Not since the customers at Rick's Cafe stood up as one and drowned out the Nazi singalong with the "Marseillaise" has a movie so compellingly captured the bruised-but-not-beaten spirit of free France that refused to give in to Hitler and the puppet government in Vichy. But "Casablanca" is fiction, and romantic fiction at that. Jean-Pierre Melville's superb "Army of Shadows" is fiction, too, but it's based in fact, and romantic is probably the last word you'd apply to this recovered classic. Read the full review
In German-occupied France in 1942, civil engineer Philippe Gerbier becomes a leader in the French Resistance. When he is given away by a traitor and interned in a camp, he escapes the Gestapo and re-joins his network, where he brings the traitor to justice.
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Starring: Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Simone Signoret, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Claude Mann
Run time: 145 minutes
Release date: Sept. 12, 1969
Rating: Not rated, but there is war-time violence.
Language: In French with English subtitles
On the web
Official movie site
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: A-
"Part of what makes the film so powerful is you never know friend from foe — who will betray you, who will help you."
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