Blu-Ray Review: Lost Masterpiece ‘Army of Shadows’ Makes Criterion HD Debut

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CHICAGO – Imagine working on the most ambitious, personal artistic endeavor of your life only to watch the most unusual circumstances of fate tear it away from the public eye. Such was the case with 1969’s excellent “Army of Shadows,” a film that took 37 years to find an audience stateside. Released in U.S. theaters for the first time in 2006, Jean-Pierre Melville’s fascinating tale of the French Resistance has now been given the Criterion Blu-ray upgrade and firmly stands as the excellent piece of work that it should have been recognized as for the last several decades.

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0

Like its characters, “Army of Shadows” fell victim to politics, revolution, misunderstanding, and a bit of propaganda. The film was released in France shortly after a quelled uprising in 1968 had turned President De Gaulle into an enemy of the cultural revolution. The immensely-powerful Cahier du Cinema read the film as a defense of De Gaulle and trashed it. At the time, Cahiers basically decided what films would get a stateside audience and “Army of Shadows” was buried. It wouldn’t be until 2006, when a restoration of the now-reconsidered masterpiece hit theaters, that American critics would be allowed to simply gush over this complex, dark vision. If you missed it then or in its initial Criterion DVD release, now’s the time to catch up on Blu-ray.

Army of Shadows was released on Blu-Ray on January 11th, 2011
Photo credit: Courtesy of the Criterion Collection

Melville’s somber film takes place during the rise of Nazi power in France and details a group of underground fighters willing to battle Hitler’s regime. Much of it features men in black trenchcoats moving among the shadows, hiding their identities, and making morally complex decisions for the greater good. Recapping the specifics of “Army of Shadows” could take up pages, but it’s more of a mood piece for this viewer;a fascinating study of men unsure of their alliances or even if they’ve made the right decisions.

I’m not sure I would sign on the same page as the critics who proclaimed it one of the best films of the ’60s but I can certainly see why it is worth considering in that conversation and the story behind the film’s burial is nearly as fascinating on a grand scale. How many other masterpieces have we simply not seen? Is there a film equal to “Army of Shadows” waiting to be rediscovered? Are there great films being made right now that are being buried for political reasons that we will discover in 2048?

As with most Criterion Blu-rays, the release of “Army of Shadows” is a beauty. The video is perfectly mixed, working from the restoration and supervised by director of photography Pierre Lhomme. The matching monaural audio soundtrack sounds just right. The special features are more extensive than usual with several archival pieces complimenting a commentary with film historian Ginette Vincendeau. It’s remarkable to me that a film that was lost to history could still find itself accompanied by so much interesting supplemental material. If a film is to be found by anyone, Criterion is certainly the best possible choice.

Special Features:
o High-definition digital transfer of the 2004 restoration, supervised by director of photography Pierre Lhomme, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
o Optional DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
o Audio commentary featuring film historian Ginette Vincendeau
o Interviews with Lhomme and editor Francoise Bonnot
o On-set footage and excerpts from archival interviews with director Jean-Pierre Melville, cast members, writer Joseph Kessel, and real-life Resistance fighters
o Jean-Pierre Melville et L’armee des ombres (2002) and Le journal de la Resistance (1944), a rare short documentary
o Film restoration demonstration by Lhomme
o Theatrical trailers
o PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by critic Amy Taubin as well as excerpts from Rui Nogueira’s Melville on Melville

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com