Dassin Noir: Three Film Noir Classics by Jules Dassin | reviews, news & interviews
Dassin Noir: Three Film Noir Classics by Jules Dassin
Dassin Noir: Three Film Noir Classics by Jules Dassin
Hard-boiled crime movies from a master of the genre
![](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/mast_image_landscape/public/mastimages/dassin%20pack.jpg?itok=QW3Nd7ja)
Connecticut-born Jules Dassin graduated from lightweight suspense and comedy fodder for MGM to pungent, location-based crime dramas, hitting his stride with Brute Force (1947) and The Naked City (1948), both included in this package. However, his upward trajectory was derailed after he was identified as a communist at the HUAC hearings.
Brute Force is routinely ranked among the best American prison dramas, and stars Burt Lancaster as would-be escaper Joe Collins. Lancaster and fellow inmates must contend with the excesses of the sadistic prisoner-torturing Captain Munsey (Hume Cronyn), who runs Westgate Penitentiary like a thinly disguised version of a Nazi concentration camp (perhaps Dassin was showing his early roots in left-wing Jewish theatre). Inevitably, the piece climaxes in a maelstrom of violence.
The Naked City became the template for a genre of American cop dramas, not least when its pay-off line provided the hook for the TV series Naked City: "There are eight million stories in the Naked City. This is one of them." It follows the police investigation into the murder of a young model, whose body has been fished out of New York's East River, and makes arresting use of its New York locations. Dassin drew extra inspiration from Weegee's blood-drenched crime-scene photos.
It's hard to know where to begin enumerating the wonders which Dassin packed into Rififi. The 28 dialogue-free minutes of the jewel heist from Mappin & Webb in Paris, as the mechanics of the raid are enacted in meticulous detail, is a self-contained mini-marvel. Jean Servais, as the "one-last-job" protagonist Tony le Stéphanois, is haunting in his battered world-weariness. The violence and brutality still feel potent despite being handled with now-unfashionable restraint. And the location scenes of 1950s Paris are so evocative they leave you gasping for breath. Extras-wise, the package is thin - just original trailers plus a scholarly lecture on Rififi by French academic Ginette Vincendeau. Doesn't really matter though.
rating
Share this article
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
more Film
![Sister act: Bianca Delbravo, Dilvin Asaad, and Safira Mossberg in 'Paradise Is Burning'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Main%20pic%20PisBurning.jpeg?itok=M-QpAFJr)
![Colman Domingo and Clarence Maclin in 'Sing Sing'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Sing%201.jpeg?itok=FzGLffp-)
![Caught on the woof: Eddie Peng and best friend in Guan Hu’s tale of provincial struggle](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Black%20Dog%20pic.jpeg?itok=4flF1pOd)
![David Morrissey: 'When I discovered my drama group at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, that saved my life'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Morrissey%20MAIN.jpg?itok=tsYiugwk)
![Gael force: Kneecap's Liam Óg, JJ Ó Dochartaigh, and Naoise Ó Caireállain](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/three%20shot%20Kneecap.jpeg?itok=wbu8VQio)
![The night they invented champagne: Barbe (Haley Bennett) concocts her latest vintage](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Barb%20MAIN.jpg?itok=7HfioYC9)
![This is reception: Hunter Schafer in 'Cuckoo'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/CUCKOO-Still-1-Credit-Felix-Dickinson-Courtesy-of-NEON.jpg?itok=9T-JMH2b)
![Losing his way. Zhu Yilong in 'Only the River Flows'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Only-The-River-Flows1.jpg?itok=Xe75y-DM)
![Alienated youth: Rain (Cailee Spaeny) takes on the mantle of Ripley, with David Jonsson as 'synthetic' Andy](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Spaeyny%20and%20Jonsson.jpeg?itok=At6et-4p)
![A glimpse of the director, with Mawlawi Mansour at right](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Hollywoodgate%203.jpg?itok=sUZKpWKk)
![Richard Chamberlain and Glenda Jackson tie the knot in 'The Music Lovers'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/5009250_THE%20MUSIC%20LOVERS_A%20BFI%20BLU-RAY%20RELEASE%20Image%20courtesy%20MGM%20%26%20Park%20Circus.jpg?itok=hV9gAlOE)
![Father knows worst: Josh Hartnett and Ariel Donaghue in 'Trap'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/TRAP.jpg.jpg?itok=_wrN_N8v)
Add comment