A doctor at a run-down psychiatric hospital is offered a large sum of money to shelter a new patient. Soon the place is full of suspicious and secretive characters, all apparently international secret agents trying to find out who and what the patient is.
Direction
Clouzot squeezes dread from empty hallways
Acting
Ustinov's shifty charm steals every scene
Production
The hospital as rotting character itself
Director
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Curd Jürgens
Alex
Peter Ustinov
Michel Kiminsky
O.E. Hasse
Hugo Vogel
Sam Jaffe
Sam Cooper
Paul Carpenter
Col. Howard
Véra Clouzot
Lucie
Martita Hunt
Connie Harper
Gérard Séty
Dr. Malic
Clément Harari
Victor
Gabrielle Dorziat
Madame Andrée l'infirmière
Louis Seigner
Valette
Jean Brochard
Le surveillant-général
Bernard Lajarrige
Le garçon de café
Daniel Emilfork
Peterson
Sacha Pitoëff
Leon
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Clouzot filmed this during his wife Véra's declining health; her fragility in the role is devastatingly real.
Made during the Algerian crisis, the film's paranoia mirrors France's own identity fracture—everyone's a suspect when empire collapses.
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