Tonight's Movie: The Beast is Loose (1959) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

I've very much been enjoying getting to know French film noir thanks to Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Last year I liked HI-JACK HIGHWAY (1955), aka GAS-OIL, and thanks to Kino Lorber's French Noir sets I've also enjoyed RHINE VIRGIN (1953) and SPEAKING OF MURDER (1957).

I've now watched my favorite from these sets to date, THE BEAST IS LOOSE (1959), also known as THE TIGER ATTACKS or, in its native France, LE FAUVE EST LACHE. The movie is available in the French Noir Collection II from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Lino Ventura plays Paul Lamiani, a former gangster who redeemed himself during the war with his work spying for the French Resistance.

Paul is now happily married to Pierrette (Nadine Alari), with whom he runs a successful restaurant, and he's the doting father of a young son and daughter.

Everything is perfect...until the French Secret Service wants Paul to do "just one more job" and blackmail him into doing so.

Paul reluctantly sets out to do the required job -- the "MacGuffin" is some papers about an invention which cannot fall into the wrong hands -- and all too soon the bodies are falling. There's also a terrifying cliffside chase as Paul tries to elude men intent on killing him.

Still, Paul manages things in as businesslike a way as one can imagine in such a situation...but when Paul learns that one of his children is threatened, "all bets are off." The dangerous beast inside Paul, is indeed, loose, and he will chase down criminal contacts and tear up the city until his child is safe.

This was a simply excellent 98 minutes which I enjoyed tremendously. It deftly melds action with emotion and holds the attention throughout. My husband jokingly said it was like the plot of a Jason Statham action movie, and he's not necessarily wrong, though it's important to note that this came first!

I previously saw Lino Ventura in a supporting role in the previously mentioned SPEAKING OF MURDER, but this film left me quite interested to see more of the boxer-turned-actor.

His performance here really covers the spectrum, as we see him playfully interacting with his children, at work as the respected neighborhood restaurateur, and then forced back into his prior life where he must fight his way out of near-death situations and shoot to kill.

The movie made me curious about those parts of the story we don't see, such as how he met his wife; they're on screen together only briefly, but his love for her is evident. Witness the way he kisses her when he's arrested , and his reaction when he returns to their apartment to find her crying. These emotional moments hinted at a deeper story I would have liked to explore, one of the marks of a good movie.

Ventura also also stars in WITNESS IN THE CITY (1959), part of Kino Lorber's first French noir set. I want to make interested viewers aware that Ventura's well-regarded film THE BIG RISK (1960) will be out from the Criterion Collection in just a few weeks. He also had a role in another film available from Criterion, ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS (1958).

THE BEAST IS LOOSE, written by several collaborators, was directed by Maurice Labro and uncredited Claude Sautet. It was filmed in black and white by Pierre Petit.

The Blu-ray print, from a 4K restoration, looks sharp throughout.

This movie is part of a two-disc, four-film set presented in a cardboard slipcase. The film has a commentary by Simon Abrams, along with the trailer and five additional trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray collection.

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