Cécile est morte!

Kino Lorber has once again done a fine job with this restoration; the b/w cinematography comes through with utmost clarity in this Blu-ray reissue. The performances by Germaine Kerjean as the greedy aunt and Jean Brochard as the crooked charity worker are excellent, so to is that by Santa Relli as the hapless Cecile. The problem lies with Prejean's Maigret, always sarcastic and bullying, the opposite of the Maigret of the novels. I guess the scriptwriter had to pay tribute to Prejean's working class background--he'd been a boxer and stunt man--but it's hard for me to accept. Gabriello's character is blown out of proportion, he's given lines to say that just don't fit Lucas' role in the novel. If you can ignore these flaws, you'll enjoy a good story.

This is a fairly routine sort of Maigret, but with many nice touches to keep the spectator's attention. Cécile has often seen Maigret to complain about mysterious nocturnal goings-on in the apartment she shares with her elderly aunt, to the extent that she's become a standing joke with Maigret's subordinates, but so far the police found no sign of wrong-doing. Then the aunt is found murdered and Cécile goes missing, only to turn up dead in a broom cupboard in the Palace of Justice. Embarrassing for the police, but it gives Maigret an excuse to shift his attention from a tedious surveillance operation elsewhere and dig into the backgrounds of the miserly aunt and her downstairs neighbour, a shady debarred lawyer from Fontenay-le-Comte.

Sad, but ain't sadness the specter of vice?! The concept that these are 'psychological mysteries' is an apt one. It's also a very fast movie, you won't feel that you've wasted any time on it. There isn't a particularly fascinating plotline. The ending, however, surprises and sounds realistic. Of course there are a few ellipses along the development of the plot. Of course Maigret mopes around a lot of the time with his hands in his pockets, arguing with suspects like a grumpy old grandpa. Of course there is a strong sense of established character here: you are expected to watch this movie knowing that Maigret is who he is, and you watch it because you expect him to behave in a very certain way. Which he does.

Although it's talky and overlong, even at 82 minutes, I found "Cécile est morte!" a slight improvement over its immediate predecessor, "Picpus", because the story is more engaging and it does keep you guessing what the hell is going on! (it even involves a headless corpse). In addition to the mystery, there is a sizable amount of black humor ("she was all heart, no head") and some amusing supporting characters, most notably a Lolita-like teenage girl who keeps coming on to Maigret (and other men), and who is - daringly - played by an actual 15-year-old (at the time) actress. **1/2 out of 4.

This is possibly the most interesting Maigret film I have seen, and I have seen very many. Albert Préjean plays Maigret, and I do not think he was particularly good. But the rest of the film has marvellous qualities. Made in difficult conditions under the Nazi occupation, the film is wholly non-political and hence was permitted to go ahead. It is one of Simenon's most intriguing stories, with some truly bizarre plot twists. The film gives a wonderful depiction of Paris life and characters at that time, and there are delightful touches of quirky humour throughout. An outrageously funny performance by a 15 year-old girl, Liliane Maigné, is a priceless recurring background theme throughout the story. The director Maurice Tourneur shows his famous touch of genius in many ways, by injecting satire and wit into what is a tangle of mystery and murder. His expressionist background means that his interiors have all the right shadows, and even shooting up a boring stairway manages to contains three figures at three levels between the shadows and sinister lighting. Paris at this time is shown as dingy and run-down, exactly as it was under the Ocupation. I have not seen such an authentic Maigret film before. Simenon must have loved it. Ever since his early silent film days, Tourneur had been interested in detective stories, and this inclination shows with his obvious affection for this detective tale. For those who may be confused by the surname, this is Maurice Tourneur, who was the father of the better known Jacques Tourneur. Both were brilliant directors. This film was restored in 2019 and is of good viewing quality. See it if you can.

