Le Corbeau Blu-ray - Ginette Leclerc

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "The Raven")

directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot
France 1943

A mysterious writer of poison pen letters, known only as Le Corbeau (the Raven), plagues a French provincial town, unwittingly exposing the collective suspicion and rancor seething beneath the community’s calm surface. Made during the Nazi Occupation of France, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Le Corbeau was attacked by the right-wing Vichy regime, the left-wing Resistance press, the Catholic Church, and was banned after the Liberation. But some—including Jean Cocteau and Jean-Paul Sartre—recognized the powerful subtext to Clouzot’s anti-informant, anti-Gestapo fable, and worked to rehabilitate Clouzot’s directorial reputation after the war. Le Corbeau brilliantly captures a spirit of paranoid pettiness and self-loathing turning an occupied French town into a twentieth-century Salem.

Today it stands as one of French cinemas masterpieces, a dark and subversive study of human nature. Essential viewing.

***

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. This allegorical film was highly controversial at the time of its release, and was banned in France after the Liberation.

Posters

Theatrical Release: September 28th, 1943

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Comparison:

Criterion - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Optimum - Region 2 - PAL vs. Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Big thanks to Gary Tooze and Henrik Sylow for the DVD Screen Caps!

Box Cover			Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Criterion - Spine # 227 Region 0 - NTSC	Optimum Region 2 - PAL	Criterion Spine #227 - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:31:18	1:27:28 (4% PAL speedup)	1:31:43.498
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.97 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.59 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1.37:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 36,850,666,837 bytes Feature: 27,511,105,536 bytes Video Bitrate: 35.84 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Criterion DVD:
Bitrate Optimum DVD:
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	1.0 Dolby Digital Mono French	2.0 Dolby Digital Mono French	LPCM Audio French 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitles	English, None	English (non-removable)	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Criterion Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen - 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Video interview with Bertrand Tavernier, director of Coup de Torchon • Excerpts from The Story of French Cinema by Those Who Made It: Grand Illusions 1939 – 1942, a 1975 documentary featuring Henri-Georges Clouzot • New essay by film scholar Alan Williams, author of Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking DVD Release Date: February 17th, 2004 Keep Case Chapters 24	Release Information: Studio: Optimum Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen - 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Introduction to 'Le Corbeau' by Ginette Vincendean (24:36) DVD Release Date: March 14, 2005 Keep Case Chapters 12	Release Information: Studio: Criterion 1.37:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 36,850,666,837 bytes Feature: 27,511,105,536 bytes Video Bitrate: 35.84 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Interview with filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier (21:35) • Excerpts from The Story of French Cinema by Those Who Made It: Grand Illusions 1939–1942, a 1975 documentary featuring director Henri-Georges Clouzot (7:56) • Trailer (3:12) PLUS: An essay by film scholar Alan Williams Blu-ray Release Date: September 20th, 2022 Transparent Blu-ray Case Chapters 23

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (September 2022): Criterion have transferred Henri-Georges Clouzot's Le Corbeau to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "New 4K restoration". The 1080P is quite a leap beyond Criterion's own SD transfer of over 18-years ago. This new restoration handily advances over both DVDs and is in the 1.37:1 aspect ratio showing more information in the frame - notably the right edge. Contrast, grain and detail are monumental jumps in quality. This looks quite film-like.

NOTE: We have added 38 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Criterion use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original French language. Le Corbeau has few aggressive moments that come through with modest depth and score by Tony Aubin (who had done some documentary and short film work), sounding clean with consistent dialogue in the uncompressed transfer. Criterion offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Criterion Blu-ray offers the same extras as their older DVD - a 20-minute interview with filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier, 8-minutees of excerpts from The Story of French Cinema by Those Who Made It: Grand Illusions 1939–1942, a 1975 documentary featuring director Henri-Georges Clouzot, a trailer and the liner notes with the essay by film scholar Alan Williams.

Henri-Georges Clouzot's Le Corbeau is loosely based on an un-signed letter distribution from 1917 that began in the town of Tulle, Limousin. Letters had been sent anonymously with the signature "the eye of the tiger". Clouzot adapted the story himself and it starred Pierre Fresnay (Le docteur Rémy Germain) who he previously worked with on 1942's The Murderer Lives at Number 21. A notable legacy of 'Le Corbeau' (aka "The Raven") was to establish "crow" as a derogatory label for a malicious informant. I'm thrilled to own it on Criterion's 4K-restored Blu-ray looking so significantly improved over my ancient DVDs. I consider this a 'must-own'.

Gary Tooze

Menus / Extras

(Criterion - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Optimum - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray