Le corbeau (1943)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Henri-Georges Clouzot

Writers:

Louis Chavance (screenplay)
Henri-Georges Clouzot (adaptation) ...
(more)

Release Date:

28 September 1943 (France)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Une petite ville comme il en est tant en France. [Original Version]

Plot:

French village doctor becomes target of poison-pen letters sent to village leaders, accusing him of affairs and practicing abortion.

Plot Keywords:

Letter | Secret | Poison Pen Letter | Village | Doctor

Cast

Pierre Fresnay	...	Le docteur Rémy Germain
Ginette Leclerc	...	Denise Saillens
Micheline Francey	...	Laura Vorzet
Héléna Manson	...	Marie Corbin, l'infirmière
Jeanne Fusier-Gir	...	La mercière
Sylvie	...	La mère du cancéreux
Liliane Maigné	...	Rolande Saillens
Pierre Larquey	...	Michel Vorzet
Noël Roquevert	...	Saillens, la maître d'école
Bernard Lancret	...	Le substitut
Antoine Balpêtré	...	Le docteur Delorme (as Antoine Balpétré)
Jean Brochard	...	Bonnevie, le trésorier de l'hôpital
Pierre Bertin	...	Le sous-préfet
Louis Seigner	...	Bertrand
Roger Blin	...	François, le cancéreux du 13
Robert Clermont	...	Monsieur de Maquet
Palau	...	Le receveur de P.T.T.
Marcel Delaître	...	Le dominicain (as Marcel Delaitre)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Paul Barge	...	Un homme (uncredited)
Lucienne Bogaert	...	La provocatrice chez le docteur Germain (uncredited)
Albert Brouett	...	Un suspect (uncredited)
Marie-Jacqueline Chantal	...	Une suspecte (uncredited)
Nicole Chollet	...	La bonne de Vorzet (uncredited)
Etienne Decroux	...	Le garçon du cercle (uncredited)
Gustave Gallet	...	Fayolle (uncredited)
Palmyre Levasseur	...	Une commère (uncredited)
Albert Malbert	...	Le Suisse (uncredited)
Pâquerette	...	Une suspecte (uncredited)
Eugène Yvernès	...	Un suspect (uncredited)

Directed by
Henri-Georges Clouzot		(as Henri Georges Clouzot)

Writing credits
Louis Chavance		(screenplay)
Henri-Georges Clouzot		(adaptation and dialogue) (as Henri Georges Clouzot) and
Louis Chavance		(adaptation and dialogue)

Produced by
René Montis	....	producer (uncredited)
Raoul Ploquin	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Tony Aubin

Cinematography by
Nicolas Hayer

Film Editing by
Marguerite Beaugé		(uncredited)

Set Decoration by
Andrej Andrejew		(as André Andrejew)
Hermann Wann		(uncredited)

Sound Department
William Robert Sivel	....	sound (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Continental Films

Distributors

• Films Sonores Tobis (1943) (France) (theatrical)
• London Film Productions (1948) (UK) (theatrical)
• Westport International (1948) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Optimum Releasing (2003) (UK) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Janus Films
• Studio Canal (2003) (France) (DVD)

Also Known As:

L'oeil du serpent (France) (working title)
L'oiseau noir (France) (working title)
Laura (France) (working title)
Lettres anonymes (France) (working title)
Maladie contagieuse (France) (working title)
The Raven

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Wide Range Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) (cut) | UK:PG (re-rating)

Filming Locations:

Montfort-l'Amaury, Yvelines, France

Company:

Continental Films

Trivia:

When France was liberated from the German occupation, some crew and cast members of the film were suspended from working in the film industry because they had worked for Continental Films, a German company: actor Noël Roquevert was suspended for 3 months, production designer Andrej Andrejew for 9 months, actress Micheline Francey for a year, and the director Henri-Georges Clouzot for two years.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Le docteur Rémy Germain: [washes blood off his arms] I saved the mother.
Grand-mother: And the baby?
Le docteur Rémy Germain: No.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Delicatessen (1991)

Thunderbolt .

It's a legend!and a black one!The most famous scandal of French cinema during the occupation,le corbeau (the raven) has not lost its feathers even today. The facts:it was produced by the German firm "continental" where Clouzot used to work as a scripter "en chef".But people went as far as saying that the movie was shown in German movie theaters under the disagreeable title "a small town like so many other ones in France" .Balderdash!The movie was never released in Germany at the time. As Roger Boussinot wrote in "l'encyclopédie du cinéma"(1980),"the bourgeoisie ,be it French or German was all the same everywhere,and Hitler,whose fortunes were on the wane ,had to treat his own (bourgeoisie) gently.Actually,the film ran into difficulties after the Liberation.It was the ideal scapegoat,and along with so many others ,like Sacha Guitry,Arletty(the female star of "les enfants du paradis"),Ginette Leclerc (the female star of "le corbeau")and other "collaborators" (sic),Clouzot was blacklisted.

Why so much acrimony against "le corbeau"?Because it depicted life in French provinces in a way that was far from being idyllic.Anonymous letters are sent by the "raven",and drags the town through the mud.At first sight ,it seems like a simple whodunit:Clouzot 's first effort (l'assassin habite au 21) was a thriller.But there's more to the picture than meets the eye:what was latent in the first movie,we see it in its true colors:Clouzot's contempt for the whole human race,which will increase over the years.No character in "le corbeau " to identify with:the prototype of the film noir.Where is good?Where is bad?The most famous scene remains that of the light sway :the world is not black and white,what you thought black might be white and vice versa .

"Le Corbeau' was released at the wrong time.It was too different from the "Occupation" movies which dealt with "escape" "dream" as works as Carné's "les visiteurs du soir" or Jean Delannoy/Jean Cocteau's "l'éternel retour" testify.It was 1947 before HG Clouzot was allowed to direct again.Four years has passed,and he came back to Belgian writer Steeman (whose "le dernier des six" and "l'assassin habite au 21" he had already adapted),but his venom and his misanthropy hadn't dried up,and more masterpieces were to follow.

Otto Preminger directed a remake "the 13th letter" in 1951 which I haven't seen.On the other hand ,there was a French "modern "update by Yves Boisset (Radio Corbeau,1989)which is watchable but which can't be compared to Clouzot's thunderbolt back in 1943.