Customer Reviews

Rififi (The Criterion Collection)

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Jules Dassin does have a seat of choice in the gallery of Movie History. The movies he directed in Hollywood in the late forties are now classics and his courage under the Mc Carthy era demands our utmost respect. Exiled in France, he directed RIFIFI aka " Du Rififi Chez Les Hommes " in 1954 based on a Série Noire novel of Auguste le Breton. And it's simply one of the best films noirs ever made.

Jean Servais is perfect as a french Bogart marked by tuberculosis, Robert Hossein, in his first role, terrifying as a drug addict tougher than George Raft and Jules Dassin himself, in the role of an italian bad guy, very convincing. Add a wonderful singing act of Magali Noël, the french starlet of the sixties, the great Alexandre - The Children of Paradise - Trauner as art director and the 30 minutes anthology scene, without musical score nor dialogs, of the robbery and you have a movie you can't neglect if you are a true movie lover.

The copy presented in this Criterion DVD release is definitive and the 25 minutes interview with Jules Dassin a bonus feature very appreciated. There is also the choice between the french subtitled version and a dubbed version for the lazy ones. How can you still hesitate ! Go, buy and be happy.

A DVD zone your library.

In an earlier review, I criticised the sound synchronisation - well, Criterion have rectified this problem in the current second printing. This information can be found at Criterion's revamped website, Criterionco.com, which is now very informative - there is a page devoted to known problems, and a page where you can alert them to any new problems you find; also you can ask general questions.
*
Technically, now, this film transfer is outstanding - the picture is superbly clear, better in fact than a restored print recently screened in Sydney.
*
For me, the film itself gets better with each viewing. Kind of amazing considering this is overtly a suspense thriller, where not knowing the outcome should be crucial - perhaps this reveals that it is more a character study, particularly a rumination on a character accepting his fate, a fate portrayed as virtually predestined. Also there is a sense that Dassin delights in the making of this picture - his performance as Cesare the Milanese is similarly brimming with enthusiastic charm. The production design by Alexandre Trauner (Les Enfants du Paradis) is another factor in allowing enjoyment to grow with each viewing - the film looks wonderful. There's a sense that each carefully considered part of the film is necessary, and that to change any would be to the detriment of the film as a whole - a little like the feeling inspired by a great musical symphony; possibly it's a little ironic then that the one questionable element is the title song! In the notes, Dassin is said to have rued his dismissal of an alternative, and at the time largely unknown, songwriter - Charles Aznavour!
*
It is also amazing to think that for decades this film was rarely available for public screening and not obtainable on video. It deserves to be seen by everyone with a love of cinema. A truly great film.

After something of a dry spell, Criterion has finally released a bunch of great DVDs this month. Their edition of "Rififi" - while probably not as well known as their mammoth "Spartacus" release - deserves a lot of praise. They've included an interview with the director, Jules Dassin (still alive at 90 years) and their remastered print has the stark clarity - and beauty - of the work they did on "The Third Man."

"Rififi" is almost the same caliber of "The Third Man." Its a crime story - its about a quartet of thieves who after pulling off a daring robbery (the robbery itself is an wonderfully extended silent sequence) and it has a lot of the "late-noir" ambience that the "Third Man" and "Touch of Evil" have. Jean Sevrais is fantastic as the ringleader although the film lacks the real dynamic characterizations that make "The Third Man" so compelling. Since "Rififi" has been made in so many incarnations - including "Reservoir Dogs" - its a bit predictable as well.

Still, "Rififi" is a wonderful film - an American noir (directed by an expatriate American living in France) that's been perfectly recast into its French surroundings. Buy, watch, and savour.

This is not a review, but rather a word or two about the terrible problems with the sound synchronisation.
The film itself is one of the greats in the genre of crime thriller, and so it is a criminal shame that Criterion have released the film with a French soundtrack well and truly out of synch with the action.
However - there are NO, repeat, NO - such problems with the English language (dubbed) soundtrack !
So - you have the choice of either suffering the sound problems (but getting the original language and thus a better psychological ambience) or suffering the dubbed English (but having the sound effects in synch).
Either way, if you are a devotee of films, or just heist movies, this is a Must-Have !
The DVD would score five stars if Criterion ever get around to releasing it with the sound problems fixed...

