Talking to a fellow IMDber about the works of Jean-Pierre Melville,they mentioned about not having seen his short debut. During this exchange, it hit me that despite downloading it a year ago,I've still not got round to seeing the short! Leading to me finally entering Clown World.
View on the film:
Revealing in a 1961 interview that he had made the film using equipment he had picked up in 1942,and that before cinema, the circus had been his first love, writer/directing auteur Jean-Pierre Melville (JPM) dips into crossing from his love of the fantastical at the circus, to the grounded big top he would create in his future credits, as JPM is joined by cinematographers Gustave Raulet, and Andre Villard, (who later worked on Elevator to the Gallows (1958-also reviewed) in swirling clowns Beby's and Maiss's act in ultra-stylised overlapping zoom-ins, that loop onto the stark, minimalism life of the clowns away from the circus.
A friend of JPM before he got behind the camera, Beby (who due to being illiterate, led to the film being shot silent,then sound added later) gives a delightful performance, showing a real joy when performing his act, which wanders away as he walks home. Leaving a preview of what was to come, JPM throws a curve ball for a ending which peels away the clown make up to revealing the long trench coats shadows JPM would enter,after spending 24 hours with a clown.
View on the film:
Revealing in a 1961 interview that he had made the film using equipment he had picked up in 1942,and that before cinema, the circus had been his first love, writer/directing auteur Jean-Pierre Melville (JPM) dips into crossing from his love of the fantastical at the circus, to the grounded big top he would create in his future credits, as JPM is joined by cinematographers Gustave Raulet, and Andre Villard, (who later worked on Elevator to the Gallows (1958-also reviewed) in swirling clowns Beby's and Maiss's act in ultra-stylised overlapping zoom-ins, that loop onto the stark, minimalism life of the clowns away from the circus.
A friend of JPM before he got behind the camera, Beby (who due to being illiterate, led to the film being shot silent,then sound added later) gives a delightful performance, showing a real joy when performing his act, which wanders away as he walks home. Leaving a preview of what was to come, JPM throws a curve ball for a ending which peels away the clown make up to revealing the long trench coats shadows JPM would enter,after spending 24 hours with a clown.