The Murderer Lives at 21 (L'assassin habite... au 21) Blu-Ray Review

The Murderer Lives at 21 is the debut feature film by legendary French director Henri-Georges Clouzot. He would later make such masterpieces as The Wages of Fear and Les Diabloiques. He was the envy of Alfred Hitchcock who wished he made Les Diabloiques, so much so he commissioned the writers of the source novel to write Vertigo for him.

The basic story of The Murderer Lives at 21 is that murder/thief is stalking the streets of Paris. He leaves a calling card with “Monsieur Durand” at the scene of each crime. The inspector on the case gets a hot tip that he is living at the boarding house at 21 Avenue Junot. He decides to go under cover as a priest to trying to solve the crime and end this terror.

The film is a solid whodunit. It’s no masterpiece but for fans of Clouzot and French crime cinema of the 40s and 50s it’s a welcome re-release. It does however has a great sense of paranoia which certainly reflects the Nazi occupation of France. It does jump from a comedy to noir quite freely which doesn’t quite work but it’s a fascinating film that bridges the gap between French poetic realism and later film noir.

The film has been widely unavailable in Britain or the United States for a long time while most of Clouzot’s other work is widely available. It’s a breath of fresh air that the always reliable Masters of Cinema has released on both blu-ray and dvd with a strong transfer taken from Gaumont’s restoration and some supplementary features.

★★★★1/2

Ian Schultz

Rating: PG
BD/DVD Release Date: 20th May 2013 (UK)
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Cast: Pierre Fresnay,
Buy: Blu-ray / DVD