This was the first film, recently restored. of a French film set in America by the director Francois Reichenbach and for those who are interested in Gay/Queer cinema it is a great find. Gay himself, Reichenbach made a true masterpiece in black and white, lasting 24 minutes. In those minutes there is a wealth of imagery and in my opinion is even better, or at least equal, to the now celebrated Jean Genet film ' Un chant d'amour '. The story is quite simple. Two young men have a relationship that lasts for the duration of an idyllic Spring, and then part. The lover left behind searches with elation and then despair for a letter from the other man, but it does not arrive. Intercut with this are memories of their relationship and there is one moving scene where the lover finds the man in New York ( a segment of the film worth more than many of the Gay themed films of today put together ). I will not spoil it for those fortunate enough to track this masterpiece down, and it should be put on DVD as soon as possible. Are you listening BFI in the UK who brought out a DVD of ' Un Chant d'amour ' ? And on its own without anything else. But to return to ' Last Spring ' image folds into image seamlessly weaving fantasy with reality and apart from the New York scene there is a scene where the lover lies in a bed of fallen blossoms. Without a trace of overt sexuality this scene and many others are erotic, beautiful and Louis Malle if he was privileged to see it back in the 1950's must have inspired him for the erotic tenderness of his ' Les Amants '. This short film is equal in quality, even surpassing it at times in its passion, longing and fear of loss of the beloved. Unlike the Genet film it is set in a very clear 1953/4 and for that you see a glimpse of two current films of the time, an Ann Blyth musical ' Rose Marie ' and a western called in the UK ' O' Rourke of the Royal Mounted '. These are no camp references but simply what Reichenbach finds in front of him and this totally street aware, no artificial sets, pre-dated the so-called Nouvelle Vague ' by several years. Godard even could have got inspiration from this freedom with the camera film. Someone must have seen it back then, and perhaps more than a few but such was the externalised and internalised homophobia of the time it was not available to see. Even the directors homosexuality was hidden, so how could this film have had even the slenderest chance of being openly known? But despite this loss for decades it is at last restored and I sincerely hope I am not the last person here to review it. Give it a 10 ? Cinematically it is worth a thousand and also a thousand films that have been made in between. I put it at the top of any Gay themed film I have seen recently.