Le Cercle Rouge

UPC: 715515070119

Studio: Criterion

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Violence, Adult Situations, Not For Children]

Summary: Corey (Alain Delon) is the young gun in the French underworld who has just been released from prison. Escaped convict Vogel (Gian-Maria Volont?) hides in the trunk of Corey's car. The two enlist the help of an alcoholic former cop (Yves Montand) for an elaborate jewelry-store robbery. Police inspector Mattei (Bourvil) whom Vogel escaped in the beginning of the film is on the case trying to recapture the criminals. He is not opposed to using blackmail techniques to get answers out of the unwilling witnesses and criminals brought in for questioning. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Category: Crime

Features: Restored uncut version, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Excerpts from Cin?astes de norte temps: "Jean-Pierre Melville"
Video interviews with assistant director Bernard Stora and Rui Nogueira, the author of Melville on Melville
Thirty minutes of rare on-set and archival footage, featuring interviews with director Jean-Pierre Melville and stars Alain Delon, Yves Montand, and Andr? Bourvil
Original theatrical trailer and 2003 Rialto Pictures rerelease trailer

Le Cercle Rouge

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 04/12/2011

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DD1 Dolby Digital Mono

Runtime: 140 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) French

Subtitles: English

Region: Blu-ray region A (North America, Central America, South America, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia)

Mark Deming

Part of the genius of Jean-Pierre Melville was that he was able to take the formal elements of the crime film and put a thoroughly individual stamp on them -- his best films take the stuff of a thousand grade-B thrillers and invest them with a singular intelligence and quiet cool. On the surface, Le Cercle Rouge concerns two criminals thrown into a slightly uneasy alliance with a corrupt and alcoholic ex-cop to pull off a heist, but in Melville's hands this becomes a story about kindred spirits brought together through chance and unforeseen circumstance; their lives on the other side of the law have as much to do with their own personal sense of ethics and honor as those of the lawmen who struggle to track them down. Melville's clean, elegant framing of shots and his appreciation of the value of silence gives this picture a spare but satisfying feel quite different from most European crime films, and the subtle but sharply etched performances of Alain Delon, Gian Maria Volont?, and Yves Montand are the ideal embodiment of Melville's notion that less is more. In 1970, Le Cercle Rouge received a spotty release in the United States in a version cut by some 40 minutes; the uncut print finally received a belated American release in 2002, and in its pristine form, Le Cercle Rouge reveals itself as a film whose subtle touch only adds to the tension and suspense it generates -- a valuable lesson for filmmakers who believe that the function of genre filmmaking is to slap the viewer about the face and neck. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Roger Fradet  Actor 
Robert Rondo  Actor 
Paul Amiot  Actor 
Yves Arcanal  Actor 
Jean Champion  Actor 
Jean Pignol  Actor 
Jean-Marc Boris  Actor 
Yvan Chiffre  Actor 
Robert Favart  Actor 
Pierre Collet  Actor 
Jean Franval  Actor 
André Ekyan  Actor 
René Berthier  Actor 
Eric De Marsan  Composer (Music Score) 
Jean-Pierre Melville  Director 
Jean-Pierre Melville  Screenwriter 
Robert Dorfmann  Producer 
Alain Delon  Actor 
Bourvil  Actor 
Gian Maria Volontè  Actor 
Yves Montand  Actor 
François Perier  Actor 
Paul Crauchet  Actor 

Country: France,Italy