Starring Simone Signoret (Les Diaboliques, Room at the Top) at her sensual best, Casque d’Or is master director Jacques Becker’s (Le Trou, Touchez Pas Au Grisbi) tale of small-time gangster guys and their dolls.

Manda (Serge Reggiani) is trying to get on the straight and narrow after a prison spell, but he finds himself pulled back into the demimonde by the arrival of Marie (Simone Signoret), a sparkling diamond in the rough. But Marie is the plaything of Leca (Claude Dauphin), the local kingpin, and both of them draw Manda into a web of hard-hitting double-crosses and trysts.

Pitched intriguingly between social realism and gilded nostalgia, Casque d’Or is one of Simone Signoret’s best performances, and an elegant take on the seedy underbelly that sits between French cinema’s golden age and the more acerbic charms of the Nouvelle Vague. A poignant crime story lifted to new heights by Becker’s effortless direction, we’re delighted to be partnering with Studio Canal and the ICO to bring a new 4K restoration to UK cinemas.

Cast:
Simone Signoret, Serge Reggiani, Claude Dauphin