While screenwriter Jean-Paul Le Chanois' previous Maigret adaptation, 1943's "Picpus", examined the unusual intuition-based methods of Georges Simenon's famous literary commissaire, "Cecile Is Dead", his second Maigret film, finds a starting point in the consequences of his fame. As one of Paris' most successful and senior police officers, in charge of all the most sensational criminal investigations, Maigret is a darling of the press and consequently the public. "You're as famous as a movie star," says his boss (Marcel André). An unwanted side-effect of this fame, however, is that Maigret is constantly beset by all kinds of kooks and paranoids with nothing better to do than look over their shoulders at imaginary criminals just waiting to kill them.

One such kook is Cécile Pardon (Santa Relli), a spinster living with her elderly aunt (Germaine Kerjean) whom everyone at the police station believes is in love with Maigret. Every few days, she makes her regular visits to the station demanding to speak to the commissaire urgently. She is certain that someone is breaking into her apartment every night for whenever she wakes she finds her belongings moved around. But Maigret is too busy dealing with another sensational case, the beheading of a young woman, to deal with Cécile's paranoid claims and is furthermore deeply embarrassed by the endless teasing from his colleagues.

Then, one day, Cécile is found dead. Strangled and dumped in a closet in the very police station she sought solace in. Realising they were wrong about Cécile and her claims, the same inspectors who laughed at her led by Maigret himself now put all their experience and skills to work to find the ruthless killer who murdered Cécile, her aunt, and who might be the same person who decapitated the young woman.

Learning his lesson after the confusing and overstuffed "Picpus", Jean-Paul Le Chanois sticks very close to the plot of Georges Simenon's novel. The simple, yet effective narrative is clearly told in an engaging and pacy manner. Some issues inherent in many films of the era are present, such as overly talky scenes and awkward attempts at humour, but ultimately this is a well-told story.

The side is let down, however, by Maurice Tourneur's lacklustre, workaday direction. In one of the last movies he ever made, the experienced silent movie director shows little flair for atmosphere or drama. His shots are static and unimaginative and not helped by his stagy blocking. The director of "Carnival of Sinners" brings none of the expressionistic style on display in that film instead opting to make a rather visually dull and old-fashioned film. Unlike "Picpus", directed by Richard Pottier, which was clearly influenced by film noir, "Cecil Is Dead" resembles more an early talkie.

Tourneur also seems to have encouraged rather theatrical performances from his actors. This method works in some cases and fails in others. Germaine Kerjean and Yves Deniaud, for instance, give good comedic performances as the grumpy old aunt and her sleazy cousin, respectively. They are broad and farcical, but consistently funny. Not as good, however, is André Reybaz as the old woman's destitute nephew. He overacts so much and hits so many false notes he seems more like an extra from "Metropolis" than someone starring in a contemporary picture almost 20 years later. His is the kind of performance that gave silent movies a bad name. Santa Relli, on the other hand, gives an unusually subdued and realistic turn as the mocked Cécile which helps her character stand out as the only sane person in a family of caricatures.

At the centre of it all is Albert Préjean. I very much liked his performance in "Picpus" when he was allowed to play a William Holden-like charmer, a suave bruiser in the quest for justice. Now, in a film with no noirish elements, he gives a more subdued and forgettable performance. His Maigret here is more surly and less charming which consequently makes him a lot less likeable. He seems a little ill at ease in this old-fashioned movie. However, Préjean still possesses a captivating screen presence and is still fun to watch even when he seems to be holding back on the very characteristics that made him a star.

Compared with "Picpus", "Cecile Is Dead" is a less inventive and atmospheric movie but its story is significantly better told and the overall tone is much closer to Georges Simenon's original. In the end, I really did enjoy this movie, finding its story captivating, its characters well-rounded, and the performance of Santa Relli genuinely likeable. The script by Jean-Paul Le Chanois offers a new perspective on Maigret and the day-to-day workings of the police force. I just wish it had been directed with the same flair and visual inventiveness as the first movie.