ARMY OF SHADOWS, Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1969 epic of the French Resistance unseen in the U.S. until its acclaimed 2006 release by Rialto Pictures, returns in a stunning new 4K Studiocanal restoration, having its L.A. premiere starting this Friday at at the Royal in West L.A. at the Town Center 5 in Encino. Winner of the New York Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film of 2006 — 36 years after it was made — ARMY OF SHADOWS stars Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, and Simone Signoret.
Occupied France: an escape from the Gestapo, so sudden and hairsbreadth as to leave Ventura, the toughest of tough guys, gasping with the icy sweat of terror and relief; two brothers remain unaware, to the end, of each other’s clandestine activities; patriots, who, in relentless pursuit of traitors, must steel themselves to the most brutal of face-to-face violence. But heroism can come at a truly high price.
French gangster movie legend Melville (Bob Le Flambeur, Le Samouraï, etc.) realized the dream of a quarter century when he adapted “the book of the Resistance,” written in 1943 by Joseph Kessel (Belle de Jour). Melville turned the detached, unblinking gaze of his film noir classics on these memories of his youth — he himself served for years underground — adding a finale so stoically uncompromising as to reduce Kessel himself to sobs.
Rialto’s 2006 release was the arthouse movie event of the year, getting awards from both the New York and Los Angeles Film Critics Circles, but also appearing on over 20 major Top Ten lists of the year, including the number one pick for Manohla Dargis of The New York Times.
PRAISE FOR ARMY OF SHADOWS
“A rare work of art that thrills the senses and the mind…Worthy of that overused superlative MASTERPIECE!” — Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
“THE TIGHTEST THRILLER IN TOWN! Lovers of cinema should reach for their fedoras, turn up the collars of their coats, and sneak to this picture through a mist of rain.” — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker
“A LOST MASTERPIECE…NOT JUST ONE OF THE GREAT FILMS OF THE ’60s BUT ONE OF THE GREAT FILMS — PERIOD.” — Stephanie Zacharek, Salon
Restored in 4K from the original 35mm negative. Scanned by Image Retrouvée, with the project carried out by Sophie Boyer and Jean-Pierre Boiget of StudioCanal. Digitization and restoration with the support of the CNC.