Purple Noon | Blu-ray

Nearly 40 years before Anthony Minghella took on Patricia Highsmith's famed novel, acclaimed French director Rene Clement made his own stab at adapting The Talented Mr. Ripley. It's a perfect role for Alain Delon, who easily sells the casual, playful destructiveness of Tom Ripley as he slowly invades the life of Dickie (or in the case of this film "Phillipe") Greenleaf.

Moreso than any other adaptation of the text, Clement's film captures the relaxed beauty of the Mediterranean, matching atmosphere with tone. Just as Phillipe is disarmed by Ripley's boyishness, the viewer is disarmed by the beautiful cities and landscapes and sprawling ocean vistas. So that when moments of betrayal finally do arrive, they seem almost sprung up out of the ether.

While the more modern version of the film is the one most viewers will know and encounter first, Purple Noon is the poetic masterwork between the two. A languid, dreamy portrait of upper-class decadence invaded by the insatiability of ambition.