- Louis Malle's remarkable Elevator to the Gallows weaves together three interconnected stories into one tangled tapestry of noir. The first is that of Julien Tavernier (Maurice Ronet), whose elaborate attempt at a perfect murder is foiled when he gets trapped in his building's elevator. The second tale is that of Florence Carala (Jeanne Moreau), who is in love with Tavernier and, not coincidentally, married to the murder victim. The final story follows the escapades of a small-time crook named Louis (Georges Poujouly) and the naive flower girl Veronique (Yori Bertin). None of these people are innocent, and I think we can safely assume that none of them expected events to unfold the way that they do.
- Tavernier's situation is especially ironic, given that he obviously put a lot of planning into a murder that involved more acrobatics than are usually performed on the exterior of an office building. In trying to retrieve his overlooked grappling hook, however, Tavernier leaves his car running outside and reenters the building where his victim lies dead. It's just his bad luck that he gets trapped in the elevator when the building's power is shut off for the weekend. He tries climbing out in various ways, but to no avail. He smokes and he curses, but still no way out. A night watchman switches on the power, but not long enough for Tavernier to escape. Finally, the cops enter the building, and Tavernier miraculously escapes unseen. Pretty lucky, right?
- In the meantime, Florence wanders the streets of Paris searching for Tavernier. They had planned to meet up after the murder, but Tavernier hasn't shown. Was that his car that just cruised down the street with the flower girl as a passenger? His building appears to be locked for the weekend. As the night wears on, the forlorn woman drifts from bar to bar as if in a trance. Nobody has seen Tavernier and nobody knows where he went. The plaintive sounds of Miles Davis' trumpet provide the perfect noir soundtrack for Florence's increasingly despondent quest. If Tavernier went through with the murder, why hasn't he appeared?
- Finally, we get to Louis and Veronique. Young Louis is unquestionably a punk, but Veronique seems like a nice girl stuck with the wrong boy. Early in the night, they decide to steal Tavernier's car, which they were surprised to find had been left running on the street. They proceed to take it joyriding and eventually land at an out-of-town motel, where they jokingly register as Mr. and Mrs. Tavernier. Of course! There, they become acquainted with a German couple (Iván Petrovich and Elga Andersen) who obviously see through their rather weakly concocted stories. They probably assume that Louis and Veronique are eloping, but the young punk gets nervous. Mistaking the man's cigar for a weapon, Louis rashly shoots both Germans with the gun from Tavernier's car. Now Tavernier is wanted for two murders he didn't commit, even if nobody has thought to link him to the one he did.
- If ever a story needed Lino Ventura to sort things out, it's this one. Tavernier's picture is in all the papers, so why is he caught relaxing in a coffee shop? Florence claims not to know Tavernier, but she asked everyone in town about him on the previous night. If Tavernier didn't kill those Germans, then who did? Maybe a single camera can answer all of these questions. With its excellent cinematography, outstanding soundtrack, clever plot, and memorable cast of characters, Elevator to the Gallows is certainly one of the great French noirs. Fans of the genre might incorrectly anticipate a conclusion similar to that of The Postman Always Rings Twice. Instead, they get a dark tale in which a woman's intense emotions cut both ways, two dumb kids can't even kill themselves properly, and a man is better off stuck in an elevator. In other words, great noir.
