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Posted: **Mon Jan 31, 2011 10:57 am**

RIFIFI (ri-f’ -fi) n. French argot. 1. Quarrel, rumble, free-for-all, open hostilities between individuals or gangs, rough and tumble confrontation between two or more individuals. 2. A tense and chaotic situation involving violent confrontations between parties.

A seminal work of crime filmmaking that lead the young critic François Truffaut to declare “the best Film Noir I have ever seen”, Jules Dassin’s Rififi [Du rififi chez les hommes] has influenced films as diverse as Reservoir Dogs and Ocean’s Eleven since its release.

Following Tony, le Stéphanois (Jean Servais), a master thief fresh out of jail, wearing a harried look and suffering ill health he refuses to be involved with crime, until he finds his girlfriend shacked up with a rival gangster. With little reason to keep living he plans a final job. Tony sets about finding his crew and meticulously planning the job; a robbery of the jewellery store Mappin & Webb. Rififi revolves around the central heist, famed for its finite detail and incredible tension, but the drama does not end at the heist like so many other crime films. Dassin’s film is a humanist tale that hinges on the loyalty among thieves and draws on the fatalistic, doom laden lives common to crooks and thieves in pulp literature.

An instant commercial success in Paris and worldwide, the film was also very well received by the critics with Jules Dassin being awarded the best director prize at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Arrow Academy is proud to present Jules Dassin’s legendary film in 1080p high definition for the first time in the UK.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

High Definition restoration
Uncompressed original mono PCM audio
Newly translated English subtitles
Introduction by French cinema critic and author Ginette Vincendeau
Interview with Jules Dassin
Q&A with Jules Dassin from BFI Southbank, London
Original Theatrical Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring two original artworks

Posted: **Mon Jan 31, 2011 11:03 am**

perkizitore wrote:Are you planning to release Rififi on blu-ray? The French Gaumont disc looks stunning!

Aiming for a June release on that one, yes it looks stunning. A real favourite obviously. We shot two interviews with Ginette Vincendeau, one for this and one for Les diaboliques, looked at them the other day and they're great, in editing stages right now, running currently about 20+ mins. Just thinking about the booklet on Rififi at the moment, happy to take recommendations of authors

Posted: **Mon Jan 31, 2011 2:48 pm**

TonyleStephanois wrote:
perkizitore wrote:Are you planning to release Rififi on blu-ray? The French Gaumont disc looks stunning!
Aiming for a June release on that one, yes it looks stunning. A real favourite obviously. We shot two interviews with Ginette Vincendeau, one for this and one for Les diaboliques, looked at them the other day and they're great, in editing stages right now, running currently about 20+ mins. Just thinking about the booklet on Rififi at the moment, happy to take recommendations of authors

Does that mean you are not including the previous commentary?

Posted: **Mon Jan 31, 2011 2:54 pm**

Are you including any Dassin interviews?

Posted: **Mon Jan 31, 2011 3:21 pm**

NABOB OF NOWHERE wrote:Does that mean you are not including the previous commentary?

It will be included.

perkizitore wrote:Are you including any Dassin interviews?

Special features from the previous Arrow disc are included - an interview with Dassin and a Dassin Q&A from the BFI Southbank, or NFT as it was called then as well as the original trailer.

Posted: **Mon Jan 31, 2011 6:14 pm**

I'm relieved that if a Crit Blu doesn't happen anytime soon, I can always get the Arrow in June instead. I had sold my Crit DVD in anticipation of the Gaumont and was horrified upon learning that they didn't offer English subs.

Posted: **Mon Jan 31, 2011 6:20 pm**

At least you got your money back, selling my Arrow DVD won't be that easy.

Posted: **Wed Feb 09, 2011 4:24 pm**

What A Disgrace wrote:Now, the elephant in the room. Any chance for Rififi in this line?

This was discussed here last week. The answer was yes.

Posted: **Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:59 am**

Pre-order for Rififi. I wonder why the list price is 9 pounds lower than the other two Arrow Academy releases.

Posted: **Thu Mar 03, 2011 1:37 am**

eerik wrote:Pre-order for Rififi. I wonder why the list price is 9 pounds lower than the other two Arrow Academy releases.

It was a misprice.

Posted: **Thu Apr 07, 2011 6:58 pm**

I had Rififi on preorder with Zavvi but now I'm tempted to cancel at least until I see some screen caps.

Posted: **Sat Apr 16, 2011 3:11 pm**

Review for Rififi @ BluBrew.com

Now that's a good looking release.

Posted: **Sat Apr 16, 2011 6:03 pm**

The only concern I have about the Rififi disc is the mention of blown-out whites in the BluBrew review: I'm quite sensitive to this and didn't enjoy my viewing of the Criterion DVDs of High & Low and Late Spring as much because of it, but on the other hand, the packaging is, as usual from Arrow, very good, and the price is already much more competitive than a future Criterion Blu will ever be.

