Le Corbeau

Small town big hell

1943 French movie made under Nazi occupation. In a small town, someone's been sending anonymous "poison pen" letters accusing people of terrible things.

Reportedly, the French Resistance didn't like the movie because it portrayed the French people as jerks who sent each other poison pen letters. But French movies always make the place look like a hell hole. Police torture is routine, the juvenile courts are a nightmare and the grown-ups' courts are no picnic either. They didn't close Devil's Island until 1953 and that was only because people were noticing it wasn't that much different from a concentration camp. They openly tortured Algerians. They were chopping people's heads off until the late '70s and conducted experiments to see how long the severed heads remained alive. What exactly did these people have against Communism?

The French doctor in this movie drove a beautiful car but we don't see it again after the first scene.

The movie is pretty good. Well-made. It's a little surprising how many doctors--including a psychiatrist--the small French town has, how many children attend the school and how well-dressed everyone is. There's no mention of Nazis or the fact that the country is under occupation.