Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution
expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, looks to Feb. 25 for the Blu-ray
debut of French filmmaker Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1949 film adaptation (loosely
so) of Abbé Prévost’s 1731 novel “Manon Lescaut,” which arrived theatrically as
simply Manon. 1950 for the domestic theatrical release,
which arrived with some controversy.
During World War II, Clouzot continued to work in
occupied France as a filmmaker and ran afoul of both the Vichy government and
the Resistance over the release of Le Corbeau (it
is a long story not to be rehashed here), which lead to him being banned for
life from making any new films. The
banned was later reduced to two years.
Manon is
one two films that Clouzot completed in 1947 following the lifting of the
ban. The New Wave and film noir
were the trends in French filmmaking following the war, which always made
Clouzot something of an oddity. Manon is an
excellent production, but it doesn’t really fit within either movement.
He would later deliver The Wages
of Fear (1953) and Diabolique
(1955), which established him, historically-speaking, as a major post-war
French filmmaker (the New Wave
aside).
Manon is
the tale of an unredeemable and totally immoral woman by the name of Manon
(played by Cécile Aubry), who is about to be executed for collaborating with
the Nazis, when she is rescued by Robert Desgrieux (Michel Auclair), who,
during the course of the movie, will come to regret ever laying eyes on her!!
The film came before his masterpieces, but in many
ways Manon is
right there with them … and certainly worth a look if it has escaped your
notice thus far.
Bonus features include the documentary titled Bibliothèque
de Poche: H.G. Clouzot and a newly minted
featurette titled “Woman in the Dunes.”
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