Made in France slap bang in the middle of WWII, this is a gripping tale of small town mentality and duplicity. Some character called "The Raven" is sending some pretty nasty poisoned-pen letters to the folks in the village of 'St. Robin". It's the local doctor "Germain" (Pierre Fresnay) who is bearing the brunt of these accusatory missives - mainly suggesting that he is having an illicit affair with "Laura" (Micheline Francey) who is married to the local shrink "Vorzet" (Pierre Larquey). As these letters become more and more widespread, and toxic, a tragedy ensues that focusses everyone's attention on tracking down the culprit - and that process exposes all sorts of crimes and misdemeanours. Principal amongst the suspects is the ailing (or hypochondriac) "Denise" (Ginatte leclerc) who does rather steal the show as her machinations seem to make her the obvious candidate. Is she though? Fresnay is also on great form here as the slightly aloof doctor and we gradually realise that just about nobody in this village is whom they purport to be. Henri-Georges Clouzot cleverly manipulates the cast of characters - and the audience - for ninety minutes of an intrigue that thinly disguises a degree of political commentary of Vichy France tempered with a good old-fashioned mystery that would have challenged "Sherlock Holmes". The denoument is all a wee bit rushed and slightly abrupt, but the build up is internecine and engaging and this is well worth a watch.
