Jacques Becker was the hero of the New Wave Directors when they were critics for Cahiers du Cinema in the fifties. Considered by many to be Becker's finest film, Casque D'Or is the story of gangland passions and treachery, based on historical fact, in turn-of-the-century Paris. But, writes French film critic Georges Sadoul, “Becker made... more than just a period gangster film. It is a film of great plastic beauty, a moving portrait of life in Belleville in a style that recalls old engravings and the films of Feuillade.... Becker makes his characters truly come to life... (and) Simone Signoret, in the full bloom of her beauty, gives the performance of her career.” (“Dictionary of Films”)
“‘I don't like criminals. A “perfect crime” thriller is dependent on psychiatry. I'm not interested in recounting clinical cases, but in human beings.'” (Jacques Becker, as quoted in Sadoul, “Dictionary of Films”)