ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS [ASCENSEUR POUR L’ÉCHAFAUD] [1958] French grande affiche poster

[Paris]: Lux, [1958]. Vintage original 63 X 47″ (160 x 120 cm) French one panel poster. On linen, some staple holes in blank margins and slight wear along fold lines, all of which have been skilfully conserved. Just about fine.

Director Louis Malle’s first feature film, a crime thriller tragedy. The film stars Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet as lovers in an affair whose murder plot starts to unravel after one of them becomes trapped in an elevator.

Associated by some critics with film noir and introducing new narrative, cinematographic, and editing techniques, the film is considered an important work in establishing the French New Wave. The improvised soundtrack by Miles Davis and the relationship the film establishes among music, image, and emotion were considered groundbreaking.

Malle cast Jeanne Moreau after seeing her in the Paris stage production of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She had already been in a number of films, but her role in this film is often considered her breakthrough. Malle filmed her without the heavy makeup and extreme lighting that previous directors had demanded. Scenes of Moreau wandering down the Champs-Élysées at night were shot on fast film from a baby carriage using only available light from the street and shop windows. (Wikipedia)