1958 - MAIGRET SETS A TRAP, character study disguised as a crime story

Inspector Maigret the famous French detective had been around since the 1930's.  The character has also been in many films almost from the start of his literary career.  Charles Laughton portrayed him in a 1950 film Man On The Eiffel Tower directed by Burgess Meredith.  In 1958, Maigret Sets a Trap showed up in America in a slick film production.

The Maigret character was played by Jean Gabin.  Gabin in his younger years was a romantic lead in films like Pépé le Moko, Port of Shadows and The Human Beast.  As Gabin grew older he took on more character driven parts as he assumed the role of "elder statesman" in the French cinema.  Gabin's take on the Maigret character is sort of a French version of Lt. Columbo, a detective who uses his brains instead of his gun etc.

In Maigret Sets a Trap the detective is after a serial killer of women.  Maigret has to match wits with the killer in the same sort of "as shucks" manner that Peter Falk did on Columbo.  Frankly the mystery and crime elements of the film are a little obvious but the entertainment value is in watching a great French actor do his acting thing.

 

This is a very good looking film with excellent black and white photography and overall an impressive studio production.  Jean Gabin went on to play the Maigret character in two more films.

The film was written by Jean Delannoy, Rodolphe-Maurice Arlaud and Michel Audiard.  the running time is 119 minutes.