Le Corbeau

Le Corbeau (1943)

One of the Most Discussed Films in the History of French Cinema!

Remy Germain is a doctor in a French town who becomes the focus of a vicious smear campaign, as letters accusing him of having an affair and performing unlawful abortions are mailed to village leaders. The mysterious writer, who signs each letter as "Le Corbeau" (The Raven) soon targets the whole town, exposing everyone's dark secrets.

Date of release
1943-09-28
TMDB
7.5 / 10 (334)
Runtime
1h 32m
Genres
Mystery, Drama, Thriller
Director
Henri-Georges Clouzot

Casting

Interesting facts

Le Corbeau is a 1943 French mystery film noir directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot and starring Pierre Fresnay, Micheline Francey, Ginette Leclerc, and Pierre Larquey. Its plot focuses on a provincial French town where a number of citizens begin receiving anonymous letters containing libelous information, particularly targeting a doctor accused of providing abortions. The mystery surrounding the letters begins to tear apart the social fabric of the community, eventually escalating into violence and chaos. The screenplay is loosely based on an anonymous letter case that began in the town of Tulle, Limousin, in 1917.

Production

The film is loosely based on an anonymous letter case that had begun in the town of Tulle, Limousin, in 1917. Anonymous letters had been sent by somebody signing "the eye of the tiger". The first version of the screenplay was written by Louis Chavance shortly after the Tulle letters, years before it was finally produced. The film credits Clouzot for adapting the story himself, and both Clouzot and Chavance for writing the dialogue.

Le Corbeau was produced by Continental Films, which aside from being a German company established during Occupation, was known for making detective films "with a light, even comic tone" and often featuring Pierre Fresnay, who played Germain in this film. Clouzot previously worked with Fresnay on another Continental Films project, The Murderer Lives at Number 21 (1942).

It was shot at the Billancourt Studios in Paris with location filming around Montfort-l'Amaury. The film's sets were designed by the art director Andrej Andrejew.

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