Der Mörder wohnt in Nr. 21

On a street, there is a house at 21, several residents reside, each has a room, and one contains a killer, in this extremely thrilling (in the sense of enjoyable) chiller, but do not pre-empt the culprit, do not presume. Inspector Wens decides to take one of the rooms, as the killings continue, suspects assumed, they're arrested and locked up, but cadavers still pop up, though the suspects are reduced, so you assume.

A wonderful piece of whodunit filmmaking that leaves you scratching your head while smiling at the antics of L'inspecteur Wenceslas Wens and his partner Mila Malou, as they sift through the curious souls who inhabit number 21, in their search for the murderer, Monsieur Durand.

What a smart film this is! It took me a while to get around after the proverbial rug was pulled from under my feet towards its climax.

It is a thriller, but not just that. It is a comedy, but never distracting from the overall tone. It is intelligent, but doesn't take a cheat breather at the end to cover up writing inadequacies.

A policeman has to catch a serial killer in two days. He has for company an ambitious woman who is far from qualified to be in situations she intends to be in. He has a clue. And he has a set of strange people amongst whom he feels he has his target.

A fabulous whodunit ensues. Add to this the beautiful language of the French in what is a fairly verbose film, and you have an absolute must- see. Along with Laura, this is one of my favourite suspense thrillers from the 40s and I definitely recommend it.

In 1941,Georges Lacombe made "le dernier des six",adapted from a Stanislas André Steeman book.Clouzot wrote the script,and introduced his girlfriend Suzy Delair (Mila Malou, a character whom he created from start to finish,Steeman's sleuth M.Wens was a bachelor).

So here we are again:a new Steeman detective story (probably his masterpiece),Fresnay as the sleuth,and Delair a pain in the neck of a singer.(She had begun to "launch " her " career" of chanteuse in "le dernier des six";I recommend this earlier work to all these who enjoyed the 1942 movie)Steeman did not like the adaptation.The couple Delair/FResnay was not his cup of tea,and anyway,like Hercule Poirot doesn't investigate in "and then there were none",M.Wens (therefore Mila Malou,Clouzot's invention)is absent from the novel "l'assassin habite au 21".But what infuriated Steeman,twas mainly that his story was set in London,and Clouzot (German Occupation) was compelled to film in Paris.

What's the matter?Clouzot's first opus,is a gem,one of these mysteries with the ending you'll never guess.Agatha Christie's fans will relish watching that!Shall I give a clue ?Mathematically,it's a ternary notation.Computers,you can forget it!For the rest,my lips are sealed.

All Clouzot's work ,all that he will brilliantly develop in subsequent works is already here :a rotten microcosm (the boarding-house with a lot of wicked old people predates the school in "les diaboliques" and the small town in "le corbeau".His sarcastic humor shines here there and everywhere.He asserts his extraordinary skills by detailing the supporting characters.Of course a diabolical suspense (and admire the elegance of Clouzot's style,when Fresnay/Wens finds out what's been going on.)

In a nutshell,a serial killer is rampant in town:they discover his address.Alas it's a boarding-house!So whodunit?Sometimes I wonder whether this charming thriller might not be superior to the renowned "le corbeau" which was released the following year.With it,a director who influenced countless ones was born.

Henri-Georges Clouzot's solo feauture-length directing debut (which he also co-wrote) was certainly an auspicious one; the film is closer to American "commercial" entertainment than to French "art" cinema, but that's not a bad thing. Lots of humor (like an early scene depicting the bureaucratic ladder of the French police), some great POV camerawork, a terrific music score that bursts out at key moments, a delightful Suzy Delair as the French equivalent of Lucille Ball, and above all a totally surprising resolution that I almost guarantee you will not guess ahead of time. Highly recommended. Only flaw: a hurried final scene. *** out of 4.

This was Clouzot's directing debut, having graduated from being a screenwriter feeling that his script for Le dernier des six was implemented by Georges Lacombe to the letter, and yet not being satisfied with the result. It's a murder mystery based on a novel by the same author behind Le dernier des six, Clouzot adds comic touches which act as kindling to set the fire alight.

Stylistically they're very different, and yet it feels like Paul Verhoeven and Henri-Georges Clouzot were cut from the same philosophical cloth. It seems under-remarked upon that L'assassin habite a 21 is a pretty anti-clerical movie, there's blasphemous jokes about the celibacy of Catholic priests and the Holy Trinity. You also get the feeling, from this movie made under the Occupation, that this is a "Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right" kind of movie, where the French characters are shown with acid misanthropy, but also, that the allusions to the Nazis, really trivialise them, in the manner of Lubitsch. The final scene of the movie contains a quite hilarious snub of the Nazis that is brazen but too droll for any Nazi to catch.

Clouzot worked for Continental-Films, which was controlled by the Nazis, its chief Alfred Greven reporting directly to Max Winkler the Reichsbeauftragter (Reich Commissioner) for German films. Clouzot attended parties with Greven and his mistresses, with his own mistress Suzy Delair (Mina Milou, the female lead of this movie). I get this feeling like with some of Verhoeven's characters in Black Book, that they were riding the tiger's back, trying to survive and enjoy themselves in a world of mad people. There's a feeling when a character dies that it's a Darwinian incident, that you're an idiot if you flash money around and wander the streets at night when there is a spate of robbery homicides going on in your district.

There's a swagger to the direction of this film, a boastful assuredness that I found really refreshing. There is also a balance to the characteristic misanthropy of Clouzot's film, an offsetting humour. I think Clouzot belongs up there with Nabokov and Verhoeven as supremely competent individuals laughing in the dark. L'assassin habite a 21 was quite the guilty pleasure for me!