by Ted Davis

Directed by: Julien Duvivier

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: A rich widow is murdered in a provincial French town, and eccentric and unpopular Monsieur Hire (Michel Simon), a conspicuous loner, is suspected of the crime. The actual murderer, low-life habitual criminal Alfred Chartier (Paul Bernard), with the assistance of his submissive and besotted girlfriend Alice (Viviane Romance), plots to spark the barely suppressed lynch mob mentality of the townsfolk against Hire.

Purr Blur: As Alice climbs the stairs to the landing of the mysterious Dr. Varga’s office, a vocal cat is also descending a set of stairs to the same landing, but doesn’t quite reach the floor.

Final Mewsings: Maybe those loner cats have the right idea when they avoid humanity.

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