Bob le flambeur (1956)

Bob is a gambler with a checkered past and a heart of gold. After a run of bad luck, an opportunity too good to pass up convinces him to try one last caper. Things don’t go as planned.

Influenced by John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle, it bears structural similarity to Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing as well. In fact, Kubrick stopped making crime films because, he thought, the best one had now been made.

Young model Isabelle Corey was cast in her first role. While quite beautiful, at sixteen she wasn’t much of an actress. And she would never become one as her career ended after five years. This was a pretty provocative role for a middle teen, but this is France we are talking about. Roger Duchesne had a more interesting story. After a fair number of forgettable films, his career was cut short when he was jailed for collaborating with the Nazis. This was a return after thirteen years, but would do only one more film. He was pitch perfect as the older, somewhat wiser gambler.

Bob le flanbeur is on the short list of a large number of famous filmmakers and critics favorite films. While enjoyable, I found it short of the two caper films mentioned above. But subtitled films with complex stories can be hard to fully take in. The text draws your attention away from the cinematography and performances, and the nuances that go along. I give it a 3.5 but I will rewatch it. There are things I missed.