TORONTO DISPATCH: CLOUZOT LOST AND FOUND
by Sep 23, 2009One enters any major film festival with hopes of discovering a budding auteur, a new voice from some previously unheard-from . . .
Synopsis
Blacklisted for his daring “anti-French” masterpiece Le corbeau, Henri-Georges Clouzot returned to cinema four years later with the 1947 crime-fiction adaptation Quai des Orfèvres. Set within the vibrant dance halls and crime corridors of 1940s Paris, Quai des Orfèvres follows ambitious performer Jenny Lamour (Suzy Delair), her covetous husband Maurice Martineau (Bernard Blier), and their devoted confidante Dora Monier (Simone Renant) as they attempt to cover one another’s tracks when a sexually orgreish high-society acquaintance is murdered. Enter Inspector Antoine (Louis Jouvet), whose seasoned instincts lead him down a circuitous path in this classic whodunit murder mystery.
Cast
| Detective Lieutenant Antoine | Louis Jouvet |
| Jenny Martineau, aka "Jenny Lamour" | Suzy Delair |
| Maurice Martineau | Bernard Blier |
| Dora Monnier | Simone Renant |
| Georges Brignon | Charles Dullin |
| The Captain | René Blancard |
| Detective Picard | Jean Daurand |
| Emile, the taxi driver | Pierre Larquey |
| Paulo, the thief | Robert Dalban |
| Manon, the prostitute | Claudine Dupuis |
| Poitevin, the ticket-taker | Charles Blavette |
| Cloakroom attendant | Jeanne Fusier-Gir |
| Paul Toscano | |
| and his Gypsy Orchestra |
Credits
| Director | Henri-Georges Clouzot |
| Producer | Roger de Venloo |
| Screenplay | Henri-Georges Clouzot and Jean Ferry |
| Inspired by the novel Legitime Defense by | Stanislas-Andre Steeman |
| Cinematography | Armand Thirard |
| Production Design | Max Douy |
| Assistant director | Serge Vallin |
| Cameraman | Louis Née |
| Costume design | Jacques Fath |
| Sound | William Robert Sivel |
| Editing | Charles Bretoneiche |
| Music | Francis Lopez |
| Musical direction | Albert Lasry |
| Lyrics | André Hornez |
| Director of production | Louis Wipf |
Disc Features
- New high-definition digital transfer of the film, made from restored film elements
- Interviews with director Henri-Georges Clouzot and actors Bernard Blier, Suzy Delair, and Simone Renant, from the 1971 French television program Au cinéma ce soir
- Original theatrical trailer
- Poster gallery from the film’s international release
- Essay by author Luc Sante
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
From the Current
Quai des Orfèvres
by May 26, 2003Quai des Orfèvres is nominally a policier—a crime story, less a mystery than a police procedural; its title, referring to the Parisian equivalent of Scotland Yard, announces it. But title and genre are misleading, they are foliage. As a crime picture, it has a flimsy . . .
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