http://newcritics.disqus.com/the best in web criticismenMon, 15 Sep 2008 18:11:16 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2007/10/16/the-bitter-taste-of-vichy/#comment-2365461<p>It's interesting how WWII produced so many films that take, shall we say, a jaundiced view of smll town society. In the case of Le Corbeau and Dreyer's Day of Wrath the temptation has been ever since then to ascribe this to the miasmic morality of the Nazi occupations, but WWII America produced at least two that come to mind: Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt and (even more perverse) Warner's Kings Row. It's tempting to wonder if they in any way were a reaction to the saccharine view of such a society in MGM's Andy Hardy series, The Human Comedy, et al. The, of course, there is the Hollywood remake of Le Corbeau, Otto Preminger's 1951 The 13th Letter, hich is set inFrench Canada (and a film I haven't seen). If Le Corbeau could be remade for today I woul recommend hat the potential filmmaker make use of child molestation and particularly the fear thereof, something of which it's almost as bad to be accused as to be guilty. There are moments in which Clouzot seems to suggest a king of especially vicious black comedy. That's the apporah I would like to see omebdy take to the material today. </p>RandiniMon, 15 Sep 2008 18:11:16 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2007/10/16/the-bitter-taste-of-vichy/#comment-1379795<p>Interestingly, several movies made during the Occupation had subtexts to subtle to raise the censors' attention. Of course, Marcel Carne was the champion of that genre: les enfants du paradis et les visiteurs du soir are classical examples.</p><p>IN the 1970s, you probably have seen Joseph Losey's Monsieur Klein.</p>FrenchdocTue, 16 Oct 2007 21:15:09 -0000