WEDNESDAY, NOV 21, 2018SPECIAL REPEAT IN THE LITTLE ROXIE  

SINNERS OF PARIS / RAFLES SUR LA VILLE  5:00

Pierre Chenal was a giant of French noir in the 30s, culminating that decade with the first screen adaptation of James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice, LE DERNIER TOURNANT (1939). Forced to flee from the Nazis, however, he spent most of the next two decades in exile.

His last return ("dernier retour") to France revived his career in a series of tight "B-noirs" filled with the color and action that only a master director can supply. In this ironic tale, an elderly gangster (Charles Vanel) makes a bloody escape from the hospital where he was confined, creating panic and mayhem on both sides of the law. His obsessive love of a showgirl (Juliette Greco) is paralleled by the queasy behavior of one of the cops assigned to track him down (Michel Piccoli), who develops an unhealthy hankering for his partner's wife (Danik Pattison). Chenal handles these tandem plots with panache, reminding us along the way that "boys will be boys" no matter if they're cops or crooks...

(1958, 82min) Directed by Pierre Chenal. Screenplay by Paul Andréota, Jean Ferry and Pierre Chenal from the novel by August LeBreton. Photographed by Marcel Grignon. Music by Michel Legrand. With Charles Vanel, Bella Darvi, Danik Pattison, Michel Piccoli, François Guerin, Marcel Mouloudji, Jean Brochard, Georges Vitray, Albert Rémy, Georges Douking, Marcel Lupovici, Gina Manès.