1959 - MAIGRET AND THE SAINT-FIACRE CASE aka Maigret Goes Home

Jean Gabin returns in his 2nd appearance as police inspector Julies Maigret.  Gabin's first shot as Maigret was in the film Maigret Sets a Trap which frankly wasn't much of a mystery but was watchable due to Gabin's excellent performance.  In Maigret and the Saint-Fiarce case Maigret actually has a decent mystery story line this time.

In this film Maigret returns to his hometown to help an old friend of his a countess who is living in a dilapidated chateau.  She has received a mysterious letter saying she will soon be dead.  Well as they say in the movies "we was too late."  The countess ends up dead during a church service and Maigret has to figure out if this is a murder or natural causes. Nothing like an unending Catholic Mass in Latin to kill off a member of the congregation.

The director was a man named Jean Delannoy, to say this guy was prolific is an understatement.  Delannoy started working in the French film business in 1928 and his last film was in 2003. Delannoy was apparently the working definition of a professional filmmaker.  He may not have cranked out a lot of masterpieces but he was usually a proficient craftsman.  Delannoy lived to be 100 years old.

Maigret and the Saint-Fiarce case is a good looking and well made film.  It has an excellent supporting cast who are in the service of Jean Gabin.  What can you say about Jean Gabin?  In a 50 year career in film he went from romantic lead to impressive character actor.  He worked with major directors like Jean Renoir, Julien Duvivier and Marcel Carne.  In many ways Gabin was French cinema.

The film was written by, Jean Delannoy, Rodolphe-Maurice Arlaud  and Michel Audiard, the running time is 101 minutes. 

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.