Army of Shadows

Army of Shadows
2006 theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jean-Pierre Melville
Produced by	Jacques Dorfmann
Written by	Jean-Pierre Melville
Based on	Army of Shadows by Joseph Kessel
Starring	Lino Ventura Simone Signoret Paul Meurisse Jean-Pierre Cassel
Music by	Éric Demarsan
Cinematography	Pierre Lhomme Walter Wottitz
Edited by	Françoise Bonnot
Distributed by	Rialto Pictures (2006)
Release date	12 September 1969 (France) 6 October 1970 (Italy) 1978 (UK) 28 April 2006 (US)
Running time	145 minutes
Country	France Italy
Language	French

Army of Shadows (French: L'armée des ombres) is a 1969 French film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. It is a film adaptation of Joseph Kessel's 1943 book of the same name, which blends Kessel's own experiences as a member of the French Resistance with fictionalized versions of other Resistance members. Army of Shadows follows a small group of Resistance fighters as they move between safe houses, work with the Allied militaries, kill informers, and attempt to evade the capture and execution that they know is their most likely fate. While portraying its characters as heroic, the film presents a bleak, unromantic view of the Resistance.

At the time of its initial release in France, Army of Shadows was not well received or widely seen. In the wake of the events of May 1968, French critics denounced the film for its perceived glorification of Charles de Gaulle. At the time American art-film programmers took their cues from Cahiers du cinéma, which had attacked the film on this basis. It was not released in the United States for almost forty years. In the mid-1990s Cahiers du cinéma published a reappraisal of the film and Melville's work in general, leading to its restoration and re-release in 2006. The film was greeted with critical adulation in the U.S., appearing in many critics' year-end top ten lists.

Philippe Gerbier (Lino Ventura), the head of a Resistance network, is arrested by Vichy French police on suspicion of resistance activity. Acquitted for lack of evidence he is nevertheless interned in a camp. He and a young communist begin to work on an escape plan, but before it can come to fruition he is transported to Paris for questioning by the Gestapo. He manages to kill a guard and make his escape.