Between 1931 and 1972, Belgian author Georges Simenon wrote some 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring his famed Parisian detective Jules Maigret. Those stories have been adapted into numerous movies and a whole lot of television shows. Jean Gabin starred in three of them. The first two, Maigret Sets a Trap and Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case, were released by Kino Classics back in 2017. It has taken nearly ten years for this third film to make it to Blu-ray.
Buy Maigret Sees RedThe first two films were made back-to-back in consecutive years, by the same production company and director, while Maigret Sees Red came out four years later by a different studio and director, so this is less like the third part of a trilogy and more like yet another Maigret film with Gabin as the lead. I haven’t seen those first two films since I reviewed them nearly a decade ago (you can read those reviews here), but I think I can go on record and state that this is the worst of the bunch. Not that it is a bad film, by any means. But it does feel more like a made-for-TV production than a genuine cinematic experience.
A man is shot while walking the streets of Paris. A witness memorizes the shooter’s license-plate number before they speed away. When he sees that the man is not dead, he runs for help, but before he can make a call, another car zooms in, and two men put the fella that got shot into their car and speed away.
Maigret is on the case. He tracks the license-plate number to a car registered to Louis Pozzo (Vittorio Sanipoli), who owns a little bar and bowling alley. He gets awfully cagey when Inspector Lognon (Guy Decomble) starts asking questions. He says he rarely drives that car and always keeps it parked out back. When Lognon leaves, he is immediately picked up by three Americans who beat the living daylights out of him.
Maigret pays Pozzo a visit and discovers that he has a method of signalling a nearby apartment with his cash register. A little sleuthing and Maigret discovers the apartment. He finds Lily Laure (Françoise Fabian) living there, and she’s clearly had a couple of sleepover guests recently.
The Americans were sent to Paris by a notorious gangster to kill someone. But who could that someone be? Maigret pays a visit to an old friend, Harry McDonald (Paul Carpenter), a former FBI agent now working in the American embassy. This will provide him with enough information to track down some more clues. Those will lead him to someone else, and on and on it goes.
Maigret Sees Red is very much a police procedural. There isn’t a whole lot to the filmmaking. Maigret talks to people, gets a few answers. He sends his detectives on tasks and talks to more people. There is a bit of a shootout at the end, but mostly this is about people talking to each other. That’s not a bad thing. The talking is interesting, and it moves the investigation along. This is like a French Law & Order without the “Order” part. Or any other countless TV crime dramas.
Gabin was 58 when he made the film. He plays Maigret with the gruffness of a man who has seen it all and has grown tired. In the books, Maigret can often be brusque, but there is a kindness there as well, especially for the downtrodden and those who society has forgotten. But that seems mostly missing from this film. Again, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I enjoy different interpretations of a character.
In the end, Maigret Sees Red is a perfectly acceptable little crime drama. The story is interesting, and the acting is mostly good (the Americans are played by French actors, and their voices are poorly dubbed into English). The filmmaking is rather plain, and there isn’t anything here that rises above.
If you look at it like a TV-movie and have no higher expectations, then this is a fine little movie. If nothing else, it made me want to go back and watch Gabin’s other two Maigret films.
Kino Classics presents Maigret Sees Red with a new 4K restoration prepared by StudioCanal. It looks good, if not amazing. Extras include some trailers and a new commentary by film critic Simon Abrams.
