Elevator to the Gallows is a fairly decent French film noir that, I'd say, is build upon three important & influential pieces. Louis Malle's strong direction, the performance of Jeanne Moreau, and the trumpet of Miles Davis. These are the building blocks that make Elevator to the Gallows an influential film - and that's the keyword here, influential. There is no doubt that Louis Malle's film is a historically important one. Malle's direction in this films is considered by some as sort of a catalyst/start to the French New Wave that the likes of Godard & Truffaut pioneered in the 60s, by others it is considered a great piece of French Film Noir. If you have the time/energy you can probably trace the influence of Jeanne Moreau's toned down - somewhat stoic - performance she gives here. And Miles Davis's trumpet has been famously described as "the loneliest trumpet sound that you'll ever here", becoming not only a great film score but also an important piece of Jazz history. There is just no denying the importance of Malle's film. Now I say all this for one very important reason, I don't think the movie as good as the influence it provides. I mean I quite enjoyed it but I certainly wouldn't put it up there as one of my favorite film noirs, nor really as one of my favorite films. I enjoyed its "chain of events" type storytelling, but in comparison to #Chinatown (which I'm not sure is a too fair of a comparison, it being technically neo noir and all) or #The Long Goodbye (again, not sure if this is a fair comparison) I just don't see it in the same ball park really - maybe my ignorance of French Film Noir is showing as this be the first one I've ever seen. Still well worth a watch if you do enjoy film noir, I'm just not as enamored by it as I thought I'd be.