Henri Calef

The most underrated of the French directors of the post-WW2 era ? This one,arguably.An educated man ,with a passion for history,Henri Calef (1910-1994) began his career in 1945.His second effort ("Jericho") ranked among the best French movies dealing with resistance during WW2."Les Chouans" was a fine adaptation of Balzac's novel."La Maison Sous La Mer" depicted a desperate love story ,casting against type vamp Viviane Romance ,and taking advantage of Claude Renoir's stunning cinematography."Bagarres" ,a rural chronicle, reminded the viewer of Zola's naturalism but Calef's masterpiece remained , no contest , "Eaux Troubles" a somber story filmed on location near the Mont Saint Michel using the landscapes as nobody did (or would) and containing scenes to rival the best of Duvivier or Clouzot."La Souricière " ended his heyday: a good thriller in which a young lawyer had to defend a thief who confessed he was also a murderer . Things began to deteriorate beyond that point ,although "La Passante" ,filmed on location along a canal, had its moments and " Les Amours Finissent A L'Aube " was a curious thriller in which a husband would cheat on his wife and take care of her at the same time.On the other hand ,"Ombres Et Lumières " ,starring Simone Signoret, went back to the American Freudian thrillers of the forties and seemed obsolete at time of release.But "L'Heure De Vérité" (1963) filmed on location in Israel and dealing with people still haunted by the concentration camps nearly matched the 1945-1949 brilliance .it seems best consider this movie Calef's swansong ,for his last one ,"Feminin Feminin"(1971) ,which tackled lesbianism ,was the most distressingly mediocre movie of his whole career.He called it quits afterward ,and occasionally worked for TV on historical subjects.It's obvious that Calef's best movies should be reassessed.