"French director Louis Malle's inventive feature film debut from 1958, made two years after he assisted Robert Bresson on "A man escaped" (1956), tells an intricate story set in Paris where lovers Julien Tavernier and Florence Carala plan to kill Juliens boss who happens to be Florence's husband. The execution of their vicious idea goes smoothly, but the overlooking of a minor detail dissolves their conspiracy and pushes them further away from each other.

Told from changing points of view and through Jeanne Moreau's longing and esoteric voice-over which is as mood-setting as the jazz score from Miles Davies and the loud weather, this classic film-noir adapted from a novel written by Bulgarian Noël Calef is noticeable for Louis Malle's accurately structured filming, the long takes following Jeanne Moreau`s graceful footsteps during an eventful night in Camps Élysées, the vigorous light setting and the suspenseful scenes of Maurice Ronet trapped in an elevator. "Elevator to the Gallows" bares a clear resemblance to Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" (1960), and Louis Malle's plot twisting thriller about forbidden and romanticized love, intertwined fates, crime and morality, is as "Psycho" magnified by it's crucial linear narrative and performances from Maurice Ronet and Jeanne Moreau who was reunited in Louis Malle's "The Fire Within" (1963)."