"Actor: Noel Roquevert"

• Diabolique | Blu Ray | (05/06/2017) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Legend has it that Henri-Georges Clouzot beat out Alfred Hitchcock to secure the rights to this novel, which proved to be a veritable blueprint for an icy masterpiece of murder, mystery and suspense. Véra Clouzot plays the sickly wife of a callous headmaster of a provincial boarding school going to seed, and the commanding Simone Signoret is the headmaster's mistreated mistress. Together they plot and carry out his murder, a brutal drowning that director Clouzot documents in chilly detail, but the corpse disappears and a nosy detective starts sniffing around the grounds as threatening notes taunt the women. Clouzot's thriller is as precise and accomplished a work as anything in Hitchcock's canon, a film of gruelling suspense and startling shocks in an overcast, grey world of decay, but his icy manipulations lack the human dimension and emotional resonance of the master of suspense. Many critics have accused the film of being misanthropic, and Clouzot's attitude toward his characters is bitter at best, contemptuous at worst. The viewer is left on the outside looking in, but the razor precision and terrifying twists deliver a sleek, bleak spectacle worthy of attention. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com

• Le Corbeau | Blu Ray | (05/03/2018) from £14.49   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A veritable masterpiece of French cinema, Henri-Georges Clouzot's (The Wages of Fear, Les Diaboliques) Le Corbeau is a dark and subversive study of human nature starring Pierre Fresnay and Ginette Leclerc. A wave of hysteria sweeps the small provincial town of St. Robin when a series of poison-pen letters signed Le Corbeau (The Raven) appear, denouncing several prominent members of society. Starting with the village doctor, the slow trickle of sinister letters soon becomes a flood and no one is safe from their mysterious accusations. Condemned by the political left and right and the church upon its release in 1943, Clouzot was banned from filmmaking for two years after making the film. This Classic noir is essential viewing from the director often dubbed the French Hitchcock. Features: The Cursed MasterPiece Of Henri Georges Clouzot

• Le Corbeau | DVD | (05/03/2018) from £8.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A veritable masterpiece of French cinema, Henri-Georges Clouzot's (The Wages of Fear, Les Diaboliques) Le Corbeau is a dark and subversive study of human nature starring Pierre Fresnay and Ginette Leclerc. A wave of hysteria sweeps the small provincial town of St. Robin when a series of poison-pen letters signed Le Corbeau (The Raven) appear, denouncing several prominent members of society. Starting with the village doctor, the slow trickle of sinister letters soon becomes a flood and no one is safe from their mysterious accusations. Condemned by the political left and right and the church upon its release in 1943, Clouzot was banned from filmmaking for two years after making the film. This Classic noir is essential viewing from the director often dubbed the French Hitchcock. Features: The Cursed Masterpiece Of Henri Georges Clouzot

• THE MURDERER LIVES AT 21 | DVD | (20/05/2013) from £17.53   |  Saving you £0.46 (2.62%)   |  RRP £17.99

  One of the most revered names in world cinema, Henri-Georges Clouzot, made a remarkably self-assured debut in 1942 with the deliciously droll thriller The Murderer Lives at 21 [L'Assassin habite au 21]. A thief and killer stalks the streets of Paris, leaving a calling card from Monsieur Durand at the scene of each crime. But after a cache of these macabre identifications is discovered by a burglar in the boarding house at 21 Avenue Junot, Inspector Wenceslas Vorobechik (Pierre Fresnay) takes lodging at the infamous address in an undercover bid to solve the crime, with help from his struggling-actress girlfriend Mila (Suzy Delair). Featuring audacious directorial touches, brilliant performances, and a daring tone that runs the gamut from light comedy to sinister noir, as well as a subtle portrait of tensions under Nazi occupation, this overlooked gem from the golden age of French cinema is presented in a beautiful new high-definition restoration. Special Features: Gorgeous new Gaumont restoration of the film in its original aspect ratio New and improved English subtitles A fully-illustrated booklet, including the words of Henri-Georges Clouzot and rare imagery