Summary: ARMY OF SHADOWS: France, The Renaisance: an escape from the Gestapo, so sudden and hairsbreadth as to leave the toughest of tough guys gasping with the icy sweat of terror and relief; two brothers remain unaware, to the end, of each other's clandestine activities; patriots who, in relentless pursuit of traitors, must steel themselves to the most brutal of face-to-face violence. Gallic icon Lino Ventura, aided by compatriots including maitresse of disguise Simone Signoret, goes underground in face of the German Occupation - but heroism can come at a truly high price. French gangster movie legend Jean-Pierre Melville realized the dream of a quarter century when he adapted "the book of the Renaissance," written in 1943 by Joseph Kessel. Melville turned the detached, unblinking gaze of his film noir classics on these memories of his youth - he himself served for years underground - adding a finale so stoically uncompromising as to reduce Kessel himself to sobs. But ARMY OF SHADOWS shared in the general U.S. indifference to Melville's now-acclaimed oeuvre - until now.
