Closet Picks
Elevator to the Gallows

Elevator to the Gallows

Louis Malle, 1958

Spine #335

Picked by 6 guests

Crime / Drama / Thriller

Criterion Letterboxd TMDB

Directed by Louis Malle

Written by Roger Nimier, Louis Malle

Cinematography Henri Decaë

Edited by Léonide Azar

Cast Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Georges Poujouly, Yori Bertin, Jean Wall, Elga Andersen, Sylviane Aisenstein, Micheline Bona

Picked by

Peter Wolf
Peter Wolf musician

“Elevator to the Gallows. This is beautiful. You will be sitting on the edge of the seat as you watch this because it has so many twists and turns in it. And it’s Louis Malle’s first film. And I got to meet Louis Malle, briefly, and he was as intriguing as his films. And this is a movie that, if you’re looking for entertainment, besides it being beautifully shot, it’s… you just cannot predict what’s going to happen. So this is a definite one for gathering the crowd together.”

Pamela Anderson

“Elevator to the Gallows. Okay. Jeanne Moreau. That one scene of her walking down the street to Miles Davis, where she’s speaking to herself, is one of my favorite movie scenes ever.”

Kristin Scott Thomas

“This is wonderful. This is Louis Malle’s first film. I can’t imagine that it’s his first film, it’s just so brilliant. Elevator to the Gallows, with Jeanne Moreau, who I adored and is just so, so, so brilliant. And Maurice Ronet. Anyway, that’s definitely going in.”

Joseph Kosinski

“I’m going to pick Elevator to the Gallows. The soundtrack for this was done live to picture by Miles Davis. I’m a huge jazz fan and the soundtrack to this is glorious, so that’s going to be my final pick.”

Karen O and Barnaby Clay

“We got Elevator to the Gallows. This soundtrack is on heavy rotation in our household. One of my favorite pieces of music Miles Davis ever did, and he improvised it to picture for this. Jeanne Moreau walking the streets. Oh, that sequence. Unbelievable. “Je t’aime,” like… Doesn’t rain come down at some point? Yeah, she’s just walking through, and everything’s going wrong. She’s waiting for this guy. Absolute magic.”

Ben Mankiewicz

“The next film I’m going to choose is Louis Malle’s first movie, Elevator to the Gallows. Again, we’re rooting for criminals here. The movie opens, they’re plotting a murder. But this is a movie that reminds me how much luck there is in life, or bad luck there is in life. Man, it is random. Things happen, and then it’s how you adapt to these unforeseen circumstances that you could never imagine. But this is as good a crime movie and as good a bad-luck movie as there is.”