THE MURDERER LIVES AT 21

(A.k.a. L'ASSASSIN HABITE AU 21)

A drunken tramp tells his new pals in a Parisian pub about his recent lottery win. At the end of the evening he ignores their warnings of the murders that have been taking place in their neighbourhood recently and decides to walk home. Bad decision. He's dead, stabbed through the heart and robbed of his booty, moments later.

The killer leaves their customary calling card on the tramps corpse, announcing himself as "Monsieur Durand".

The police are baffled. As a 100,000 francs reward is posted for information leading to the apprehension of the elusive killer, the message from his superiors is clear: Inspector Wens (Pierre Fresnay) must catch the murderer within a week or he will be sacked.

In the meantime, Wens' girlfriend Mila (Suzy Delair) is a struggling actress who is told she will only get the latest part she's auditioned for if she can make the headlines in her own right first. So, she also resolves to find the killer.

Wens, however, has what appears to be the upper hand: an old lag by the name of Jean-Baptiste (Raymond Bussieres) is arrested for being drunk on top of a lamppost (really!). When he arrives in Wens' office, he reveals that he found a stack of "Monsieur Durand" calling cards in an apartment he was robbing.

And so, Wens goes undercover and checks in to the boarding house at the address given to him, in a bid to get closer to its residents and hopefully deduce which one of them - all eccentric, it must be said - is the killer. Of course, the ambitious and precocious Mila is never far behind...

THE MURDERER LIVES AT 21 was the directorial debut of Henri-Georges Clouzot, the genius filmmaker who gave us THE WAGES OF FEAR and one of my all-time favourite films, LES DIABOLIQUES. Already an accomplished screenwriter at the time (1942), he also co-wrote the screenplay for the film with the author of its source novel, Stanislas-Andre Steeman.

Despite it being a debut picture for Clouzot, it's easy to spot his style throughout. Even early on, when the tramp gets killed, the director's touch is evident: the dark, misty atmospherics; the deafening absence of music as the tension mounts; the unsparing cruelty of the pay-off.

Although the opening credits play out in a manner that suggests a matinee serial of its era, this flows very fluidly as an 84-minute film. The mix of strong character exploration, intrigue and thrills (some of the death scenes are surprisingly unflinching for their time, albeit tending to only show the aftermath of the event) makes for unwavering entertainment.

There is a lot of humour in the film. A great deal of it concerns itself with mannerisms and is agreeably dated in this regard. However, for a film that was shot in the early 1940s, there's also quite a bit of cheeky sexual undertones to be found: one character suggesting his partner's cuffs and collars don't match in a 'nudge nudge, wink wink' manner; a gentleman looking for empathy due to having sired eight children during his nine-year marriage - to which the woman he's speaking to retorts "I wouldn't know (what that's like), I'm a lady ...". Quaint in this age, I know, but I dare say it was all pretty risqué at the time.

Sometimes, admittedly, the humour is broad to the point that it undermines the thriller element of the storyline. It approaches farce upon occasion, and this sits ill with the fine compositions and atmospheric set-pieces Clouzot has carefully constructed elsewhere.

However, the overall impact is hardly dimmed: this is a highly entertaining, effortlessly involving mystery - and a very strong debut from someone who would go on to prove himself to be a master of the thriller genre.

Eureka continue to shine via their consistently stunning Masters of Cinema series with this excellent restoration of Clouzot's little-seen gem, available in both DVD and blu-ray variants. The DVD was provided for review.

It presents the film in its original 1.37:1 aspect ratio, window-boxed and benefitting from a sterling restoration courtesy of the esteemed Gaumont studio.

Considering the film's lineage and scarcity in recent decades, it looks amazing here. Blacks are deep, contrast is multi-layered and detail is acute throughout. The ambience and style of the film are perfectly rendered in this astoundingly clean, filmic presentation. It's almost up to the standard of Eureka's superlative transfer for M - and that's really saying something. There are, however, a few instances of flickering where darker scenes are somewhat worn. But, hey, we're talking a film that's over 70 years old ... what we get is pretty amazing, all told.

French audio is presented in its original mono and provides a satisfyingly well-balanced, clean proposition throughout. Optional English subtitles are well-written and easy to read.

The disc opens to a static main menu page. From there, a static scene-selection menu allows access to the film via 11 chapters.

Extras are understandably limited. However, the 13-minute video interview with Ginette Vincendeau is a great accompanying piece. She's the professor of French cinema at King's College in London, and knows her stuff. She speaks of Clouzot's beginnings (and strengths) as a screenwriter, how he came to land the job of directing this film and its impact at the time. This makes for an educational, worthwhile watch - more academic than observational but, still, it complements the main feature well.

Also included in this set but unavailable for review purposes is a fully illustrated booklet containing rare stills and the reproduction of original text from the late Clouzot.

THE MURDERER LIVES AT 21 is a hugely entertaining film. Clouzot was a director who favoured composition and visual style over his actors, and yet the cast here all appear to be having a ball. The film is enjoyable today, and its presentation on Eureka's DVD is highly impressive.

Also available on blu-ray.

Review by Stuart Willis