"Rififi", made in France in 1954, was a groundbreaking film at the time of its release and still holds up well today. It is a film about a caper heist and the 28 minute jewelry store robbery, filmed with no dialog or music, is the highlight of the film. However, the film offers much more. The actors are all superb and memorable. Director Jules Dassin had a very small budget and had to use lesser known actors. Jean Servais, gaunt and haggard after years of alcoholism is perfect as Tony, the leader of the gang. Dassin himself plays Cesare, the safe cracker whose careless indiscretions following the robbery spoils their "perfect crime". The film also features superb cinematographer, gritty and stark, and the city of Paris becomes a character in itself. Dassin would only film outdoor scenes on cloudy and rainy days which gives the film a documentary-type feel.

Criterion's DVD release is superb. The print is flawless, as far as I could tell on my 35" screen, and I could not see any flaws or distractions. This is the original un-cut version of the film. The film was initially condemned by the Catholic Church in the U.S. and slapped with a "C" rating. It was then released with 3 scenes edited and a Bible verse flashed onto the screen before the opening credits! This is the version Dassin intented without the cuts or the Bible verse. A dubbed version is included for those who dislike reading sub-titles.

Other extras include an essay, trailer, and a 30 minute interview with Jules Dassin which was filmed in the summer of 2000. Dassin talks about the blacklist, which ended his career in Hollywood in the early 50s, and about the making of "Rififi" in France and how it ressurected his career.

RIFIFI opens with a card game. Cigars, cigarettes and smoke fill the air. Beat fedoras shade tired eyes that rest uneasily over puffy flesh. RIFIFI is a crime thriller, a heist movie made in France in 1955 by Hollywood blacklisted director Jules Dassin. It's about the planning, execution, and unraveling of the perfect crime.
Jean Servais plays the weary and tubercular Tony le Stéphanois, the brains of the outfit. RIFIFI was shot mostly on location in Paris. Its Paris is a city of overcast skies, rainy nights, slick streets and pools of reflected light. Tony and his gang - Carl Möhner as Jo le Suedois, Robert Manuel as Mario Ferrati and director Dassin as Cesar le Milanais - meticulously (florist delivers outside the jewelry store at 5:50 am every morning) plan the job. With a little luck nothing can go wrong.
The robbery itself is, famously, played out in its full 30 minutes without dialogue or musical underscore. It shouldn't work as well as it does, and anybody without the total control Dassin had on the film probably wouldn't get away with it, but it's a gripping chunk of film. Heist movies that obsess over the crime, and this one goes into great plan-and-execution detail, can draw the audience into the object of their obsession, which this one does relentlessly. Of course, few things are perfect, especially crimes, and the third act details what happens when a good crime goes bad.
I was a little hesitant about a French crime thriller, especially one fifty years old. The French were great fans of Hollywood urban crime movies of the forties, but flattery aside, imitation usually leaves you lonesome for that which is being imitated. RIFIFI had me hooked after the first couple of minutes and held my attention throughout. It's smart, carries more than its share of surprises, and makes great use of Paris locations.
The film is in very good condition. Also included on the dvd is a half-hour 2000 video interview with director Jules Dassin. The interview contains much reminiscence on his career, or lack of same, after he was blacklisted by Hollywood in the 1950s. Dassin also recounts a number of anecdotes concerning the filming of RIFIFI. English subtitles, dubbed English, and original French are the language choices. There's a stills gallery with production and publicity photographs and some set design drawings, text-only production notes and a theatrical trailer in dubbed English.

This film is probably solely for people interested in the history of film and its development. Don't get me wrong, it is a great film, but I doubt it is for a general audience of modern viewers.

I have wanted to see this film for many years after having once seen the previews in some theatre when I was very young. It never played on cable, and was unavailable in any medium (VHS, DVD)....at least when I was looking for it. So, I am very grateful that Criterion has brought out this beautiful edition.

