In the real story, the letters were signed "The Eye of the Tiger" and not "The Raven". The director chose the latter signature after the description of the accused made by a journalist during the 1922 trial: "She looks like a small bird who folded its wings." Interestingly after this movie the word "raven" stayed in the French language ("corbeau") to designate someone who sends anonymous letters. It is a very rare example of a movie expression influencing language.
The screenplay is based on a true story which took place in Tulle (Corrèze, France) in the 1920s.
When France was liberated from the German occupation, some crew and cast members of the film were suspended from working in the film industry because they had worked for Continental Films, a German company: actor Noël Roquevert was suspended for 3 months, production designer Andrej Andrejew for 9 months, actress Micheline Francey for a year, and the director Henri-Georges Clouzot for two years.
Ironically, the adaptation of the disturbing portrait of French provincial life when first proposed for production in 1937, under the Third Republic, was rejected by the censorship commission at the time. But when it was proposed again during the more repressive atmosphere of the WWII German occupation, it was accepted.
This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #227.
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