We watched another JP Melville film on Mubi yesterday evening. This time it was the noir heist thriller, Bob le Flambeur from 1956. Flambeur is French slang for a compulsive high-roller.

By modern standards, the film was a little slow…that’s what the new wave did, it speeded things up.

But, I loved the scene-setting in Pigalle, with the girls, clubs and night-life. The screengrab, above, shows the metro station with the famous St Raphael drink advertisement by Charles Loupot. There were great cars and wonderful clothes too, and plenty of night neon and shopfronts. Great 1950s street typography and signage.

The climax of the film takes place at Deauville, on the Normandy coast.

Like in all film noir, the female characters are both wonderful and dangerous…