The Beast is Loose Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

The Beast is Loose Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 10, 2025

Maurice Labro's "The Beast is Loose" (1959) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new audio commentary by critic and author Simon Abrams, and vintage French trailer for the film. In French, with optional English subtiltes for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

A decade after the end of WWII, Paul Lamiani (Lino Ventura), a retired executioner and once prominent member of the Resistance, is visited by an old friend in his busy restaurant and told that his former boss, The Colonel (Alfred Adam), now the top man at the D.S.T. (Territorial Surveillance Directorate), needs his help in a complex job. Lamiani instantly rejects the request, reminding his friend that he has exited the killing game for good. However, moments later, he is informed that The Colonel, who always gets what he desires, already expects to meet him at his place, where details about the complex job will be revealed.

Lamiani meets The Colonel and learns that he wants him to begin working with Raymond Maroux (Paul Frankeur), a prominent underground figure pretending to be a legitimate businessman, who plans to sell stolen industrial secrets, capable of crippling the country’s fast-evolving national defense strategy, to wealthy clients representing a powerful international organization. Before delivering Maroux to the D.S.T., Lamiani must also identify the people pulling all the strings at the top of the organization. The Colonel knows that Lamiani is the only man who can do the job because Maroux is his best friend.

When Lamiani declares that he would not have done the job even if Maroux were not his best friend and walks away, D.S.T. agents raid his restaurant and, moments after placing a couple of stacks of fake French francs in his bedroom, arrest him in front of his clients. Far away from the city, Lamiani is then handed a gun, a note with additional instructions, and released to begin working with Maroux. Just hours later, at a posh villa, his friend, having read in the newspaper that he is on the run after screwing up badly while dealing fake money, greets him with open arms.

It is not a coincidence that The Beast is Loose is as twisty and tense as The Big Risk. Both films were conceived with screenplays incorporating writings by Claude Sautet, who also made his directorial debut with the latter, at approximately the same time. Also, in both films, Ventura plays a man with a criminal past on the run who is repeatedly betrayed by people like him.

In The Beast is Loose, there is less gray material, fewer unexpected character transformations, and more dramatic contrasts. For example, in its second half, it is made painfully obvious that in the underworld, big money corrupts everyone, and the men with the badges and the men who try to avoid them use identical methods to get what they are after. After Lamiani’s kid is kidnapped, and he becomes a ‘beast’, the resolution of the drama becomes impossible to guess incorrectly as well.

What must have been somewhat surprising at the time when The Beast is Loose was released is the depiction of the heroes. After WWII, many former members of the Resistance earned various government posts and spent the rest of their days receiving mostly unconditional support from the French people. However, some, like The Colonel, routinely abused their posts and government privileges, and some, like Lamiani, became involved with dangerous crime figures and crashed and burned. The Beast is Loose is not about the choices the heroes made, but its acknowledgement that many of them were deeply compromised individuals is somewhat unusual.

Ventura is predictably excellent. However, in The Beast is Loose there is more action material, so his performance is not as versatile as the one he gives in The Big Risk.

Maurice Labro worked with cinematographer Pierre Petit, who lensed Henri Decoin’s The Iron Mask, one of the biggest French hits of the 1960s.

The Beast is Loose Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Beast is Loose arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

It is easy to tell that The Beast is Loose has been restored because now it has a stable, very healthy appearance. Kino Lorber's press release clarifies that its makeover was a 4K restoration job, but I assume all scanning work was done in 4K, while the actual restoration work and output were completed in 2K. There are some small surface inconsistencies that a full 4K restoration job would have addressed. Regardless, all visuals have a fine, very pleasing organic appearance, and on a large screen, they all look pretty good. The only area where I feel better work could have been done is the management of the grayscale. The blacks and grays are not balanced as well as possible, and I think the real issue is might be on the restored master, which was not finalized properly. (This is a common flaw on many French masters, especially in Gaumont's vaults, whose film to video levels are not set properly). Grain could have been slightly better exposed, but delineation, clarity, and depth remain very, very good. Image stability is good, too. My score is 4.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Beast is Loose 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 subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless track is outstanding. I had the volume of my audio system turned up quite a bit and did not notice any age-related anomalies to report. All dialogue and all action material -- including the one from inside the beach cave -- sounded very clear and nicely rounded. Dynamic contrasts are surprisingly good for a film from the late 1950s. The English translation is outstanding. However, English subtitles are way too small for my taste. In several places, they can be quite difficult to read.

The Beast is Loose Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critic and author Simon Abrams.

• Trailer - presented here is a vintage French trailer for The Beast is Loose. In French, with English subtitles. (4 min).

The Beast is Loose Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Approximately a year after The Beast is Loose was released, Lino Ventura appeared in The Big Risk, one of the greatest of all French gangster films. In these films, both penned by Claude Sautet, and the latter also directed by Sautet, Ventura plays a man with a criminal past on the run who is repeatedly betrayed by people like him. The Beast is Loose offers more fireworks and makes Ventura's character transformation easier to predict correctly, but this terrific actor is equally impressive in both films. I could not be happier that the folks at Kino Lorber chose to bring The Beast is Loose to America, where it is practically unknown. It is included in French Noir Collection II, a two-disc Blu-ray set. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.