Before he began turning out chamber pieces like Un Coeur en hiver director Sautet was turning out polars and policiers with equal facility and this is one of them. Not exactly prolific - he made this in 1960, waited til 1965 to do something else and then, in 1970, came The Things Of Life, the one that made him an International Player. Three films in ten years. On the other hand second lead Jean-Paul Belmondo was here making his second film in one year; the other one was Brainless for Godard, and here he shows what he can do when there is a REAL director behind the camera. It is, of course, Lino Ventura who carries every frame with his usual reliability. Marcel Dalio was billed prominently but had little more than a cameo but again Dalio is old school and doesn't do mediocre. There are traces of Ventura's debut entry Toucez pas la grisbi about this one, I'm thinking especially of the 'loyalty' aspects and the detail of underworld life. Let down by the abrupt ending as if all concerned had run out of ideas and wanted to move on to the next job.
Review of Classe Tous Risques
