Cinematic cars: Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing in “Ascenseur pour l’échafaud” (1958)

Hell of a car for a teenage hoodlum to burgle, a 300SL Gullwing. And we guess he eventually found 1st.

[Ascenseur pour l’échafaud] is an excellent example of “theatre of the absurd”, filmed as a “film noir” suspense thriller. “Theatre of the absurd” posits that the universe is a random entity where nothing is likely to happen as expected. I believe Camus and other French writers of his era were the principle exponents of this view of life. Well, here we have certainly an example (more »).

Hat tip to Jim T. for sending this in!

~ by velofinds on January 16, 2011.

Posted in Film, Moving images
Tags: 1958, 300sl, ascenseur pour l'échafaud, elevator to the gallows, gullwing, lift to the scaffold, louis malle, mercedes-benz, miles davis, new wave, nouvelle vague, w198

One Response to “Cinematic cars: Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing in “Ascenseur pour l’échafaud” (1958)”

Interesting, the car appears to have some markings behind the headlights that extend along the top surface of the fenders. Sort of reminds me of liveries applied to Porsches in the Panamericana.

Automobiliac said this on January 17, 2011 at 2:41 pm

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