A most extraordinary film. Epic in every positive sense of the word, Harry Baur's Jean Valjean makes clear the reason as to why he's considered an icon of French cinema. If you're an admirer of Lean's Dickens adaptations or the silent SPARROWS then you owe it to yourself to see this. Baur's Valjean has something in common with Finlay Currie's Magwitch, which is clearly apparent when one has seen both.

Looks like a solid return to form for Wes. I'm aboard.

I had the good fortune of seeing this film last year. What a pleasant surprise it was too. Don't let the above synopsis fool you, Figueroa's cinematography combined with the film's trajectory has this playing like a well-crafted film noir. Now if I could just get hold of it on DVD.

Saw this today for the first time, on the big screen here at the Detroit Film Theatre. Such a lovely film, not complex but inventive, heartfelt, charming. Possesses a joie de vivre, a vitality of spirit, that sustains itself throughout. I don't recall Michel Simon ever looking funkier, he was not a pretty man, but like Charles Laughton he was so gifted, and so real. And his love of cats I loved, kitten on shoulder.

So I'm probably overstating the obvious by bringing this up, but... why is it that this film has yet to be given the Criterion Treatment? Whereas Reed's other two classics of the late Forties, The Third Man and The Fallen Idol, have? An extraordinary film, in all ways, direction, cinematography, screenplay, performances... If any film is deserving, it's this one.

Was able to see this in a theater this past weekend, and what an extraordinary experience it was. Giulietta Masina was a revelation, I was just knocked out by her performance as wayward prostitute Cabiria. Now, if only Criterion would re-release it on DVD, as enterprising sorts are asking exorbitant sums for the out-of-print item. A film I am surely looking forward to seeing again, it's a keeper.

God I love this film. Louis Jouvet has never been better, and those who think of Clouzot as a misanthrope, they need to see this. The cinematography is splendid, the characters wonderfully developed and what a treat to see France at this point in time, the theaters, the streets... Bernard Blier and Suzy Delair also deserve mention, as the couple who serve as the film's central focus they really are charming, lovely.

A friend told me of another film dealing with the same subject released in the late Eighties, entitled MEN BEHIND THE SUN. Everything I've read and heard about it tells me that it's something I will never see, as it's an exploitation film with no real merit. Having just seen CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH two days ago, I can say with confidence that it is anything but. A film with an epic scale, but somber, stirring, human.

Thinking back to the first time I saw this in 1984, I recall being blown away, excited, thinking "I can't wait to see this film!" Only to discover that it was a commercial. I only just recently learned that Ridley Scott directed it. But when I did learn of this, I was like, "but of course". Still waiting for the film.

Looking forward to catching up with Hamer's Pink String and Sealing Wax. One film absent from those shown above that deserves attention is The Long Memory, every bit as good as It Always Rains On Sunday, perhaps in some ways even better. I also agree with the biographer who singled out The Spider and the Fly, another of Hamer's films I happen to like.

Just a superb film. Gerard Philippe is perfect in the lead. Jean Servais many may remember as the lead in RIFIFI. Somber in its ambiance, poetic in its melancholy. There is murder, and remorse. The sky is overcast, and the rain falls relentlessly. One has to be receptive to a film of this type, but as a noir it satisfies in ways where so many others fall short. If you like this film I suggest Hamer's The Long Memory.

Just watched Delannoy's MACAO: GAMBLING HELL, with Von Stroheim and Sessue Hayakawa. A very enjoyable experience. The former is an opportunist, making a deal with the Japanese military to provide them with arms, for a price. The latter plays the owner of a casino in Macao, and the man who possesses the arms that Von Stroheim intends to purchase. Mireille Balin ( PEPE LE MOKO and Gremillon's LADYKILLER) also stars.