undoubtedly looks the best it ever has. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Classe Tous Risques Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French LPCM 2.0 (with portions of Italian). For the record, the BFI has provided optional English subtitles for the main feature..

The quality of the lossless track is impressive. Clarity and especially depth are substantially improved. There is an even better range of nuanced dynamics that serve Georges Delerue's soundtrack very well. On the R1 DVD release, dynamic movement is far less impressive. The dialog is sharp, stable, and easy to follow. Also, there are no problematic pops, cracks, audio dropouts, or distortions to report in this review. The English translation is excellent.

Classe Tous Risques Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• French Trailer - restored original French trailer for Classe Tous Risques. In French, with optional English subtitles. (4 min).

• U.S. Trailer - original U.S. trailer for Classe Tous Risques. In English, without optional subtitles. (2 min).

• Monsieur Ventura - an in-depth look at the life and legacy of the great Italian actor. The documentary contains clips from archival interviews with Lino Ventura, actor/singer Charles Aznavour, writer/director/actor Jose Giovanni, assistant director Claude Pinoteau, and actor Henri Cogan, amongst others. In French, with optional English subtitles. (36 min).

• Booklet - an illustrated booklet featuring John Patterson's essay "Classe tous risques" and Geoff Andrew's essay "Claude Sautet: The Underrated Auteur".

Classe Tous Risques Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I am extremely pleased with BFI's release of Claude Sautet's Classe Tous Risques. Recently restored by TF1, this classic French gangster film looks simply beautiful on Blu-ray. Let's hope that soon we will also see equally impressive presentations of director Sautet's wonderful The Things of Life, Mado, and Un Coeur en Hiver. Buy with confidence, folks. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.