Christian-Jaque’s L’assassinat du Père Noël (US: Who Killed Santa Claus?) is a fascinating film. One reason is its provenance: it was the first film produced by Continental Films, the German state-owned production company formed to control French cinematic output during the Nazi occupation. (It’s impossible not to note this film’s similar theme — paranoia in a small town — to another film produced under Nazi control, Clouzot’s 1943 Le Corbeau). Another reason is its tonal and narrative disharmony: in a cozy, wintry mountain village, we experience lighthearted banter and comedic bursts alongside the impending death of a disabled, bed-ridden boy named Christian, the caroling of children like a reassuring Greek chorus while a corpse is discovered with a bullet in its head, a budding romance juxtaposed with the creepy stalking of a crazed witch figure dressed all in black. As the title suggests, the body of a man in a Santa suit is discovered on a nearby mountain ledge just after a precious jewel is stolen from the church altar, and suspicion alternately falls on some of the town’s most colorful characters: the mysterious, recently returned Baron Roland de la Fille (Raymond Rouleau); the toymaker Gaspard Cornusse (Harry Baur), whose daughter Catherine (Renée Faure) is secretly in love with the baron; the crazy, witch-like Mother Michel (Marie-Hélène Dasté), who’s constantly searching for her cat; and the pharmacist Ricoment (Jean Brochard). Thirard’s cinematography wonderfully romanticizes the town’s isolation (note the stunning sequence when the boys find the body against the backdrop of cloudy mountain peaks, as if halfway to heaven already) while experimenting with more visceral, intimate shots such as the dizzying dancing around the overwhelmed Catherine, maybe symbolizing the unnecessary chaos the town has brought upon itself.