7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A French village doctor becomes the target of poison-pen letters sent to village leaders, accusing him of affairs and practicing abortion.
Starring: Pierre Fresnay, Ginette Leclerc, Micheline Francey, Pierre Larquey, Héléna MansonForeign | 100% |
Drama | 28% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
French: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Henri-Georges Clouzot's "Le Corbeau" (1943) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include archival program with Bertrand Tavernier; excerpts from an archival French television program; and vintage trailer. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Le Corbeau arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The release is sourced from a new 4K restoration of the film that was completed at Eclair Laboratories in Epinay-sur-Seine, France. This restoration was initially introduced on Blu-ray by StudioCanal in the United Kingdom. (You can see our listing and review of this release here).
I think that the 4K makeover is outstanding. Indeed, despite the age of the film, the improvements in delineation, clarity, and depth are substantial and present during daylight and darker indoor/nighttime footage. It is quite easy to appreciate the superiority of the grayscale as well. Density levels are much better than the ones present on Criterion's DVD release too, so even on a smaller screen the entire film simply looks a lot better. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. The surface of the visuals, including before and after reel transitions, is always very healthy, so in addition to having a very strong organic appearance, the film looks immaculate as well. All in all, unless there is a 4K Blu-ray release in the future, I think it is fair to declare that the definitive presentation of Le Corbeau is available on Blu-ray. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.
There are a couple of areas, all early on, where the age of the film shows. In our review of StudioCanal's Region-B release of the 4K restoration of the film, I speculated that the light hiss/buzz in the upper register is on the surviving elements that were accessed because the audio becomes thinner and slightly distorted there as well. These are age-related anomalies and I believe that they are irreversible even with modern digital tools. This being said, you do not have to worry about any of these anomalies negatively affecting your viewing experience. If you turn up your volume a lot, you will simply notice their presence.
While a good film that offers a very interesting deconstruction of the evolving nature of French society during the Vichy regime, Le Corbeau is difficult to place next to the likes of Quai des Orfevres, The Wages of Fear, and Diabolique. It feels a bit too heavy and too focused on the message it aims to deliver, and as a result quite a lot of its cynicism quickly becomes rather artificial. But this is not how the French felt when the film premiered in 1943 -- it hit them hard and enraged them, and after the war ended they temporarily forced Henri-Georges Clouzot into exile. Criterion's upcoming Blu-ray release of Le Corbeau is sourced from an excellent 4K master that was prepared after the film was restored at Eclair Laboratories. RECOMMENDED.
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