Clouzot : The Early Works
A master of suspense admired even by Hitchcock, Henri-Georges Clouzot is famous for acid-tinged thrillers about cold-blooded murder and ugly politics, whether in a French town or a Latin American oil field. But his early writing career was quite different: he provided the scenarios and dialogue for ten years’ worth of clever farces and affecting melodramas, often with musical numbers. My Cousin from Warsaw, Dragnet Night, The Unknown Singer, I’ll Be Alone After Midnight, The Terror of Batignolles, Tell Me Tonight, Dream Castle
Dragnet Night (1931)
09 July, 1931
A sailor, who meets a lovely music hall singer during a police raid, falls in love. In a contest at a fair, he defeats a former boxing champ. The ex-champ trains the sailor to become a boxer. After he wins the French championship, the sailor is swayed by easy money and a sultry coquette. The singer goes on a singing tour, and the sailor falls into decadence. He enters the European championship spiritually empty and in bad condition.
I'll Be Alone After Midnight (1931)
21 August, 1931
A woman's marriage is on the rocks ; to avenge herself, she decides to take a lover for one night .So she buys all his stock from a balloon man and flies them through the Parisian sky ; all her balloons carry a message :"I will be alone after midnight" (hence the title); a lot a suitors comme to the rendezvous : a fisherman, a soldier, a traveler , a gentleman cambrioleur (a nod to Arsène Lupin?) and others ,much to Michel, a young man in love with her's displeasure.
The Unknown Singer (1931)
12 December, 1931
A singer who is believed dead returns with a decidedly different appearance. He has been in Russia and has lost his memory. But his wife still loves him.
The Terror of Batignolles (1931)
31 December, 1931
An expressionist comedy greatly influenced by German Expressionism set in a bohemian enclave of northern Paris, which Clouzot made shortly before he served as assistant director to Anatole Litvak and E.A. Dupont and began scripting French versions of German films at Berlin’s UFA studios.
My Cousin From Warsaw (1931)
10 April, 1931
Archibald Burel, a banker, has had enough of his wife cheating on him, and with his best friend Hubert into the bargain! One day he has (at least that is what he thinks!) a bright idea : he asks Sonia, his cousin living in Poland but staying in Paris at the moment, to seduce Hubert. In these conditions, how could Lucienne not fall into his arms again? Unfortunately for Archibald, things do not go (at all!) according to plan : he himself falls for Sonia while Hubert manages to reconquer Lucienne! Dispirited, Sonia decides to return to Warsaw.
Tell Me Tonight (1933)
03 February, 1933
Opera singer Enrico Ferraro, tired of his too many engagements, jumps off the train escaping from his manager and changes to another going to the Riviera. He makes a friend and stops at a village, where (it seems) he can at last have some well deserved holidays, with the added interest of meeting a beautiful girl in the surroundings.
Dream Castle (1933)
08 December, 1933
A film actress falls for an extra on her set, he turns out to be a prince.