Bob the Gambler 4K 1956

Once Jean Pierre Melville removed his name from the credits of his criminal brainchild, leaving only his surname-pseudonym. Did not allow the hero to wear the very hat that will become a fetish glorified his paintings in the noir genre. Prefer the handsome Alain Delon far from such a charismatic and charming Roger Duchene in the choice of the performer of the main role. And, unexpectedly for everyone, made the most original and atypical movie in his career, cementing his title as the father of the “new wave”. Making the audience guess what was the cause and what was the effect, having a lot of fun, the wily Parisian, overnight wrote his name in the history of cinema. Subsequently, from the new French cinema, he will deny, but “Bob” has already entered the numerous lists of “must see”.

It would seem that in front of us is a typical polar (French detective). Not deprived of a specific code of honor aging marginal with the habits of a dandy, loses from day to day all that he has, at the gambling tables of Paris, buddies with the police, drags for pretty girls and elegantly sipping drinks in the numerous cafes of night Montmartre. When he learns about the forthcoming solid accumulation of cash in the casino, he does not hesitate to remember the past - organizes a daring raid. But forgetting about the robbery during the robbery itself, the key character is too carefree and light-hearted to be a participant in a “black movie”. On the figurehead of gangster history with all the formal similarities, he also does not pull - because the criminal scheme is thought out only superficially. The abundance of life collisions does not make the player to the end and dramatic hero. As if in mockery of the existentialism gaining popularity at the time, Bob is doomed to do stupid things instead of inevitably striving for death. Making colleagues guess about the genre of the film, Melville rejoiced heartily at the realization of his long-held idea. Subsequently, never wishing to create something similar again, he will go to the movie commercial, but “The Prodigy of Life” has already become an example for many venerable directors, creating by mixing styles.

Not for a moment concerned with the presence of intrigue, demonstrating, without shyness, the frank cheapness of production: the fact that most of the shooting was done on the streets with a hand-held camera, a layman would guess; trumping recklessness and obvious conventionality of dialogues, the film charms aesthetically constructed frame and impeccable taste. Keeping critics guessing as to how he came up with such a phenomenal idea, the director, deservedly proud, sneaked his personal serious thoughts on male friendship and the far from leading function of sexuality in male-female relationships into the non-serious action. Subsequently, in each subsequent work, he would hide his dreamy, ironic soul behind unperturbed, flawless characters in cloaks and hats, but this picture has already given too much information about the creator to an attentive person.