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| Suzy
Delair, Bernard Blier, Jouis Jouvet, Simone Renant |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Maurice Martineau (Bernard Blier):
Will that be all?
Inspector Antoine (Louis Jouvet): Not quite.
Martineau: Two hours of answering dumb questions!
Inspector Antoine: And for me, ten years of asking them!
Do I get upset?
A music hall accompanist suspects
his wife on cheating on him, and his subsequent actions make him
the prime suspect in a murder investigation.
 Accused
throughout his lifetime of being an uncurable cynic and misanthrope,
French director Henri-Georges Clouzot's first post-WWII thriller
would seem to put the lie to this myth. While offering a Columbo-style
murder investigation as its generic form (further identified by
the film's title, which refers to the French investigative police
force), the film is ultimately far more concerned with its characters,
their relationships and their environment than with the fairly
obvious plot.
The four major characters are brought to life impressively
by Clouzot's cast: Delair as the flirtatious but faithful music
hall star; Blier as her jealous, underachieving husband; Renant
as the world-weary female photographer with a crush on Delair;
and the marvelous Jouvet as the weathered, gruff but very humane
police investigator.
Clouzot clearly delights in the ordeals he sets up for his characters,
giving his film a sharp edge that serves to offset the story's
sentimental elements. But he also brings to life an impressive
recreation of Paris's seedy music halls and police stations, which
are so full of life and detail that their environments easily transcend
the effective but rather cheesy narrative. |
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Available only for on DVD in
a non-region-coded DVD released by the Criterion Collection.
The fullscreen
image is framed in its original aspect ratio of approx. 1.33:1. The
Criterion Collection delivers another winner with a gorgeous
print boasting very fine detail, hardly any grain and a handsome
pallette of blacks and greys. The print has sustained some
minor damage here and there, but this hardly detracts from
the overall impressive quality of the image on display here.
The monaural sound mix is faithfully presented in Dolby Digital
1.0. The track's dynamic range is as limited as one might
expect from a film over half a century old, but is otherwise
clear and uncluttered, with the musical numbers coming through
quite nicely.
Not quite a big enough classic
to merit the full Special Edition treatment, Quai des
Orfèvres still holds enough valuable additions
to give the feature some solid added value. Highly worthwhile
is the 16-minute set of interviews with
the director and three of the major cast members. Excerpted
from a 1971 episode of the French TV program Au Cinéma
Ce Soir, its participants discuss issues related to
the film's production frankly and amusingly. Clouzot himself
is a particular delight, puffing away at his pipe while offering
his recollections of terrorizing his actors with fiendish
delight. The fairly corny theatrical trailer is
also included, as is a poster gallery that
features a generous selection of international poster designs.
Finally, the booklet offers not only an excellent essay on
the film by writer Luc Sante, but also a mock centerfold
of Jenny Delair in one of her more tantalizing outfits. A
striking still image that is rather untypical of the film as a
whole provides the background for the handsomely designed main
menu screen, which offers direct access to all the features on
the disc.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed:
July 8, 2003
Click
here for IMDB info on Quai
des Orfèvres.
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