I have posted a youtube video link below to Moviedrome presenter Alex Cox’s intro to legendary French New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 science-fiction mystery Alphaville. My readers can also read Cox’s transcript here. The episode’s original airdate was July 30, 1989 (read here). Taking into account Raoul Coutard’s black-and-white cinematography and the image of American actor Eddie Constantine as a trenchcoat-clad detective, Alphaville may also be Godard’s way of paying homage to 1940’s film-noir. As usual, Godard manages to say a lot on many things of the film -socio, political or otherwise. Equally impressive is Godard’s reliance on actual locations, as opposed to building futuristic sets. Since modernistic glass and concrete buildings were new at the time (read here), Godard decided to stick with this. Whether it was due to budgetary restraints or not, he managed to make this viewer feel that it was visually convincing dystopian future. If any of you readers are interested in reading my list of my favorite Jean-Luc Godard films, read here.
Here is a youtube video link to Alex Cox’s Moviedrome intro of Alphaville
Here is a youtube video link to (what I believe) was the original theatrical trailer for the French market
Here is a youtube link to (what I believe) is a 2014 revival trailer for the American market