Le Corbeau
| Le Corbeau | |
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| Directed by | Henri-Georges Clouzot |
| Produced by | René Montis |
| Screenplay by |
Louis Chavance Henri-Georges Clouzot |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Tony Aubin |
| Cinematography | Nicolas Hayer |
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Running time
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93 Minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
Le Corbeau (The Raven) is a 1943 French film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot and starring Pierre Fresnay, Micheline Francey and Pierre Larquey. The film is about a French town where a number of citizens receive anonymous letters containing libelous information, particularly targeting an abortion doctor. The mystery surrounding the letters eventually escalates into violence.
The film caused serious problems for its director after World War II as it had been produced by Continental Films, a German production company established near the beginning of the Occupation of France, and because the film had been perceived by the underground and the Communist press as vilifying the French people. Because of this, Clouzot was initially blocked for life from directing in France and the film too was suppressed, although both bans only lasted until 1947. The film was remade as The 13th Letter (1951) by Otto Preminger.
In a small French town identified as "anywhere," anonymous poison pen letters are sent by somebody signing as Le Corbeau (the Raven). The letters start by accusing doctor Rémy Germain of having an affair with Laura Vorzet, the pretty young wife of the elderly psychiatrist Dr. Vorzet. Germain is also accused of practicing illegal abortions. Letters are then sent to virtually all the population of the town, but keep getting back at the initial victim, Dr. Germain. The situation becomes serious when a patient of the hospital commits suicide with his straight razor after the Raven writes to him that his cancer is terminal.
Laura Vorzet's sister Marie Corbin, a nurse in the infirmary, becomes a suspect and is arrested, but soon new letters arrive. When one letter is dropped in a church from a gallery, it becomes apparent the Raven must be one of the people seated there at the time. They are gathered to re-write the Raven's letters as dictated by Dr. Vorzet, to compare the handwriting. Germain's lover Denise is suspected when she faints during the dictation, only for Laura to be identified by material contained in her blotter. Germain agrees to sign an order committing Laura as insane, just before he is called away to attend Denise who has fallen down stairs. Before he leaves, Laura protests she wrote the Raven's first letters before Dr. Vorzet began dictating them, making him the true Raven. Just as the ambulance takes Laura away, Germain returns and finds Dr. Vorzet dead at his desk, his throat cut by the cancer patient's mother as he was writing the Raven's final triumphant letter.
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