A Man Escaped Movie Review 1957

There's an excruciating realism about Bresson's account of a WWII Resistance fighter's escape from a Nazi prison just before he was to be executed by the Gestapo. It's the sounds and lingering camera shots, not the wham bam variety of action, that create and sustain the film's suspense. Bresson, who had been a Nazi prisoner, solicited the supervision of Andre Devigny, whose true story the film tells. Contributing to the realistic feel was the use of non professional actors. An award-wiining film that fellow director Truffaut lauded as the most crucial French film of the previous ten years. In French with English subtitles.

Distribution

New Yorker Video, 16 W. 61st St., 11th Fl., New York, NY 10023, Phone: (212)645-4600, Toll-free: 800-447-0196, Fax: (212)645-3030, Email: info@newyorkerfilms.com, URL: http://www.newyorkerfilms.com

Available on VHS
Running time 102 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

World War II, True Stories, Great Escapes, Men in Prison, Nazis & Other Paramilitary Slugs

Screenplay

Robert Bresson

Cast

Francois Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Roland Monod, Maurice Beerblock, Jacques Ertaud, Jean-Paul Delhumeau, Roger Treherne, Jean-Philippe Delamarre, Cesar Gattegno, Jacques Oerlemans, Klaus Detlef Grevenhorst, Leonard Schmidt

Cinematography

Leonce-Henri Burel

Director

Robert Bresson

Producer

Alain Poire, Jean Thuillier

Awards

Cannes 1957: Director (Bresson).