Henri Georges Clouzot collection (3 disc)

3-feature set of re-mastered classics from the controversial French master Henri Georges Clouzot. The only director to be banned by both the Nazis and, after liberation, his own French church and government, Clouzot suffered not a bit for this dubious honour. His films are widely held as masterpieces of postwar French cinema and he's certainly one of its most successful cinematic exports. 'Le Corbeau' (1943) is Clouzot's dark and subversive study of human nature starring Pierre Fresnay and Ginette Leclerc. When a series of poison-pen letters signed 'Le Corbeau' (The Raven) appears denouncing several prominent members of society a wave of hysteria sweeps the small provincial town of St Robin. Starting with the village doctor, the slow sinister trickle of letters soon becomes a flood and no one is safe from the malicious accusations, which include abortion and drug addiction. In 'Quai Des Orferves' (1947) Jenny Martineau (Suzy Delair), accompanied on stage by her husband Maurice (Bernand Blier), is an aspiring Music Hall performer. Her ambitions are hampered by the jealousies of the well-meaning Maurice, whose suspicions are particularly aroused by elderly entrepreneur Georges Brignon (Charles Dullin) with whose help Jenny thinks she can find fame. When Brignon is found murdered having recently entertained Jenny against her husband's express wishes, Maurice becomes the prime suspect. 'The Wages Of Fear' (1953) is Clouzot's Cannes-winner set in the South American jungle where supplies of nitro-glycerine are urgently needed at a remote oil field. The unscrupulous American oil company pays four out-of-work men (Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Folco Lulli and Peter Van Eyck) to deliver the delicate and deadly supplies in two hulking trucks. A tense rivalry quickly develops between the two sets of drivers; a tension magnified a thousand fold by the unforgiving heat, the lure of filthy lucre and the rough and rocky roads where the slightest jolt could result in agonizing death.