One of director’s Henri-Georges Clouzet’s (Diabolique, Wages of Fear) best films and his first after a four year ban due to making Le Corbeau. Quai Des Ordèvres is a murder mystery, but you wouldn’t expect Clouzet, “the French Hitchcock” to stick to the standard whodunit fair, would you? In fact, we learn pretty early on who the killer is and that doesn’t stop the viewer from being pulled into the world Clouzet has created (he also wrote the screenplay), complete with an ambitious singer, her jealous husband, a lesbian neighbor and an aging police detective. If you are a fan of Film Noir, we caution you not to miss this. In French with English subtitles
“In every respect it is outstanding.” – Variety
“A superior noirish thriller which gets right under the skin of the seedy world it inhabits.” – Film4
“Filmmaker Clouzot, who won best director at Venice for this film, is incapable of making anyone or any situation standard, and that’s a gift not even half a century on the shelf can tarnish.” – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
