Quai Des Orfevres (1947)

Set during the Christmas season, an ambitious singer (Suzy Delair) married to a jealous husband (Bernard Blier) has an assignation with a lecherous businessman (Charles Dullin) who can help her career. The husband goes to the businessman's home with a gun and the intention to kill him but he finds the man already dead. He attempts to cover up his tracks but that only makes him suspicious to the police detective (Louis Jouvet) assigned to the case. Based on the novel LEGITIME DEFENSE by Stanislas Andre Steeman and directed by Henri Georges Clouzot (LE CORBEAU). Clouzot combines an intriguing police procedural murder mystery with an observant eye on the messiness of love as the odd pairing of the lovesick husband and the flirtatious wife takes center stage. Delair's Jenny Lamour may act like a tart but she truly loves her husband which is her saving grace. The police don't come off very well. Jouvet is excellent as the police detective but his character is thuggish even though the film tries to redeem him. With Simone Renant, who appears to be in love with both Blier and Delair but the film doesn't explore that possibility.