Actors/Artists:  Simone Signoret, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Serge Reggiani

Director:  Jean-Pierre Melville

Features:

• Commentary by Professor Ginette Vincendeau, French cinema expert
• Le Journal de la Resistance (Liberation Committee of the French Cinema, 1945, 33 mins b&w, English commentary by Noel Coward)
• Jean-Pierre Melville Filmmaker (Pathe (Chroniques de France), 1968, 4 mins, col, English subtitles)
• Fully illustrated booklet with essay by Jean-Michel Frodon and review by jean-Louis Comolli (Cahiers du cinema)

Aspect Ratio:

Widescreen (Anamorphic)

Audio:

French

Subtitles:   English, English for the hard of hearing

DC-DVD Price: £18.75

A personal project for over twenty-five years, Jean-Pierre Melville's adaptation of Joseph Kessel's seminal wartime novel has been praised as the most authentic film portrayals of the French Resistance. Made during Melville's most successful period, the film shares the existential themes of his gangster epics Le Samourai and Le Cercle rouge and reunites the director with Lino Ventura and Paul Meurisee, stars of the 1966 hit Le Deuxieme souffle.

Set between the Autumn of 1942 and February 1943, the film follows the story of a band of Resistance fighters living under German-controlled France. As the war continues, the grip of the occupying force tightens and friendships, trust and loyalty give way to secrecy, suspicion and loss.

A tribute to the heroic activities of the everyday members of the Resistance, L'Armee des ombres is a tense, atmospheric tour de force featuring powerful performances from Simone Signoret, Jean-Pierre Cassel and a striking cameo from Serge Reggiani.