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Le Silence de la Mer was based upon a popular wartime "underground" novel by Vercours. Most of the film is confined to the living room of a bourgeois French family. Howard Vernon plays Von Ebrennae, a cultured Nazi officer who is billeted in this household. As the residents stare at him in mute contempt, Von Ebrennae eloquently articulates his philosophy of life, which turns out to be pretty odious at times. Director Jean-Pierre Melville assembled La Silence de la Mer outside the established French film industry, using a non-union cast and crew and adapting the Vercours novel without securing the movie rights. Though it was much too verbose and cerebral for American viewers, the film proved most influential in shaping the future works of such directors as Robert Bresson and Alain Resnais.
Condition:NEW. Brand New Factory Sealed
Product Details
Actors: Howard Vernon, Nicole Stéphane, Jean-Marie Robain
Directors: Jean-Pierre Melville
Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Black & White, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Language: French
Subtitles: English
Region: Region A/1 (Read more about DVD/Blu-ray formats.)
Number of discs: 1
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Criterion Collection (Direct)
DVD Release Date: April 28, 2015
Run Time: 99 minutes
Additional Features
BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
24 Hours in the Life of a Clown (1946), Melville's seventeen-minute first film
New interview with film scholar Ginette Vincendeau
Interview with Melville from 1959
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien
Cast & Crew
Howard Vernon Von Ebrennac
Jean-Marie Robain The Uncle
Nicole Stephane The Niece
Technical Credits
Jean-Pierre Melville Director, Editor, Producer, Screenwriter
Henri Decaë Cinematographer
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