esrosedotblog

DASSIN IN THE DARK

Todays film is RIFIFI (1955); it means 'rough stuff'.

It is a NYT1000Best Film. Very good; a caper film noir with some pretty original twists and turns; nail-biter-ending. I will rate it 4 out of 5 on the Netflix scale.

Dassin is a very interesting guy. He was born in Middletown, CT and was an early Hollywood success with the dark classics NAKED CITY and BRUTE FORCE. Blacklisted early in the witch-hunt days, he went to Paris and made this film. He knew it was his only chance to make a successful career in Europe. It won him Best Director at Cannes; he was on his way.

We have seen two other Dassin films so far: TOPKAPI and NEVER ON SUNDAY. The complete list of his work is at Jules Dassin. It would appear that he made all the dark stuff, discovered Melina Mercouri, and turned fun and light. He appeared in a lot of his films. He has a second lead in RIFIFI. He plays as an Italian, the better to hide his accent. Here he is holding Melina's hand in SUNDAY. I couldn't find a RIFIFI pic with him in it.