Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Lift to the Scaffold Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 28, 2017

Louis Malle's "Elevator to the Gallows" a.k.a. "Ascenseur pour l'échafaud" (1958) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Curzon/Artificial Eye. There are no supplemental features on the disc. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

It is time to die

"Elevator to the Gallows" appears in this ten-disc Blu-ray box set that was produced by Curzon/Artificial Eye.

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).

Lift to the Scaffold 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 Curzon/Artificial Eye.

The release is sourced from the same restored master that French label Gaumont prepared a few years ago and used for the first Blu-ray release of Elevator to the Gallows. (You can see additional information about the restoration in our previous review). However, there is a rather dramatic difference between the first release and this new release from Curzon/Artificial Eye.

First, all the large and very distracting patches of chroma noise that were present on the French release are eliminated. As a result, during close-ups and well-lit panoramic footage the absence of that greenish noise instantly gives the visuals a much better and healthier appearance. The banding that was visible during the darker footage is also eliminated, though there is still room for additional encoding optimizations. So the overall fluidity of the visuals is also improved -- or to put it differently, it now appears as it should have been on the initial release. I don't see any distracting traces of degrainig corrections, though some grain management was likely performed. There are no traces of sharpening adjustments. Now, there is something important that I wish to mention here regarding the gamma settings. I see that they are slightly elevated, causing some light but obvious unevenness in the film's dynamic range (you can see examples in screencaptures #9, 14, and 15), but I don't know if this is how the disc was encoded or if it is actually how Gaumont prepared their master. Either way, my guess is that if Elevator to the Gallows enters the Criterion Collection there will be adjustments that address the film's dynamic range. All in all, this is a vastly superior presentation of the film that actually makes it possible to enjoy it. (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).

Lift to the Scaffold Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French LPCM 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless track handles Miles Davis' beautiful score superbly well. The audio is nicely rounded, clean, and with plenty of natural depth. Balance is also excellent. The dialog is very clean and always easy to follow. There are no audio dropouts, pops, distracting background hiss, or digital distortions to report.

Lift to the Scaffold Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray release.

Lift to the Scaffold Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I thought that the first Blu-ray release of Louis Malle's Elevator to the Gallows was an absolute disaster despite the fact that it was sourced from a good restoration. I literally could not watch the film on my system because there were numerous very distracting technical anomalies. Curzon/Artificial Eye's new release of Elevator to the Gallows is sourced from the same restored master that Gaumont prepared and used a few years ago, but the technical presentation is vastly superior. I would say that if you want to see and own the film on Blu-ray, without a doubt right now this is the release to choose. (Please note that the release is included in this big ten-disc box set from Curzon/Artificial Eye). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.