Le Corbeau (The Raven) - Criterion Collection

Starring:Pierre Fresnay, Ginette Leclerc, Micheline Francey, HÃ©lÃ©na Manson, Jeanne Fusier-Gir, Sylvie, Liliane MaignÃ©, Pierre Larquey, NoÃ«l Roquevert, Bernard Lancret, Antoine BalpÃªtrÃ©, Jean Brochard, Pierre Bertin, Louis Seigner, Roger Blin, Robert Clermont, Palau, Marcel DelaÃ®tre, Paul Barge, Gustave Gallet
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Studio: Criterion
Product Type: DVD

Description

A mysterious writer of poison pen letters known only as Le Corbeau (The Raven) plagues a French provincial town, and unwittingly exposes the collective suspicion and rancor that was seething beneath the community's calm surface. Made during the Nazi Occupation of France, Henri-Georges Clouzot's Le Corbeau was attacked by the right-wing Vichy regime, the left-wing Resistance press, the Catholic Church, and was banned after the liberation. Le Corbeau brilliantly captures the spirit of paranoid pettiness and self-loathing that turns an occupied French town into a twentieth-century Salem. The disc includes a video interview with Bernard Tavernier (director of Coup de Torchon), and excerpts from a 1975 documentary on French cinema during World War II.

Customer Reviews:

Le Corbeau.......2007-06-25

Filmed during the Nazi occupation of France, Clouzot's brilliant, edgy psychological thriller captures the petty enmities and virulent paranoia that, letter by letter, rips a tight-knit community apart. Framed by the moral dilemma of Fresnay's Germain, a serious, stone-faced man haunted by "two ghosts" from the past, "Corbeau" adds one Hitchcockian twist after another, while immersing us in an ominous atmosphere of suspicion. Adding to the intrigue are radiant social worker Laura (Francey), elderly psychoanalyst Dr. Avorzet (the wonderful Pierre Larquey), and needy cripple Denise (Ginette Leclerc). Dark, cynical, and utterly captivating, "Corbeau" illuminates the inner world where good and evil mix in equal measure.

The deadliest weapon:.......2007-04-23

The story of a small French provincial town infected by the mass hysteria of suspicion, spying, and hatred caused by the damning letters revealing the guilty secrets of all citizens and always signed "Le Corbeau" (The Raven) is an absolutely brilliant film. It is incredibly clever, involving, and extremely dark and leaves very little hope regarding the human nature and its motivations. The word is the most dangerous and the deadliest of weapons, and a gun, a knife, or a poison only finish the evil deed that always starts with the words. The humans are very creative in choosing the right words that will hurt and infuriate the fellow human being and start the unstoppable nuclear reaction of hatred, intolerance, and violence. H.G. Cluozot had difficulties working in France after he had made "Le Corbeau" in 1943 which was produced by the German company and later judged by French as a piece of anti-French propaganda. It took writers such as Jean Cocteau and actors such as Louis Jouvet, an admirer of Clouzot's work, to recognize the powerful subtext to Cluozot's controversial masterpiece.

A masterpiece of misanthropy!.......2006-12-24

Clouzot's second film, "The Raven" was a masterpiece of misanthropy... Dissecting the moral collapse of a small French town plagued by a wave of poison pen-letters, Clouzot revealed a sour, embittered vision of human motivation...

Greed, envy, hypocrisy and hatred are his characters' primary instincts; cruelty and mutual suspicion inform every act of communication... Such was the power - and, perhaps, truth - of Clouzot's vision of provincial life that it was interpreted as an act of collaboration with the occupying Nazis; rumors suggested it was shown in Germany as anti-French propaganda... Clouzot found himself unemployable for several years...

The idiocy and falsity of the accusations were proved by his subsequent films...

unknown classic, fresh and on-point.......2006-07-17

I concur with the other reviewers' superlatives about this remarkable film. The acting, the direction, the cinematography is all superb. Criterion has, as usual, given us a beautifully-restored print of the feature film. (Compare to the blurry quality of the original theatrical trailer, just to see how far Criterion refreshed the original). The film, even without knowing the time and place it was made, stands on its own as a look at mutual suspicion, malicious gossip and a prurient interest in personal lives -- something we can relate to, 60 years later.

Criterion has added two featurettes -- a video interview and an excerpt from a a 1975 documentary that included director M. Clouzot -- that puts Le Corbeau in its context, produced in occupied France. The material does bring out that Continental-Film, for whom Clouzot worked, was created by Joseph Goebbels with the aim of making banal, light, frothy entertainments to divert French audiences -- and instead M. Clouzot produced this, a noirish anti-informer film. All the more remarkable that this film seems fresh, and eerily current, today.

M. Clouzot would go on, post-war, to create some classic suspense films: Quai des Orfevres, Diabolique, Wages of Fear. Le Corbeau is an early example of his excellence as a director.

Very fine.......2005-12-30

A film about a village terrorized by anonymous poison pen letters by Henri-Georges Clouzot made during the Nazi occupation of France. The film was attacked by the right-wing Vichy regime, the left-wing Resistance press, the Catholic Church, and was banned after the Liberation. However, Jean Cocteau and Jean-Paul Sartre recognized the film's greatness of Clouzot's anti-Gestapo subtext and helped him reestablish his career after the war. The film is in magnificent black and white, and it perfectly captures the paranoia of the war. Perhaps not as affecting as Diabolique, but quite potent none the less.

Average customer rating:

Le Corbeau
The deadliest weapon:
A masterpiece of misanthropy!
unknown classic, fresh and on-point
Very fine

Le Corbeau [Region 2]
Starring: Pierre Fresnay , Ginette Leclerc , Micheline Francey , Héléna Manson , and Jeanne Fusier-Gir
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Thrillers | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Quai des Orfevres - Criterion Collection
Diabolique - Criterion Collection
The Wages of Fear - Criterion Collection
Pepe Le Moko - Criterion Collection
Port of Shadows - Criterion Collection

ASIN: B00004VY8F

Customer Reviews:

Le Corbeau.......2007-06-25

The deadliest weapon:.......2007-04-23

A masterpiece of misanthropy!.......2006-12-24

unknown classic, fresh and on-point.......2006-07-17

Very fine.......2005-12-30

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