illustration: Keiko Kimura (c) 2005 Rialto Pictures LLC

“A TERRIFIC THRILLER!  MOREAU IS RADIANT!”
– Terrence Rafferty, The New York Times

“A SNAZZY, CONSISENTLY ENGAGING ATMOSPHERIC NOIR!”
– Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York

“DELECTABLE! Stuffed with many sumptuous sights and sounds!”
– Melissa Anderson, The Village Voice

“ELEGANTLY FATALISTIC!  BREATHLESS ENERGY!”
– Kenneth Turan, NPR’s Morning Edition

(1957) Scheming lovers Julien (Maurice Ronet) and Florence (Jeanne Moreau) engineer the “perfect murder” of her husband. But when Julien attempts to tie up one more loose end (literally… a rope dangling from the dead man’s office window), he becomes trapped between floors in the title conveyance, with precious minutes ticking away before the police discover the victim’s body. Complicating things are a teenaged greaser and his thrill-seeking girlfriend.  A stunning debut that won the then 24-year-old director Louis Malle the prestigious Prix Delluc, France’s highest film award, ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS ushered in the French New Wave and made an international super-star of cool beauty Moreau, here giving perhaps the most iconic performance of her career. As seminal as the film itself is its legendary Miles Davis music (largely improvised by Miles and his combo) —still the most famous of all jazz film scores.
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Excerpts from recent reviews of ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS

Listen to film critic Kenneth Turan on ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS
on NPR’s Morning Edition.

“A SNAZZY, CONSISTENTLY ENGAGING ATMOSPHERIC NOIR!”
– Time Out New York

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