Le Trou CC dvd (1 Viewer)

[SteveGon]

I just got done watching the Criterion edition of Le Trou, the Jacques Becker film from 1960. The movie details the escape attempt of five prisoners in a Paris prison. I hadn't seen this before and was very impressed. This is a gritty and realistic film that's based on a true story. In fact, one of the actors in the film was one of the prisoners involved in the actual escape attempt. Talk about cinema verite'! If you like prison flicks and film noir, give this a spin! Criterion has done another fine job with this release. The transfer of this black & white film looks terrific - a bit of grain here and there, but nothing too distracting. Le Trou is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. The French mono track gets the job done - I didn't notice any real problems there. Optional English subtitles are provided. There are, unfortunately, no extras aside from the liner notes. Despite the lack of extras, I highly recommend this disc. In fact, invite your friends over and double-bill this with Criterion's Rififi!

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

Yeah, definitely one of those cool films I had never heard of until seeing the Criterion DVD. The events surrounding the story and the film's creation are almost too good to be true, but this is still a terrific film if you don't know the backstory. (BTW, my review is linked in my sig.)