Quay of the Goldsmiths

El Biffo

4.5* Beautiful restoration of a quintessential Post-war French Crime film. It seems like every trope associated with the genre is here: a femme fatale singing with a cigarette in her mouth, the unfaithful cabaret singer and her shlub husband, the patient and wise detective, and all in a multitude of fabulous but typical Parisian locations. If you've got a craving for an old French Crime Picture, this will satisfy it.

dionysus67

Another Clouzot masterpiece, this time moving, 'behind our backs', from a comedy of manners to a crime thriller, combining genuinely erotic flavour of both heterosexual and homosexual leanings. Jouvet is brilliant as the detective, whose geometrical mind unravels the mystery, a character whose sexual repression (the can-can backstages) is sublimated into protection of the dispossessed in what is ravishing cinema!

Ethan

This is a beautiful noir thriller from one of the greatest masters of the cinema Henri Georges Clouzot. Clouzot's filmmaking was revolutionary and his influence can be seen in almost every facet of the cinema. A true artist who was far superior to Hitchcock.

Wee Hunk

It's a Christmas movie. Of course it gets dark before the dawn. Many humorous moments and even a little slapstick. I thought it was quite different that the Inspector's son is black. It's full of interesting touches.

josé neves

Seen at the Cinematheque, in a very old copy, without contrast and terrible sound and, even then, its virtues of mise-en-scène survived: what a great movie!

Daniela

Unnnnnnn, so good! I think the only thing was the little black boy with the snowball at the end . . . so corny >.>;; The rest is brilliant.

William R Clark

Forgot to review this absolute masterpiece, as if we didn't expect more of Clouzot, one of the great ensemble dramatists of all time. The sense of location you get in his movies is amazing - he lets you see a site from so many angles and perspectives, the drama unfolds like a dance around an intricate, but real, geography. Also a great Christmas movie!

Eric Rucker

Damn, that was fun. Loved the witty use of music and sound, and the Degas-, Sickert-, and Lautrec-inspired theaterworld compositions. And that detective was one for the books. I enjoyed it more than Hitchcock with his distracting perversities (though it is interesting how they manifest formally, and it’s funny that the suspense and plot and characters—and pretty much everything else—are all accidental McGuffins).