The Murderer Lives at Number 21 (1942)

Inspector Wens moves into a Paris boarding house to catch a serial killer.

Director:

Henri-Georges Clouzot (as H. G. Clouzot)

Writers:

Stanislas-André Steeman (novel) (as Mr. S.A. Steemann), Henri-Georges Clouzot (adaptation) (as H.G. Clouzot)

Stars:

Pierre Fresnay, Suzy Delair, Jean Tissier

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Pierre Fresnay	...	L'inspecteur Wenceslas Wens
Suzy Delair	...	Mila Malou - la maîtresse tapageuse de Wens
Jean Tissier	...	Triquet, aka professeur Lalah-Poor
Pierre Larquey	...	Monsieur Colin
Noël Roquevert	...	Docteur Théodore Linz
René Génin	...	Alfred, l'ivrogne
Jean Despeaux	...	Kid Robert
Marc Natol	...	Armand, le valet de chambre (as Natol)
Huguette Vivier	...	Mademoiselle Vania
Odette Talazac	...	Madame Point
Maximilienne	...	Mademoiselle Cuq
Sylvette Saugé	...	Christiane Perret, la poule
Louis Florencie	...	Commissaire Monnet
André Gabriello	...	L'agent Pussot (as Gabriello)
Raymond Bussières	...	Jean-Baptiste Turlot (as Bussières)

Storyline

Dapper Inspector Vorobechik ('Wens' for short) is assigned the case of a serial killer who leaves a calling card on his victims; Monsieur Durand. Wens' mistress, struggling actress Mila Malou, determines to get publicity for herself by helping him. Learning that Durand is one of the eccentric tenants of a boarding house at No. 21 Avenue Junot, Wens takes a room in the guise of a Protestant minister; only to be followed by Mila who hardly seems like a minister's wife! Suspects are arrested, but while each is in jail, there's another murder...

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Plot Keywords:

inspector | serial killer | murder | boarding house | black and white film | 

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Taglines:

PIERRE FRESNAY as the French Dick who knew all the answers in a Merry Murder Mystery

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

16 August 1947 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Murderer Lives at #21

Company Credits

Production Co:

Continental Films, Liote

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min 79 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Wide Range Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The 100,000 francs reward for the capture of Durand was the equivalent of $88,417 at the time or about $1,300,000 in 2016.

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Goofs

Near the beginning of the film, before Wren's boss goes into his office looking for him, a clear shadow of the boom microphone is visible on the wall behind him in the hallway.

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Quotes

Mila Malou - la maîtresse tapageuse de Wens: [From the English subtitles of the French dialogue] I'll pop your blackheads to cheer you up.
L'inspecteur Wenceslas Wens: Leave me alone.
Mila Malou - la maîtresse tapageuse de Wens: Just one.
L'inspecteur Wenceslas Wens: Leave me alone!
Mila Malou - la maîtresse tapageuse de Wens: You're covered in them.
[She begins squeezing various places on his face]
Mila Malou - la maîtresse tapageuse de Wens: They'll get big and leave pocks...
L'inspecteur Wenceslas Wens: ...That hurts!
Mila Malou - la maîtresse tapageuse de Wens: Hold still. It's like vermicelli.
L'inspecteur Wenceslas Wens: You're disgusting.

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Connections

Remade as La muerte camina en la lluvia (1948)

User Reviews

Survivalist masterpiece

This was Clouzot's directing debut, having graduated from being a screenwriter feeling that his script for Le dernier des six was implemented by Georges Lacombe to the letter, and yet not being satisfied with the result. It's a murder mystery based on a novel by the same author behind Le dernier des six, Clouzot adds comic touches which act as kindling to set the fire alight.

Stylistically they're very different, and yet it feels like Paul Verhoeven and Henri-Georges Clouzot were cut from the same philosophical cloth. It seems under-remarked upon that L'assassin habite a 21 is a pretty anti-clerical movie, there's blasphemous jokes about the celibacy of Catholic priests and the Holy Trinity. You also get the feeling, from this movie made under the Occupation, that this is a "Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right" kind of movie, where the French characters are shown with acid misanthropy, but also, that the allusions to the Nazis, really trivialise them, in the manner of Lubitsch. The final scene of the movie contains a quite hilarious snub of the Nazis that is brazen but too droll for any Nazi to catch.

Clouzot worked for Continental-Films, which was controlled by the Nazis, its chief Alfred Greven reporting directly to Max Winkler the Reichsbeauftragter (Reich Commissioner) for German films. Clouzot attended parties with Greven and his mistresses, with his own mistress Suzy Delair (Mina Milou, the female lead of this movie). I get this feeling like with some of Verhoeven's characters in Black Book, that they were riding the tiger's back, trying to survive and enjoy themselves in a world of mad people. There's a feeling when a character dies that it's a Darwinian incident, that you're an idiot if you flash money around and wander the streets at night when there is a spate of robbery homicides going on in your district.

There's a swagger to the direction of this film, a boastful assuredness that I found really refreshing. There is also a balance to the characteristic misanthropy of Clouzot's film, an offsetting humour. I think Clouzot belongs up there with Nabokov and Verhoeven as supremely competent individuals laughing in the dark. L'assassin habite a 21 was quite the guilty pleasure for me!