Quai des Orfévres

Although Henri-Georges Clouzot is best known for Les Diaboliques and The Wages of Fear, this 1947 suspense classic (a.k.a. Jenny Lamour) may be his best work--a wonderfully entertaining combination of murder mystery, police procedural, and romantic melodrama, leavened with mordant humor, light sentiment, and a touch of the writer-director's characteristic misogyny. The great Louis Jouvet plays a hardened cop tracking down the killer of a lecherous businessman, a trail that leads him to a milquetoast music hall pianist (Bernard Blier), whose voluptuous singer-wife (Suzy Delair) the victim had tried to seduce. Clouzot's script is witty and wise--the denouement comes as a surprise though he's provided every clue needed to figure it out--and he captures the gritty milieu of post-war Paris masterfully while teasing marvelous performances from the entire cast (including stunning Simone Renant as a lesbian photographer). This superbly-produced Criterion DVD does the film proud, offering a crystalline, digitally restored print as well as extensive excerpts from a 1971 television interview with Clouzot and the leading performers. C'est magnifique. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (F. Swietek)