Witness in the City

Faking suicide, a playboy industrialist (Jacques Berthier)calculatingly murders his mistress, and the victim's husband (Lino Ventura) equally pitiless revenge excitingly engenders an increasingly desperate sortie through the crepuscular streets of Paris. Director Édouard Molinaro's electric, stunning invocation of moody gallic noir makes for extraordinarily compelling cinema, maestro Henri Decae's ominously shadow-slaked photography draws you deeply into Molinaro's mesmerisingly monochromatic milieu of midnight misanthropy.

Razor-edged cat-and-mouse crime thriller 'Witness in The City' is honed to deadly efficacy, the bulk of the film's undeniable allure due solely to magnetic film icon Lino Ventura's steely charisma. Granted, I am massively biased, since Lino Ventura is one my favourite actors, but, in my opinion, no one stalked the dingy backstreets of not-so-gay Paris with the inimitable rigour of Mr. Ventura! The thrilling performances, exquisite, frequently dynamic film making, and exemplary text strongly suggests Witness in The City be witnessed by all those who savour superlative genre film making.

When he found out his gun had no bullets the killer showed him they were in his hand and asked him to hand over the empty gun, he just concurred without any resistance. I don't think a guy like him in that situation would not try to desperately fight for his life, but instead, he just stood there like a moron, trying to explain and begging for mercy. The killer stood sideways to this guy without any concern if the guy would have tried to fight for his life, he just slowly put the bullets back into the chamber. This ridiculous scene and scenario could only happen in a badly scripted screenplay not in a realistic world. When I watched this absurd scene, I had to quit watching to avoid brain damage.

Having cut his teeth on 'Le dos au mur' and 'Les femmes disparaissent', both of which are 'interesting', Edouard Molinaro impresses with this excellent revenge thriller adapted from the novel of the splendid duo Boileau and Narcejac. Oodles of atmospheric night scenes here and who better to create them than cinematographer Henri Decae. Molinaro has also enlisted as composer the tenor saxophonist Barney Wilens who collaborated with Miles Davis on 'l'ascenseur pour l'echaffaud'. The editing by Robert and Monique Isnardon is especially effective. This also marks the first major role for Lino Ventura who had been steadily climbing the ranks since being discovered by Jacques Becker. Apparently he was offered the choice of playing the assassin or the taxi-driving witness and his decision to play the former proved to be an astute career move. He is simply superlative in the role of a man who exacts revenge for the murder of his wife but thereby embarks on a course from which there is no return. The hunter becomes the hunted and Ventura succeeds in evincing our sympathy. The part of the witness went to Franco Fabrizzi and that of his girlfriend to the always appealing Sandra Milo. Other performances to note are those of Robert Dalban and Micheline Luccione. The milieu, routine and camaraderie of the taxi drivers are wonderfully depicted and the final chase sequence is thrilling. The history of cinema is littered with films whose promise on paper failed to be realised on screen but here everything gels to produce a tense and gripping piece which is an absolute must for devotees of Film Noir.

While leaving the scene of his crime, a murderer encounters a cab driver who will be able to identify him. For the rest of the film, the killer hunts down the driver, who becomes a character in the story.

No spoilers for this one, with terrific driving sequences and chases in night-time Paris and some colorful characters. Ventura--who must act without much dialog--is very good, as are Franco Fabrizzi and Sandra Milo (both of whom appear significantly in Fellini films)

On late fifties the Italian descendant Lino Ventura was paving a solid career at French cinema, at this period he already could choose some roles offered, so to keep his persona intact playing an assassin he asking for the screenwriters humanize Ancelin as we can certify in several sequences, thus audience get sympathy for the ill-fated husband who drew up a foolproof plan to punish his wife's lover after the justice release him of judgement over a premeditated killing throwing her off the moving train, however as old saying states there's no prefect crime, so an unexpected detail as a phone call asking for a cab ends up putting a witness at crime scene, so Ancelin has to hurry up to silence the unluck taxi driver.

Edouard Molinaro enforces a tireless chase thru the night at Paris streets, that provide a perfect bleak atmosphere and backdrops in several spots including the iconic metro, cheap hotel, Parisian Cafés and burlesque ambience as well, all this allied in well-structure screenplay devised by the clever trio Boileau-Narcejac-Oury with low conversation that pleased Ventura plenty, so the thrilling story holds the viewers on the chair waiting what's comes next often cheering on Ancelin somehow, gripping Polar stained in noirish style.

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First watch: 2025 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8.5.