Bob le flambeur [Bob the Gambler] (1956)

(Criterion Streaming, September 2021) One of the most amusing side-stories in global cinema history is how film noir led to the French New Wave, spawning off the heist movie genre along the way. While there are other movies (Rififi, À bout de souffle, Pierrot le fou) to illustrate that transition, writer-director Jean-Pierre Melville’s Bob le flambeur remains one of the central texts of that shift, and it remains an interesting watch today because it plays with a newly-familiar formula. Roger Duchesne stars as the titular Bob, an ex-convict who has since “reformed” into becoming an inveterate gambler. Recently down-on-his luck, he sets the plot in motion when he’s told that the local casino has vast quantities of cash in its safe. Putting together a crew, he’s unaware that his plan won’t stay secret. I was not particularly looking forward to Bob le flambeur — I approached it as list-checking viewing, since I tend to be hit-and-miss on the French Nouvelle Vague, and was decidedly unimpressed by its 2002 remake The Good Thief. But the original is better. On one level, it’s a familiar heist film showing how the crew is assembled, cases the work to be done, finds ways to counteract the defences and tries to stay one step ahead of the police. On another level, it’s a film that hints toward the interiority of the French Nouvelle Vague — Duchesne is impassible as the lead (prefiguring Le Samourai), lending both coolness and distance to the character. But the most memorable aspect of the film remains the ironic ending, as Bob’s flaws end up making him a winner in a completely unlikely (but unbelievably lucky) way. The film jumps genres at that point, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing — probably because, as the formula was borrowed and perfected, we got to see the “conventional” ending so many times that this variation still feels fresh and amusing.