19 March 2008

Criterion continue their stirling work uncovering little seen gems of world cinema with the upcoming release of the 1960 crime drama Classe tous risques (The Big Risk), which stars Lino Ventura and Jean-Paul Belmondo (in his first release after Godard's Breathless) and was directed by Claude Sautet, whose final film was the award-winning Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud (1995).

Though sentenced to death, in absentia, in France, former gangland chief Abel Davos (Lino Ventura) sneaks back to Paris with his children after hiding out in Milan for nearly a decade. Accompanied by appointed guardian Eric Stark (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and beset by backstabbing former friends, Abel begins a journey through the postwar Parisian underworld that's both throat grabbing and soul searching. A character study of a career criminal at the end of his rope, this rugged noir is a thrilling highlight of sixties French cinema.

Criterion's DVD will sport the following features:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer;
• Excerpts from Claude Sautet ou La magie invisible, a documentary on the director by writers N. T. Binh and Dominique Rabourdin;
• Archival interview footage featuring actor Lino Ventura discussing his career;
• Original French and U.S. release trailers;
• New and improved English subtitle translation;
• New essays by director Bertrand Tavernier and critic N. T. Binh, a reprinted interview with Sautet, and a tribute by Jean-Pierre Melville.

Clase tous risques will be release on US DVD by Criterion in June 2008 (exact date to be confirmed) at the SRP of $29.95.