Having grown up in the 50's I can see why this film was such a sensation. It is tough and gritty, no nonsense, frank and nonchalant about sex (no one today can know how refreshing that was in 50's America, and how people craved foreign films for that reason among others). This film takes its place with the great Asphalt Jungle and The Killing (of roughly the same period) about thieves falling-out and meticulous plans coming undone.

Dassin's audacity in filming the robbery sequence without music track or dialogue still looks pretty courageous today. The robbery itself looks somewhat dated only because it has been copied and elaborated on by so many, including Dassin himself who satarized it in Topkapi.

Like the old Frankenstein, or King Kong, or It Happened One Night, or Stagecoach, or any original genre classic, I enjoy seeing the work of the guy who did it first. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and Jules Dassin's Rififi has been imitated many times. I was glad to finally see the original in this pristine copy.

The Criterion DVD is fine. My copy had no problems with subtitles or anything else, so I don't know what happened with the other reviewer's complaint. The interview with Dassin is quite good, and will remind the viewer of not only the effects of the blacklist (Dassin was Blacklisted) but also how excellent films can come out of strange and humble origins.

I must mention Jean Servais, the lead in Rififi. He is simply great, with his gravelly voice and his lived-in face, and his mournful yet tough, been-there-done-that eyes. He is the epitome of a Bogart-like French tough guy.

All in all, a real treat for the discerning viewer.

This review is for the Criterion COllection DVD edition of the film.

The film's original French title is "Du Rifiif Chez les Hommes" which translates to "Trouble with the Men"

The film is really good and is about several men who plot to break into a jewelery store, crack open the safe, and escape- all without setting off the alarm.

Several of the scenes have been imitated in other films: notably Mission Impossible and the remake of the Italain Job. Many scenes are quite exciting and the break-in scene is very exciting. This half-hour scene also contains no dialogue making it one of the longest if not the longest elapsed time without dialogue in a film with dialogue.

This is definately one of the best break-in films which I have seen and is certainly worthy of a Criterion Collection release.

There are also several special features. There is a theatrical trailer, Production stills and notes, a video interview with the Director, Jules Dassin, who also personally apporved this edition, and drawings of the sets by Alexandre Trauner.

There is also an optional English language soundtrack for those bothered by foreign language with subitles.

Either way, this is a film that no fan of heist films should miss!

Made in 1956, the same year as Kubrick's The Killing, I'm not sure that it qualifies as the film that invented the heist that goes wrong. I wonder which came first: The Killing or Rififi? Anyway, both films have since been imitated hugely, not least by Tarantino. Watching Rififi for the umpteenth time, there are a number of plot flaws --- and so there are in The Killing. It would be tedious to list them, but they become noticeable the more familiar you get with the story. The first time, they don't bother you so much. The similarities between these heist films doesn't end with the detailed planning and execution: they include the detailed presentation of the private lives of the gangsters --- which comes out strongest in Tarantino. That is, crooks live and talk, have the same worries and seem to think like the rest of us. They just have a different line of work. To be frank, I didn't think Servais, the anti-hero, did too good a job as an actor, since he looked exactly the same in every shot. Still, perhaps that's the way he was directed. Dassin was very good in his part. In the end, however, it boils down to: Was this film memorable? And the answer is, Yes. The other reviews will tell you why; and it's a film that anyone interested in film history has to have seen.

"Rififi" is a great film for so many reasons. It has so many elements of other films in it that simply calling it a heist film is an injustice. The detail in the heist scenes is extremely realistic and fun to watch but there is so much more in this film. It is very realistic in that we see the consequences of crime and the negative impact it has on all those involved and those close to them- friends and enemies alike. In that respect it has a lot of the themes and emotions you will find in the great films about crime families. The film is very exciting, it is great noir, it has great acting and a moral conscience, not to mention more subtle touches than almost any film. Add to all the brilliant touches a crook who finds an interesting place to dispose of his gargage( see it and you will understand!) and you have one of coolest scenes in one of the greatest movies of all time!