La tête d'un homme

French crime drama from director Julien Duvivier, based on a novel by Georges Simenon starrs Harry Baur as police Chief Inspector Maigret who's leading the investigation of the murder of a wealthy old woman stabbed in her home. The case leads to creepy, terminally-ill medical student Radek (Valery Inkijinoff) who sees this as his chance to a leave a mark on the world.

I was impressed by the odd-looking Inkijinoff, even if his character doesn't always quite make sense. Director Duvivier utilizes a number of novel cinematic techniques, such as, instead of having an investigator move from location to location, he is shown addressing people on a projected screen, with the projection changing locations. It's a disconcerting way of showing location changes. This was an interesting police film, a bit ahead of its time, and any chance to see Baur is worth taking.

I am a passionate Maigret enthusiast, and it was a disappointment to see the weak and charmless film that Duvivier made of one of Simenon's better novels. Harry Baur acts as though he couldn't care less about the story or his part, while Gina Manes as the cheap gold-digging mistress of a homicidal wastrel gives a very bland performance. The only spirit in the whole show comes from Valery Inkijinoff as the terminally ill killer Radek, a man who has plenty of reasons to live it up, since he's living on borrowed time. Some fine camerawork from Armand Thirard does not make this film worth seeing.

Pretty good crime/mystery. Didn't much care for Maigret being hijacked 'bout halfway through by Sadek, though. One of the hard and fast rules of movies is that if you've got a famous sleuth (Holmes, Marlowe, Poirot, Miss Marple etc) as the main character then you don't upstage him or her with a subsidiary character even if said sub character is undeniably creepily interesting as Sadek is here, with his Lorry-ish and Doestoevsky-ian intimations. I also agree with one of the previous reviewers who was underwhelmed by Harry Bauer's performance as Maigret. It's so low key that it renders the scene where he finally shows emotion at the death of a colleague, well, kinda ludicrous. However, there is no denying the gritty, tawdry atmosphere with which director Julien Duvivier manages to imbue this film. Hell, you can almost smell the Gauloises in the bar! For this, let's give it a generous B minus.

Director Julien Duvivier pulls all the stops in this Georges Simenon crime story with a dazzling display of film language and a pair of two intense performances years ahead of their time in A Man's Head. Accessing all the tools at his disposal Duvivier presents us with one very stylish mystery with some very taut moments.

Gaston Jaquet (Willy Feriere) is a near do well aristocratic poser with a greedy girlfriend (Gena Manes) who has the opportunity to off a rich relative in Versailles. They see it through and then are blackmailed by the killer (Valery Inkijinoff) who frames someone else (Alexandre Rigneault). Enter famed inspector Maigret (Harry Baur) to solve matters.

Whether it his famed close-ups or crowded canvases, Duvivier emphasizes form over content with some bravura editing and tight compositions that not only flesh out a drama but a period as well. His camera constantly on the move, his transitions varied, he gives the film a vitality and pace that never wavers.

As desperate characters Manes and Rigneault are excellent, Inkijinoff incredible in moments while Baur contributes a nice, nonplussed rumpled Maigret.

A thoroughly enjoyable crime drama from Julien Duvivier which had it all for me - the atmosphere of smoky French cafes, a clever plot with its wrinkle in a murder for hire scheme, a fantastic villain (Valéry Inkijinoff), very nice camera work and editing, and the warbling of a plaintive song by Missia, giving Édith Piaf a run for her money. It felt ahead of its time and Hitchcockian (as overused as that comparison is), but at the same time, has that wonderful sense of place in 1930s France. I loved the flirtation and the little references sprinkled into the script, e.g. to the William Desmond Taylor murder, Louis XIV's "little country cottage," and the scrawl on the wall saying "Don't shoot the piano player, he's doing the best he can." I also loved the cat and mouse game with the detective (Harry Baur). One to seek out.