Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 31 December 1965 by Les Films du Siecle—Produzioni Artische Internazionali. New York opening at the Paris: 18 April 1966. U.S. release through International Classics: 18 April 1966. Australian release through 20th Century-Fox: 29 September 1966. Sydney opening at the Embassy. 102 minutes (U.S.); 111 minutes (Australia).French release title: Métamorphose des cloportes.SYNOPSIS: Three French thieves make plans to rob a pawnbroker's shop, located next door to a funeral parlor.COMMENT: "Cloportes" is really off-beat and highly original in script and direction, and comes with a top-flight cast including Lino Ventura, Charles Aznavour, Irina Demick, Pierre Brasseur and François Rosay. It's all so grippingly suspenseful, I would regard it as one of the best films of the year. In my opinion, it easily outshone most of the films that were highly publicized. Would you believe that Fox's publicity man had no idea what the title meant? I had to tell him and the other journalists at the preview screening that it meant "The Metamorphosis of the Wood Lice", a very appropriate title in view of what the thieves did to gain access from the funeral parlor to the pawnbroker's shop.

Edgar Soberon Torchia Very good! Except for the death of Rouquemoute (Georges Géret), which is rather bland compared to the previous acts of violence by Alphonse, the Clever (Lino Ventura), this is an excellent comedy drama, with good acting all over. It is a motion picture mainly about male characters (with a funny performance by Pierre Brasseur, a bit above the others), but there are three special female parts played by three fine actresses: first, the great Françoise Rosay (once Mrs. Jacques Feyder) as Gertrude, a quiet but vibrant old lady, that somehow made me remember her cunning Cornelia de Witte in "La kermesse héroïque"; then there is lovely Irina Demick, in what could well be the most advantageous role in her whole career; and last but not least Annie Fratellini, the great French circus artist, in a funny and sad performance as prostitute Léone (a real "Irma la douce"). It took me 48 years to finally see this film, which never arrived in Panamanian shores back in its day. Highly recommendable, with the added bonus of Jimmy Smith's score.

adeimantos This movie is much more pleasant because of its dialogs (from Audiard) than because of its improbable story. Even the police is surrealistic. The story is basic : 3 gangsters (some of them speaking time to time a very high-society French) try to make a coup. But they need money to prepare it. They reach Alphonse, a good looking and apparently wealthy bad guy. Alphonse knows these men (One of them was at school with him) and what he thinks about them is that they are'not so smart. Alphonse has the reputation to be smart (he is "Alphonse-le-malin"). But Alphonse is not neither "smart", nor open-minded. This movie is on treachery, lies, easy going life and above all : even friends are not friends in a hobbesian world ("homo homini lupus"). But all the scenes are matter to laugh, because of the dialogs and the dark point of view on the human beings and their life is enlightened by the humoristic tone of the "bons mots" and the characters (the old guns saleswoman who tells to Alphonse : "Vendre des armes, c'est un métier d'homme !"). One finds some radical opinions against modern times (a gimmick in Audiard's dialogs) and especially against contemporary art and homosexuality. But these charges against modernity are articulated in a paradoxically way : Alphonse becomes an art salesman before becoming sold by the woman he loves.

Darrell Neily This movie is about trust, mistrust, truth, and lies.It begins with a ragtag group of petty criminals planning, organizing, and then attempting to carry out a heist. We get the sense that their project is doomed from the start, a view held especially by their mastermind, Alphonse `The Fox' Marechal. Alphonse says his fellow thieves are birdbrains. However, he needs the money from the heist to support his lavish spending on wining and dining women.We quickly see that Alphonse's mistrust of his team is not misplaced. His safecracking `expert' deceives him about the cost of their equipment and the value of the loot inside their target safe. The job ends up taking much longer than they budgeted, and results in their being found out by the police. Alphonse ends up being the only one caught, convicted and sentenced to prison time.Five years pass until Alphonse is released from prison. It's payback time. He searches for the three birdbrains who double-crossed him, and for his share of their take.This movie is overlong and would be ordinary if not for the presence of Lino Ventura. As Alphonse the Fox, Ventura is as charismatic and magnetic as any movie tough guy.I never learned what or who is `cloportes' of the title. However, an odd scene during the title sequence at the beginning, showing cockroaches running across the camera lens, is neatly explained at the very end.I reviewed this movie as part of a project at the Library of Congress. I've named the project FIFTY: 50 Notable Films Forgotten Within 50 Years. As best I can determine, this film, like the other forty-nine I've identified, has not been on video, telecast, or distributed in the U.S. since its original release. In my opinion, it is worthy of being made available again.