The chief of cabinet has asked Jules Maigret to travel to Belgium where his brother-in-law has been involved in a murder story, the judge declared that was an accident but still people are accusing Mr. Naud to have killed the young foremen.Jules Maigret arrives and notices the presence of a former police inspector,M.Cavre at the railway station and later at the houses of some witnesses.Maigret knows the family of Mr. Naud, the daughter who escapes in the night for a date,the friend who plays tennis with the daughter.In the village there is wall of silence about the death of the young man.
I envoyed very much this description of the rich family and of the local high society (the tolerance of the wifes about the love affairs of their husbands) and the play of Maigret with his former colleague.
3 Reviews
Maigret Plays Away
Tony-Holmes27 December 2023
Saw this on the Talking Pictures channel (UK - old films and TV). We've previously seen the original UK Maigret (Rupert Davies, 50+ BBC Episodes), also the excellent Michael Gambon (ITV, 12 episodes), and the less credible Rowan Atkinson (also ITV, 5 or so episodes up to almost 2 hours long).
These French films are a bit of an acquired taste, almost 2 hours long and not always keeping strictly to the book, but this one I don't recall the book, so it may have been accurate?!
The synopsis on here is valid, Maigret has no authority in Belgium, but the sister of a high-ranking superior in the Ministry has asked for help to dispel some rumours about her Belgian husband (is he a murderer?), so he gets sent on a small 'holiday' to find out what he can.
He soon finds out the couple's daughter is less innocent than they think, has a few boy and man friends, was the dead young man one? It seems the guy was popular with women, so he likely was, but who would have wanted him dead?
Assuming it WAS a murder (??), there are few credible suspects, but a subplot has what is now a private detective buying the silence of witnesses, he used to work for Maigret, who had him sacked after a terrible mistake in an investigation.
Maigret makes a breakthrough when he discovers that the local postwoman cum telephonist (this IS set in the 50s!) likes to listen in to phone calls after she has made the connection, so, just what has she heard from the relevant parties?!
As often the case with Maigret, Simenon places some good contrasts between the poorer folk in the area, and the 'nobs' in the big houses, who have lots of problems that money cannot always fix!
The acting is pretty good, and it seems the daughter is making her first appearance, so congrats to the director for getting such a good performance?!
These French films are a bit of an acquired taste, almost 2 hours long and not always keeping strictly to the book, but this one I don't recall the book, so it may have been accurate?!
The synopsis on here is valid, Maigret has no authority in Belgium, but the sister of a high-ranking superior in the Ministry has asked for help to dispel some rumours about her Belgian husband (is he a murderer?), so he gets sent on a small 'holiday' to find out what he can.
He soon finds out the couple's daughter is less innocent than they think, has a few boy and man friends, was the dead young man one? It seems the guy was popular with women, so he likely was, but who would have wanted him dead?
Assuming it WAS a murder (??), there are few credible suspects, but a subplot has what is now a private detective buying the silence of witnesses, he used to work for Maigret, who had him sacked after a terrible mistake in an investigation.
Maigret makes a breakthrough when he discovers that the local postwoman cum telephonist (this IS set in the 50s!) likes to listen in to phone calls after she has made the connection, so, just what has she heard from the relevant parties?!
As often the case with Maigret, Simenon places some good contrasts between the poorer folk in the area, and the 'nobs' in the big houses, who have lots of problems that money cannot always fix!
The acting is pretty good, and it seems the daughter is making her first appearance, so congrats to the director for getting such a good performance?!
" . . . he was the intruder, the undesirable."
garywhalen20 April 2024
Twice I have read George Simenon's Maigret novel "Inspector Cadavor" and both times-years apart-I felt the same about it: three-fourths of the way through the story I'm bored, finding dialogue, place descriptions, and character movement overly tedious, but then I get to the final fourth of the book and I'm engrossed as I begin to feel the weight of the story and imagine the life of these characters. As I began to watch this episode, I was anxious to see how the filmmakers handle this story. And in particular, will they be faithful to the book's ending?
While the film includes the general flow and plot of the source material it does noticeably deviate (and I wonder how Simenon purists might react). The deviations are obvious to anyone who's read the book but they're not destructive to the original story. A young man is dead, believed to have been drunk when he stepped into the path of an oncoming train. For several reasons the common folk of the town feed on the rumors that the young man was actually murdered and, in fact, murdered by one of the richer men (a Mr. Naud) in the area. Maigret is asked to make an unofficial visit and see if he can quell the rumors. And visit, he does.
Maigret, being there unofficially and thus without the gravitas of his "inspector" title, is dismissed by many in the town who see him as someone there to protect the rich and put a rubber stamp on the official report of death by accident. But Maigret, who had little desire to investigate, is quickly pulled into the flow of events as he sees a former inspector (referred to as Inspector Cadaver, a play on his name of Cavre) getting off the same train at the same station of a small town. Why is he here? Knowing that Cavre is now a private investigator and having a low opinion of Cavre leads Maigret to believe there is more to this story than originally thought.
The film changes some of the plot points and to overcome the novel's slow buildup the filmmakers have frontloaded many of the important facts in the first half of the episode. Does it work? I think so, though I do think too much is given away too soon, and then the ending is rushed as well. Also, there's a bicycle race (not in the book) that seems out of place. Still, this is a solid entry in this Maigret series. Oh, so is the film faithful to the book's ending? Yes, yes it is.
While the film includes the general flow and plot of the source material it does noticeably deviate (and I wonder how Simenon purists might react). The deviations are obvious to anyone who's read the book but they're not destructive to the original story. A young man is dead, believed to have been drunk when he stepped into the path of an oncoming train. For several reasons the common folk of the town feed on the rumors that the young man was actually murdered and, in fact, murdered by one of the richer men (a Mr. Naud) in the area. Maigret is asked to make an unofficial visit and see if he can quell the rumors. And visit, he does.
Maigret, being there unofficially and thus without the gravitas of his "inspector" title, is dismissed by many in the town who see him as someone there to protect the rich and put a rubber stamp on the official report of death by accident. But Maigret, who had little desire to investigate, is quickly pulled into the flow of events as he sees a former inspector (referred to as Inspector Cadaver, a play on his name of Cavre) getting off the same train at the same station of a small town. Why is he here? Knowing that Cavre is now a private investigator and having a low opinion of Cavre leads Maigret to believe there is more to this story than originally thought.
The film changes some of the plot points and to overcome the novel's slow buildup the filmmakers have frontloaded many of the important facts in the first half of the episode. Does it work? I think so, though I do think too much is given away too soon, and then the ending is rushed as well. Also, there's a bicycle race (not in the book) that seems out of place. Still, this is a solid entry in this Maigret series. Oh, so is the film faithful to the book's ending? Yes, yes it is.
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