An Inspector Maigret murder mystery which is all I needed to know to watch
it. Filmed during WWII while France was occupied by Germany. Always a tricky
proposition but Maigret was as safe as you could get. Not a German to be
seen. The production company was Continental Films, which was the only authorized
film company during the Occupation and controlled by Germany. The film is
based on a 1942 novel of the same name by Georges Simenon who had his own
murky relationship with the Germans and after the war was accused of being
a collaborator. He quickly left for the USA and lived there for ten years
before he returned to France.
Maigret is played by Albert Préjean, who was to portray the French
detective in two other films during the war. It is directed by Maurice Tourneur
who had a strange and controversial career. Best know perhaps to modern audiences
for his son Jacques Tourneur, but he was a very successful and innovative
director. He was born in France and began his career there but he moved to
America in 1914 and worked in silent films till 1929. During those years
WWI took place and the French considered him a draft dodger for not returning.
But back in France he took up directing reins and made a number of films
until 1939. Then the war came. Many French directors and actors left the
country or refused to work for the Vichy but Tourneur was to make six films
for Continental. Jews were of course not allowed to have any role in the
film making process.
The film moves along very nicely and quickly - your basic police procedural
I suppose but Maigret and the French give it a distinct flavoring which I
find appealing. It is often what is going on around the edges - conversations,
the characters who dot the landscape, the ribbing the other police give Maigret,
the Parisian streets and bars, the knickknacks in the apartments -
that make it more than just a procedural. The title is a bit of a spoiler.
Cecile (Santa Relli) is a constant annoyance to Maigret by coming into his
office and telling him that the furniture in the flat she shares with her
Aunt is moved at night. Maigret pays her little attention. A similar plot
was in Simenon's novel Maigret and the Mad Woman published in 1970. He is
called to a murder - a woman has been killed and her head taken away. It
ends up being tied back to Cecile where another murder is committed. Maigret
and his portly assistant rush about rousting suspects as he plays both bad
cop and good cop. He can be charming when needed and withering to the bone.
The French do Maigret right. The ones starring Jean Gabin in the 1950s are
very good.
