Despite of the highly enticing promise by the poster that it would be a Giallo take on commissaire Maigret, "Maigret in Pigalle" is actually more in line with the anaemic Heinz Rühmann film than the stylish-sexy euro thrillers of Dario Argento. Actually, the death of the stripper Arlette (José Greci) who claims to have overheard a murder plot was clearly inspired by some early Mario Bava films. She is strangled while nude in the shower by a shadowy figure wearing black gloves. The entire scene is shot from the killer's POV. But the rest of the film is a disappointingly flat reconstruction of the basic plot points from Georges Simenon's classic mystery "Maigret at Picratt's".
The story still begins with Arlette reporting a murder plot in the making to the police then hurriedly recanting her testimony the next day. The same day, in fact, when she will be found strangled in her apartment. Mere hours later, however, the murder plot she claimed to have overheard comes true when a drug-addicted countess is similarly found strangled in her apartment. Commissaire Maigret (Gino Cervi) works fast and soon has a suspect in the form of a mysterious man known only as Oscar. No one knows who he is, but everyone seems to be afraid of him.
Absent from the film, however, is everything that made Simenon's novel exceptional. For one, sadly removed is the subplot which reveals that one of Maigret's colleagues was in love with the murdered girl. This subplot enriched the novel with an emotional dimension rarely present in Simenon's work. But most egregiously missing is the sleazy atmosphere of Montmartre which Simenon so vividly evokes in the novel. The Picratt Club in this movie looks like it was constructed in a tiny studio and resembles more a village hall than the red velveted palace of immorality described by Simenon.
Without these aspects which made the novel so unusual and interesting, this film remains only a decently put-together retread to a fairly standard detective plot. Maigret plods his way from one suspect to another, asks questions, gets his information and moves on. Like the club, the suspects are watered-down versions compared to the ones described in the novel. Fred - the boxer with a heart, Rosa - an elderly wife afraid of losing her much younger husband, Philippe - the homosexual drug addict, Grasshopper - an old thug in the body of a 14-year old boy etc. None of them is as distinctive and memorable in this film which turns three-dimensional characters into cardboard cutouts of their literary counterparts.
The role of Arlette, the murder victim, is somewhat beefed up through several flashbacks which in the end serve no purpose beyond dragging down the pace of the film. José Greci is a suitably attractive young woman but not much of an actress. She fails to bring to life the fascinating and irresistible headliner of the Picratt Club, a stripper who listens to Stravinsky and The Beatles.
Maigret himself is a letdown as well. Gino Cervi plays him like a grumpy comedian alternating between broad humour and neurotic shouting. He is constantly waving his hands and frowning and doesn't seem to be a very pleasant chap to spend time with. I've not seen much of Cervi's "Maigret" TV series which premiered the year before the film, but I didn't much like him there either. He lacks the quietly commanding presence needed to play the indefatigable commissaire.
I mustn't forget to mention the jarringly 60s soundtrack by Armando Trovajoli which be more fitting in a cheap sitcom than a murder mystery. Giuseppe Ruzzolini's cinematography is nicely colourful but ultimately nothing more than adequate.
"Maigret in Pigalle" is very much en-par with "Enter Inspector Maigret", the German film released the same year. They're both decently yet unimaginatively made films that are good for a TV showing yet ineptly dull for a theatrical release. There's nothing particularly cinematic in them, no imagination, no atmosphere, no character. For a rainy day, they're OK, but if you have the Simenon novel handy or anything at all better to do, don't waste your time with "Maigret in Pigalle".
