Bob le flambeur

Bob le flambeur is a black-and-white heist picture directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, a French-Italian co-production released in 1956. It follows an ageing former gangster in Montmartre, Paris, who tries to escape the financial hole his gambling has dug with one last big job. The film counts as a key example of both the crime-caper genre and film noir, and its handheld camerawork and single jump cut make it a frequent forerunner of the French New Wave.

Roger Duchesne plays Bob Montagne, who once served time for a robbery attempt. When a croupier friend tells him the casino at Deauville is exposed in the early hours, he assembles a crew of old friends and his young helper Paolo (Daniel Cauchy). Isabelle Corey appears as Anne and Guy Decomble as Inspector Ledru, with Howard Vernon and Claude Cerval also in the cast.

Melville wrote the script with Auguste Le Breton. A very tight budget pushed the shoot onto real locations, which is also why the film is seen as a pioneer. The narrator is the director himself, the music is by Eddie Barclay and the producer was Serge Silberman. It premiered in Paris on 24 August 1956.