La môme vert-de-gris Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.5

La môme vert-de-gris Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 19, 2018

Bernard Borderie's "Poison Ivy" a.k.a. "La Môme Vert de Gris" (1953) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Pathe. The only bonus feature on the disc is an archival interview with actor Eddie Constantine. In French, with optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Poison Ivy

It is impossible to ignore what is so obvious: Dominique Wilms looks stunning as the femme fatale Carlotta de la Rue. A comparison with Rita Hayworth’s seductress from Charles Vidor’s Gilda is not only justified, but actually absolutely necessary.

The action begins almost immediately after the opening credits disappear. In a popular nightclub in Casablanca, a slightly inebriated young man threatens to spill the beans on someone that appears to have done some kind of shady deal and almost immediately drops dead. Soon after, the sexy singer Carlotta de la Rue (Wilms), whose alias is Poison Ivy, is called to the local morgue to confirm that the cold body of the young man belongs to her brother.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in Washington, D.C. special agent Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine) is summoned by his boss and told that he must go to Casablanca to figure out why shortly after being shipped by the Department of Treasury two million dollars have gone missing. There have been rumors that a local gangster named Rudy Saltierra (Howard Vernon) and his goons might have had something to do with it, but the FBI needs a confirmation before they organize an operation to recover the money.

Caution lands in Casablanca and after some quick digging ends up in the nightclub moments before Carlotta is about to get on the stage. At the bar, the American tries to flirt with her, but is instantly advised that it would be in his best interest to stay away because she belongs to Saltierra. By the time Carlotta ends her gig, another man drops dead, and the local authorities begin an investigation that threatens to complicate Caution’s mission. Saltierra is also tipped that Caution is in town to find out if there is any truth to the rumors that he might have pulled a brilliant job, which instantly solidifies his decision to take him out before he leaks any meaningful information back to Washington D.C. But, the American proves hard to kill.

It is difficult to believe that Constantine made his acting debut in Bernard Borderie’s stylish film noir because he looks incredibly loose in front of the camera and actually has the attitude of a seasoned actor who had already appeared in dozens of great films -- or maybe not so much because he was just another very gifted young American actor who was finally given a chance to shine. (Just a few years earlier, Richard Widmark made a similarly very powerful entrance in Henry Hathaway’s gritty film noir Kiss of Death).

The entire film is a like one long and very sexy exotic noir commercial. It has the type of edge that the classic American noir thrillers from the same era had, but Borderie and cinematographer Jacques Lemare (The Rules of the Game) basically use every opportunity they get to make the visuals look as elegant and sexually arousing as possible. Of course, it helps tremendously that Wilms looks absolutely ravishing throughout the entire film and every single time the camera looks at her it feels like she is posing for the front cover of a big fashion magazine, but the attention to detail is indeed very obvious. So this really is the type of film that can convincingly win the hearts of a wide range of male viewers.

A young Maurice Ronet has a small role in the film, but he is not yet in top form. It will take a few more years before he acquires the needed confidence to be a star. (See Elevator to the Gallows).

La môme vert-de-gris Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Bernard Borderie's Poison Ivy arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Pathe.

The release is sourced from a brand new 4K restoration -- the film was scanned in 4K and restored in 2K -- which was completed by Eclair laboratoires and L.E. Diapason, with the financial support of Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC).

The film looks absolutely magnificent now, and if you have a projector I urge not to waste your time viewing it on a TV. Go big and have a very special viewing experience. Depth and clarity are simply outstanding, and fluidity is as good as you can hope it to be for a film of the era. The best news here is that there are absolutely no traces of problematic digital corrections -- grain is wonderfully exposed and nicely resolved -- and the grading job is very strong. I felt that there were one or two sequences where the blacks perhaps should not have been as lush as they are, but everything else looks magnificent. There are no stability issues to report. Lastly, if there were any traces of damage and other age-related imperfections it is impossible to tell now because the film looks spotless. Really, really great work from the folks at Pathe. (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 main menu).

La môme vert-de-gris Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (with small portions of English). French descriptive Audio DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is included as well. There are optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature.

The audio was fully restored by the great team at L.E. Diapason, which has done some pretty incredible work for a number of very high-profile restorations of classic French films. Depth, clarity, and especially stability are very good. Also, the high-frequencies are treated very nicely, without clipping, to preserve the as much fluidity as possible. My only minor criticism pertains to the size of the English subtitles, which I found to be slightly smaller than usual.

La môme vert-de-gris Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview with Eddie Constantine - presented here is an extract from an archival interview with Eddie Constantine in which he discusses his work Dominique Wilms on Poison Ivy and the film's stylistic appearance. In French, not subtitled. (5 min).

La môme vert-de-gris Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I don't know if all films always look better in black-and-white, but over the years there have been quite a few big directors, actors, and cinematographers who have argued that most do, and as time passes and we are starting to see more and more great black-and-white films being properly restored, I am finding it awfully difficult not to agree with them. This brand new release of Bernard Borderie's Poison Ivy, which is sourced from an immaculate 4K restoration completed by Eclair, is just the perfect example that these films can look astonishingly beautiful, or that they always have, and as most young directors are moving toward digital film-making we are clearly losing a very special organic beauty that cannot be imitated. I also have to say that this is one of the sexiest film noirs I have seen in quite some time, with a superb acting debut by Eddie Constantine. Fantastic release. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.