Rififi Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.5

Rififi Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 19, 2013

Winner of Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Jules Dassin's "Du rififi chez les hommes" a.k.a. "Rififi" (1955) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an archival video interview with director Jules Dassin; English-language trailer for the film; and a collection of sketches by production designer Alexandre Trauner, cast photos, and production stills. The release also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic J. Hoberman. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

"We don't bet promises here. No cash, no cards."

A few days after he is released from prison, Tony Le Stephanois (Jean Servais, Heroes and Sinners, He Who Must Die), a famous Parisian thief, is visited by his former partners Jo (Carl Mohner, The Last Bridge) and Mario (Robert Manuel, It Takes a Thief). They want to know if he might be interested in a job which, if handled right, would allow them to retire. They describe the job to Tony and he immediately agrees to help, though not because he is dying to get rich, but because the job sounds almost impossible to pull off. Shortly after, the thieves are joined by Cesar (Jules Dassin), an expert safe-cracker from Milan.

While getting ready for the job, Tony runs into his old girlfriend Mado (Marie Sabouret, Frou-Frou), who has started seeing an influential gangster named Pierre Grutter (Marcel Lupovici, Mademoiselle Docteur). They head to his apartment where Tony leaves a few scars on her beautiful body and then kicks her out. Later on, Tony meets Pierre in his night club but decides not to confront him before his men.

A couple of days later, Tony, Jo, Mario, and Cesar hit one of the most prestigious jewel stores in Paris. Everything goes according to plan and they walk away with a bag full of diamonds worth millions of francs. They hide the diamonds and contact a man who could exchange them for cash. The same night, Cesar decides to have a little bit of fun with a beautiful singer from Pierre's club. He gives her a ring, which quickly ends up with one of Pierre's men.

Things become complicated when Pierre realizes what Tony and his friends have done but instead of informing the police kidnaps Jo's son and demands that they give him the diamonds. Tony warns Jo to stay cool and goes after Pierre's men.

A gangster film that has influenced generations of film directors around the world, Jules Dassin�s Rififi blends the intensity and elegance of film noir with the playfulness and exuberance of the nouvelle vague. Rififi is also a notably dark film in which innocence is in very short supply.

The robbery that takes place halfway through the film is legendary. It lasts approximately half an hour and it is completely devoid of dialog. The communication between the thieves is done through simple gestures and looks. When they finally enter the jewelry store and open the safe, the tension is almost unbearable.

As the story progresses, the film gets darker and grittier but not as fatalistic as it could have been. Eventually, the famous code of honor is also brought up, though it is not used to glamorize gangster lifestyle.

The cast is excellent. Servais is terrific as Tony, the quiet but dangerous thief who likes to be challenged and despises liars. It is always difficult to read him. Naturally, a lot of his decisions, especially during the final third of the film, are quite surprising.

Mohner and Manuel's protagonists give the film a sense of authenticity. They are simple, vulnerable men with big ambitions who decide to risk everything they have to get rich. Director Dassin also does not disappoint as the Milanese womanizer Cesar, who makes a crucial mistake.

Rififi is lensed by renowned French cinematographer Philippe Agostini (Robert Bresson's Les dames du Bois de Boulogne, Marcel Pagnol's Topaze). The film's soundtrack was composed by the great Georges Auric (Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, Henri-Georges Clouzot's The Wages of Fear).

*In 1955, Rififi won Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Rififi 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, Jules Dassin's Rififi arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The foll;owing text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new digital transfer was created in 2K resolution on an ARRISCAN film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for small dirt, grain, noise management, jitter, and flicker.

Colorist: Lee Kline/Criterion, New York.
Scanning: Eclair Laboratories, Epinay-sur-Seine, France."

Criterion's release of this classic French gangster film uses a high-definition transfer that is not identical to the one Arrow Films used for their release of the film in the United Kingdom. In addition to the different framing, brightness levels appear to have been slightly toned down (compare screencapture #15 with screencapture #16 from our review of the Arrow Films release). Contrast levels are also slightly toned down, but it is actually not that easy to tell while viewing the film. Image depth and clarity are excellent. Sequences with plenty of natural light, in particular, can look very impressive (see screencapture #6). There are absolutely no traces of problematic degraining corrections. Compromising sharpening adjustments also have not been applied. Additionally, overall image stability is very good. There are only a couple of shaky frame transitions, but they are clearly inherited. Finally, debris, cuts, scratches, flecks, and stains have been removed as best as possible. The encoding is also excellent. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Rififi Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: French LPCM 1.0 and English Dolby Digital 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.

Depth and clarity are consistently pleasing. Dynamic intensity is also very good. Unsurprisingly, Georges Auric's music score opens up the film in all the right places (see the scene where the thieves open up the bag with the jewels). The dialog is also stable, clear and very easy to follow. There are no audio dropouts or distortions to report in this review.

Rififi Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - English-language trailer for Rififi. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080i).

• Stills Gallery - a collection of sketches by production designer Alexandre Trauner, cast photos, and production stills. (1080p).

• Jules Dassin - in this video interview, Jules Dassin recalls how Rififi, his first impression of the film's script, the cast and crew he worked with, etc. Mr. Dassin also discusses his notorious blacklisting in America. The interview, which also appears on the Arrow Films Blu-ray release of Rififi, was conducted by Criterion in New York City in the summer of 2000. In English, not subtitled. (29 min).

• Booklet - an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic J. Hoberman.

Rififi Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It is great to see that this classic French gangster film directed by Jules Dassin is finally coming to America. I think that a lot of younger film aficionados who have only heard about it will discover that it is indeed a very special film that deserves its reputation. Criterion's Blu-ray release of Rififi uses a transfer that is not identical to the one Arrow Films used for their excellent release a few years ago, but the film looks equally convincing in high-definition. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.