LE FULL HOUSE
Henri Verneuil, director/INDICATOR
An intriguing portmanteau crime collection, the key episode here is a compact drama based on Georges Simenon’s Maigret short story ‘The Evidence Of The Altar Boy’, expertly directed by the veteran Henri Verneuil, with the iconic Michel Simon as Maigret, and released in 1952. Simenon had created a writing legacy quite as substantial as many more ‘serious’ French literary. His most iconic creation is, of course, the pipe-smoking Inspector of Police, Jules Maigret. All the elements that made the character so beloved were carefully burnished by the author: Commissaire in the Paris police headquarters at the Quai des Orfèvres, Maigret is a singularly more human figure than such forbidding analytical sleuths as Sherlock Holmes, and his approach to solving crimes is more dogged and painstaking than the theatrics of other literary detectives – an innovation in its day. Three of France’s most beloved fictional detectives are on the case in Full House (Brelan d’as): First, Monsieur Wens (Raymond Rouleau), created by Stanislas-André Steeman. Secondly, Peter Cheyney’s Lemmy Caution (John van Dreelen before the final Maigret segment.
FALLING DOWN, Joel Schumacher, director/Arrow 4K
On a traffic-choked Los Angeles morning, a figure known only as “D-Fens” (played by a nervy Michael Douglas) leaves his car in a gridlocked traffic jam and sets off across the city on foot. He just wants to go home, but he is blocked by events that escalate into explosive confrontations, leaving a trail of violence in his wake. Trying to piece together these events is veteran cop Prendergast (Robert Duvall), whose quiet final day before retirement becomes a chaotic hunt for a dangerous man on the edge. Director Joel Schumacher may have been less fortunate In his cinematic encounters with the Dark Knight, but this is one of his most involving films, with its divisive politics an added stimulant.
TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A, William Friedkin, director/Arrow
Time for a fresh look at William Friedkin’s seminal 80s crime thriller To Live and Die in L.A. Starring William Petersen (along with Willem Dafoe in menacing mode), this is one of the most stylish thrillers of the decade. Nothing like a hit on the order of Friedkin’s The Exorcist and The French Connection, To Live and Die in L.A. is actually one of William Friedkin’s most accomplished films, as well as one of the most stylish thrillers of the 1980s. The Arrow Video release has had a new 4K restoration from the original 35mm negative, supervised and approved by the director himself. To Live and Die in L.A comes up as fresh as paint in this 4K restoration from the original camera negative. Packed with extras, including an audio commentary by director and co-writer William Friedkin, the release includes a reversible sleeve, new artwork, and a collectors’ booklet.
