Synopsis: When Georges Manda and Marie meet at an outdoor tavern in the countryside near Paris, they are immediately drawn to each other. He is a reformed criminal now working as a carpenter; she is currently the moll of Roland, a member of Felix Leca's criminal gang. Manda and Roland stage a knife fight over her, resulting in Roland's death. Manda and Marie flee to the countryside, where they spend an all-too-brief night of bliss. However, Leca himself has designs on Marie and contrives to have Manda's old friend Raymond framed for the murder. Manda turns himself in to save Raymond from the guillotine, but later escapes to exact revenge against Leca.

In the US, the French director Jacques Becker (1906-1960) never gained the recognition of his contemporaries Henri-Georges Clouzot or Marcel Carne, but his films display a finely honed sensibility that plays well to contemporary tastes. His masterpiece is undoubtedly Casque d'or (1952), a completely realized vision on all levels. Based on a real-life incident, the film works as a study of the manners and mores of the Parisian underworld during the Belle Epoque, as a tragic love story, and as a tale of friendship and loyalty. Thanks to sumptuous production design and cinematography, the film often recalls a Renoir painting or a Toulouse-Lautrec poster, though not in the usual sense of static, "painterly" images. On the contrary, Becker frequently likes to use camera movements and rapid cutting within scenes for dramatic emphasis. Everyone speaks in an amusing Parisian argot which adds to the sense that we're seeing not just another costume spectacle, but rather a privileged view into the past. The story flows so beautifully and there are so many details to admire that Becker's film never wears out its welcome, even after repeat viewings.

Although Casque d'Or was not a success during its initial release in France, it was received warmly in England and the US when it was released shortly thereafter under the title Golden Marie. It did, however, cement Simone Signoret's image as a star. Signoret subsequently gave many great performances - in Clouzot's Diabolique and Jack Clayton's A Room at the Top - but this is really her signature role. Unforgettable images of her in the film include when she sits on Leca's desk and eats a slice of cheese off his pocketknife with saucy insolence, her loving gaze over Manda while he sleeps by the riverbank, and her trudge up the stairs to witness Manda's pending execution, which seems to have aged her ten years overnight. While Signoret dominates the film as Marie, the other actors are also superb. Reggiani, who can elsewhere be seen as the prince's hunting companion in Visconti's The Leopard, brings an appealing frankness and dignity to the character of Manda. Claude Dauphin clearly relishes his turn as the vain and treacherous Leca, and the popular character actor Raymond Bussieres is likewise memorable as Manda's friend Raymond. There are too many other supporting roles to list here, but they all leave vivid impressions. Indeed, one of Becker's hallmarks as a director is his generosity towards even minor characters, how he gives them at least one moment in the film where they can express something significant about themselves.

I would venture to say that this is among the most beautifully photographed black-and-white French films I have seen. Criterion's new high-definition transfer is appropriately luminous, with a rich range of tones and sharply rendered detail. The disc includes the French soundtrack in clearly recorded mono, as well as the English-language version. Signoret, Reggiani and Dauphin all spoke English so their own voices were used on the English-language dub, but on that version much of the film's magic is lost because their line delivery is not nearly as sharp and confident as it is in French. Still, the dub was worth including as a curiosity.

Special features on the disc include: an audio commentary track by Peter Cowie, who speaks engagingly (as usual) about Becker as a director and the period in which the film is set; video interviews with Serge Reggiani and Simone Signoret; an episode from the French television series Cineastes de notre temps devoted to Becker; behind-the-scenes footage of the film in production; and a fine essay by Philip Kemp in the liner notes. Criterion's DVD edition of Casque d'Or is, simply put, indispensable.

For more information about Casque D'Or, visit Criterion Collection. To order Casque D'Or, go to TCM Shopping.

by James Steffen