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Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (1958)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
4/14
4/14:
Among my pet peeves as a cinéaste is watching an overrated Criterion Collection film.
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud, which is translated as Elevator to the Gallows, is such that.
It's filled with brain-dead characters and pretentious acting and has a stupid plot which is basically this: an
ex-military employee (who doesn't look the part...far from it) succeeds in a harebrained elaborate scheme to
kill his boss and is eventually stuck in an elevator overnight.
Before the latter happens, he goes to his car but forgets to get rid of the ninja climbing hook (Duh! I was
like, "Hey...don't forget the toy, moron" when he entered his office to answer the phone). Then, he leaves the
car running in the middle of Paris for goodness' sake. The pathetic-looking boy, who's the biggest idiot if I've
ever seen one, steals the car while the melodramatic actress jumps in with him. They go for a joyride until
reaching a motel where the idiot boy kills a couple the next day.
As for the fake military guy, who's still stuck in the elevator, he tries out some of his failed MacGyver tricks
and subsequently gives up for good before he's arrested for a double homicide via questionable, unsound police
work. Is that how the Dreyfus case was solved, eh?
At one point, the superseded security guard unlocked the door, entered the building, dropped his key set on the
floor at the office, fumbled around with it before choosing a key to unlock (and lock again?) the elevator, and
left the building. I mean, what the hell am I supposed to think of besides an ignis fatuus?
All this time, the poor, stupid rich girl must play the "woe is me" act during the whole night and the following
day with many lame introspective thoughts. She was eventually arrested as an accomplice to murder. The ending,
which showed me pictures of her and the fake military guy, prompted me to ask a significant question, "Who the
hell took the photos?"
All in all, Ascenseur pour l'échafaud is laughable.