Diabolically Yours/The Swimming Pool /The Widow Couderc /The Gypsy /Our StoryAlain Delon was one of the great male film stars of the '60s, playing super-cool anti-heroes in a variety of international productions, most notably The Leopard (1963), Joy House (1964), Once a Thief (1965), and Jean Peierre Melville's trio of tight crime dramas, Le Samourai (1967), Le Cercle Rouge (1970), and Un Flic (1972).
This DVD boxed set brings together five films starring, and in some cases produced by, Alain Delon, starting with 1967's Diabolically Yours (Diaboliquement Vôtre), based upon a hardboiled novel by Louis Thomas, wherein Delon plays an amnesiac who may or may not be set up for murder. The piece de resistance of the set is 1969's The Swimming Pool (La Piscine), with Alain co-starring with the lovely Romy Schneider (What's New, Pussycat?) and model/actress/chanteuse Jane Birkin (she's no Francoise Hardy, but she's at her best here) in a bizarre love triangle with deadly consequences. In 1971's The Widow Couderc, Delon plays opposite French film icon Simone Signoret in yet another bizarre love triangle with, yes, deadly consequences.
Also included in the set are 1975's The Gypsy, with an aging Delon in the title role, and 1984's Our Story, directed by master farceur Bertrand Blier, which concerns, accoring to Delon's character, "The nympho and the drunk...Love at first sight on a train." Sounds like an excellent premise to me, and the results are intriguing.
To sum up, this DVD collection of Alain Delon's secondary work is a must for fans of the actor, as well as those who have never heard of the guy.
Available from Studio Canal/Lionsgate Home Video.
No comments:
Post a Comment