If you watch the French Open, you’ll see plenty of shots of the bright and joyous Paris with all the tourist landmarks. But that City of Light has a dark edge to it. Director Alain Corneau went into those spaces during his directorial career. Hardboiled – Three Pulp Thrillers By Alain Corneau covers three of his first five films when he was bringing the shadows of American noir to the streets of France. Two of the films are based on American crime novels while the third film is an all-star journey in the underworld.
Police Python 357 (1976 – 126 minutes) seems to be a Dirty Harry clone from the opening scene. Inspector Marc Ferrot (Let’s Make Love‘s Yves Montand) is so hardcore that he makes his bullets in the kitchen. At night, he lurks around a church to singlehandedly bust two crooks who are stealing the Holy goods. What Ferrot doesn’t realize is that watching him with her camera ready is Sylvia (Black Belly of the Tarantula‘s Stefania Sandrelli). He only knows she spied on him when he sees a giant photo of him from the bust in a window display she’s making. The unlikely pair begin a lowkey romance. Trouble is Sylvia has a thing for cops and the other cop is Marc’s boss. When she turns up dead, Marc is assigned the homicide investigations. He keeps finding clues that point directly at him as the culprit.
Serie noire (1979 – 116 minutes) is an adaptation of Jim Thompson’s “Hell of a Woman” transported to a seedy outskirt of Paris. Franck (Coup de tête‘s Patrick Dewaere) is a door-to-door salesman looking for Andreas Tikides (Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Andreas Katsulas) who owes him money. He visits his last known location which is owned by an old lady (Is Paris Burning?‘s Jeanne Herviale) who kicked Tikides out of the house. The woman is interested in a robe from Franck. She doesn’t have any money, but would be willing to let him sleep with her niece Mona (Ponette‘s Marie Trintignant). He realized Mona is underage and resists temptation. Instead, he promises the exploited girl he would return. When Franck gets in trouble with his company and dragged to jail, Mona bails him out. She tells him something significant about her aunt that puts a dark plan in motion by Franck. The film really gets to the heart of Jim Thompson’s crime novel. Patrick Dewaere gives a great manic performance as the salesman on the edge.
Choice of Arms (1981 – 136 minutes) is a triple French superstar film with Catherine Deneuve (The Hunger), Yves Montand (On A Clear Day You Can See Forever) and Gerard Depardieu (The Man In The Iron Mask). Noel (Montand) is an ex-gangster who has taken up the life of a horse breeder. He’s got the good life including his wife Nicole (Deneuve). But his past crops up when his old gangster pal gets shot while taking part in a crime with Mickey (Depardieu). The seriously injured gangster is brought to Noel’s estate by Mickey. Later Mickey thinks that Noel has sold him out to the cops. He wants revenge on Noel and his posh life. This ultimately leads to Noel going back to his gangster roots to deal with the raging Mickey. This is a great film with three legendary actors clashing on screen.
Hardboiled – Three Pulp Thrillers By Alain Corneau is a triple threat of crime from France. Corneau does a fine job in adapting The Big Clock so that Police Python 357 not a complete remake of the Hollywood version that is based around the magazine business. The same is true for bring Jim Thompson’s novel to the screen so that Serie noire doesn’t seem like an American movie made in France. While Choice of Arms seems like a superstar vehicle with its big names, it’s far from a watered-down crime thriller. It feels true to the tone of Alain Corneau other two films in the boxset. Hardboiled – Three Pulp Thrillers By Alain Corneau will take you where the tourists rarely go.
The Video is 1.66:1 for the first two films and Choice of Arms is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The 1080p transfers as were taken into the nasty parts of France along with the swank horse farm. The Audio for all three films is LPCM 2.0 Mono in French. You’ll hear the sounds of the less touristy parts of France. All the movies are subtitled in English.
Audio commentary by Mike White on Police Python 357 points out that there are a lot of little clocks in the movie based on The Big Clock. He brings up that Alain Corneau went to school to study music and switched over to film. We get to understand why the movie opens with the cop making his own bullets.
Maxim Jakubowski (15:11) gets into Police Python 357’s source novel and adaptation into a film. The cinematographer gets a lot of credit for the visual tone of the film. The Big Clock is based on a novel and had already been adapted into a great film during the American Noir era. He explains how Serie Noire was a book series dedicated to hardboiled fiction.
Archival interview from Belgian Television (5:31) features Alain Corneau and François Périer discussing Police Python 357 in 1976. The interviewer brings up the fact that the film is named after a gun, but there’s a killing that uses an ashtray.
Série noire set interviews (10:56) were recorded by Belgian Television with Alain Corneau, Patrick Dewaere and Miriam Boyer. Croneau talks of Dewaere’s bathtub scene. Boyer points out that originally in the script her character was mute. Croneau talks about working with novelist Jim Thompson early in his career.
Série noire: The Darkness of the Soul (52:33) is a documentary featuring cast and crew on the making of the film from 2013. Alain Corneau believed you couldn’t adapt a Jim Thompson book without having an actor in mind. He wanted Patrick Dewaere. They get into the director’s way of working on the film.
Archival interview with Alain Corneau and Marie Trintignant (28:52) about Série noire on a TV show in 2002. He once more talks about his time with Jim Thompson. He thought Hell of A Woman was too American to bring to France. But found an approach. He rightly praises the novels of Jim Thompson. Marie Trintignant talks about what they did in one or two takes.
A Hollyhock In A Cornfield: Jim Thompson on Screen (29:41) is a visual essay by Paul Martinovic. He covers Thompson’s novels and the fact his first original screenplay was The Killing with Stanley Kubrick. We learn about his frustrations about working in Hollywood after his initial success. He did get The Getaway adapted by Sam Peckinpah and starred Steve McQueen. He passed away in 1977. Thompson missed his books being rediscovered and turned into major films such as The Grifters. I completely recommend getting your hands on Jim Thompson’s novels.
Introduction by documentary filmmaker Jérôme Wybon (3:14) talks about the modernization of cop films. He refers to Choice of Arms as a reunion film between the three leads who had starred in different films together.
Shooting Choice of Arms (21:48) features interviews with the cast and crew including behind-the-scenes footage. Alain Corneau explains why he cast Gerard Depardieu and Yves Montand for the serious character clash. There’s lots of video of the movie being shot.
Interviews with Deneuve, Montand and Depardieu (18:12) seems to be live from the set on a TV show. They wrap up the bank robbery scene and visit with the reporter. Deneuve has fun with the guy.
Interview with Manuela Lazic on Yves Montand (23:57) and his career in the 1970s.
Trailers include Serie Noire (2:21), and Choices of Arms (2:42)
Limited edition 80-page booklet features essays by Charlie Brigden, Andrew Male, Nick Pinkerton, Travis Woods, and archival interviews with Alain Corneau.
Radiance Films present Hardboiled – Three Pulp Thrillers By Alain Corneau: Limited Edition. Directed by Alain Corneau. Screenplays by Alain Corneau, Daniel Boulanger, Georges Perec & Michel Grisolia. Starring Yves Montand, François Périer, Simone Signoret, Stefania Sandrelli, Patrick Dewaere, Myriam Boyer, Marie Trintignant, Bernard Blier, Gérard Depardieu, Catherine Deneuve & Michel Galabru. Boxset Contents: 3 movies on 3 Blu-ray discs. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: April 8, 2025.
