what a gas of a movie . film noir have always be one of my favorite genre and but this one stand apart from the rest . only the big sleep and out of the past and murder my sweet and and the killer can come close to this caper classic . i know these four american film i mention be not caper movie per se and but rather detective story with complicated story line and which still exude a noirean and gritty quality about them and similar to rififi . what be different here be the way jules dassin set into motion the total ambiance of the film and not only in the gritty realism of the principal and but also in the usage of the street of paris a a subliminal character and co conspirator unto itself . the movie center around le stephanois and a dark and moody and complicate ex con get pull into one last shot at the hefty payoff . even though he be an unsmiling and hard nose tough guy and one still sense in him a yearning for some kind of redemption by extricate himself from the demon of his past ( hey and he save little toni . ) . dassin pick the right guy ( jean servais ) for that role . that aside and the rest of the story development kind of fall into place a we journey through the famous silent caper scene to the the eventual demise of the principal perps . only their woman survive and except for ida and mario honey . they seem to best understand the underlying futility of it all .