:-k

Posted: **Tue Apr 19, 2011 6:28 pm**

Beaver on Rififi:

The Arrow image is excellent - a significantly higher file size and bitrate but looking from the same strong source gives the UK 1080P Blu-ray transfer the nod with a nice sheen of textured grain and the equally clean and impressive appearance with strong detail and contrast. It may be slightly darker than the Gaumont Blu-ray - or that French disc may have some minor brightness boosting. Without being picky - both discs produce strong visuals but technically the Arrow Academy is superior appearing, in my opinion, a shade more film-like.

Posted: **Wed May 04, 2011 4:15 pm**

Blu-Ray.com on Rififi

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jules Dassin's Rififi arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Arrow Films.

The high-definition transfer the British distributors have used for their Blu-ray release of Jules Dassin's legendary gangster film is beautiful. In fact, it is the very best high-definition transfer I've seen used for a Blu-ray release of a classic B&W French film on both sides of the Atlantic.

Fine object detail is exceptional. The image has remarkable depth and fluidity, while contrast levels are simply superb. Naturally, close-ups and larger panoramic scenes look stunning. Color reproduction is also fantastic - the blacks are rich and well saturated, while the variety of grays and whites look natural and healthy. I was particularly impressed by the various club scenes from the first half of the film. Edge-enhancement is never an issue of concern; neither is macroblocking. I also did not spot any aliasing patterns or artifacting plaguing the transfer. Excessive noise corrections have not been performed either. As a result, there is a fine light layer of grain that is present throughout the entire film. Lastly, aside from a few inherited shaky frame transitions there are no serious stability issues to report in this review. Also, I did not see any scratches, marks, stains, debris, or flecks. All in all, Jules Dassin's Rififi is clearly the best release in Arrow Films' unique film catalog. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Posted: **Sun May 08, 2011 6:12 am**

Cathode Ray Tube on Rififi.

Posted: **Fri May 27, 2011 12:55 pm**

I finally found a spare two hours to watch Rififi, and can only echo the praise that others have been lavishing - this has to be a benchmark transfer for 1950s black and white films. It's also a benchmark for Arrow Academy - everything else they put out will be compared to this.

Posted: **Fri May 27, 2011 9:59 pm**

MichaelB wrote:I finally found a spare two hours to watch Rififi, and can only echo the praise that others have been lavishing - this has to be a benchmark transfer for 1950s black and white films. It's also a benchmark for Arrow Academy - everything else they put out will be compared to this.

I'm amazed it's even better than what Gaumont issued, making me hesitating about which one to buy : should I make it simple and pay 15€ to get my national Gaumont edition or should I import the Arrow Academy edition for £15 ?

Posted: **Fri May 27, 2011 10:11 pm**

I don't know about the Gaumont, but the hour of video extras with Dassin on the Arrow were really great, if a bit repetitive.

Posted: **Fri May 27, 2011 10:23 pm**

The straight-to-camera Dassin interview is more substantial than the Q&A, but they're both good to have. And I thought the Ginette Vincendeau intro was very solid too - lots of interesting stuff, and better structured and much less rambling than these things often are.

Posted: **Sat May 28, 2011 5:40 pm**

MichaelB wrote:The straight-to-camera Dassin interview is more substantial than the Q&A, but they're both good to have. And I thought the Ginette Vincendeau intro was very solid too - lots of interesting stuff, and better structured and much less rambling than these things often are.

I agree, Vincendeau was very solid, I enjoyed every minute of that release.

Posted: **Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:52 am**

I've probably already mentioned it, but I wanted to reiterate just how outstanding their Rififi is. It is incredible.

Posted: **Sun Oct 21, 2018 2:20 am**

Does the 17/11/2014 released edition include the booklet? I have a feeling the answer is No.

Posted: **Sun May 07, 2023 11:44 pm**

MoMA played an old 35mm print struck (and translated) by Rialto. I watched a bit of Arrow's Blu-ray before attending the screening and watched it again afterwards. They both look great but different in ways that I'd chalk up to characteristics inherent to the medium. The 35mm print was like watching an ink drawing, particularly for the deep blacks, while the detail of the Blu-ray was finer and more defined - I want to say it's like drawing lines with a brush dipped in ink vs. a ballpoint pen if that makes sense.

It's really the deep blacks that stick out the most for me from the 35mm screening. If you ever have the luxury to compare them, the two shots I remember best are the close-up of the toy penguin and the first scene with Mario where he's got on that dark suit and hat and he meets Tony and Jo at the café - both scenes are early in the film. For whatever reason, the penguin and that dark hat looked inky in the 35mm print, even though the image in general did not look dark. (The 35mm print didn't look too contrast-y either as there aren't any blinding bright whites or blown-out highs in those shots.) However on the Blu-ray, those details simply look grey, or rather dark grey.

Posted: **Mon May 08, 2023 12:10 am**

hearthesilence, I love that you attend so many of these screening around the city. I've been shamelessly absent from them. Even with the Film Forum being a 4 minute walk from my apartment I've been there few and far between since re-opening from covid. I've lacked the motivation (it has nothing to do with covid) but am hoping to get back into the swing of things with a Werckmeister Harmonies screening, maybe a Lynch at IFC and catch some films during next months new calendar screenings at FF.

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