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This is a pretty monumental film, impressing with clarity of picture, busyness of street action and immediacy of plot development right from the start. Indeed this, beautifully photographed film engages from the beginning and roars along from scene to scene and image to image to inform in the most economical of ways before gradually slowing down as the story deteriorates into something quite terrible. Viviane Romance plays the leading lady, who is anything but, with great style but is this true love? Or is this sheer greed or even true hatred that leads to such panic. The sad, suspenseful ending reminded me of Frankenstein's monster, Quasimodo and even poor old King Kong but the true aim here by the writer Simenon in his original book is surely his own country folk and their disgraceful behaviour during WW2. Frighteningly effective cinema.

Michel Simon plays with a lot of subtelty a very recognizable type of human being.Very modern acting on his part. The supporting cast plays in this eccentric manner that characterizes French cinema of this era and they are very good.Totally enjoyable movie.Great direction by Duvivier.It deserves to be a classic.It deserves to be on DVD.

Although sound and picture quality are abysmal, as in a lot of French films from the 1940's, I do enjoy watching this film for its acting and also for the message it delivers. A murder has been committed in a sector of Paris and all eyes are drawn towards a solitary old gentleman, a slightly eccentric person living in the neighbourhood who had had some contact with the murdered girl (but who is not her murderer). The main object of the film is not "who dunnit" but rather that of painting a portrait of human nature as portrayed by local residents in their attitude of designating Mr Hire, as the man is named as being the obvious guilty party. One can not but have symapthy with the poor old gentleman who is sweet as a church mouse but who, it is true, does have some eccentric habits. Basically speaking, he who is different from the mass is vilipended by that mass at the first opportunity. Thankfully in the end, the real murderer is found, but meanwhile, Mr Hire's character has been blackened ! A remake of the film was made in the 1990's under the title "Monsieur Hire". The original Monsieur Hire was played in 1946 by the great Michel Simon ( an actor whom I adore ). The Monsieur Hire of the 1990's was played by Michel Blanc, more known for comic or semi-comic roles but who nevertheless delivers an excellent performance for this role !

In a tight-knit Parisian neighbourhood, a murder has taken place. Gossip leads to the belief that the murderer is Monsieur Hire (Michel Simon), an unsociable outsider.

As murder mysteries go, this one is unique and fascinating. The murderer is revealed early in the film. What takes place from then on is even more intriguing than most other murder stories.

Most fascinating is the portrayal of Hire - both as played by Simon and as written by Julien Duvivier (the film's director) and Charles Spaak. One can easily see why he is unlikeable in various scenes; yet, he is admirable for acting confidently and morally when he is unfairly treated with contempt by those who have much less character than he has. While anti-Semitism does not seem to be behind the mistrust of Hire, he is further isolated as he is the only Jew in the neighbourhood. The viewer also learns of Hire's isolation beginning in childhood even within his own family.

These opposite feelings toward this character are part of the richness of this story. While we feel great sympathy for him by the conclusion, a shocking revelation at the end leaves the viewer with other feelings: it seems that in Hire's extreme isolation from community standards, his actions and inactions contributed to his own problems.

There is also a theme about loners that goes beyond Hire. Two other characters seem to possess this trait. One is a clever detective who is very observant and is not in the least swayed by mob mentality. The other is the murder victim herself as the tributes to her mention that she more or less kept to herself.

As a director, Duvivier has done a superb job in keeping the suspense alive leading to a shocking crowd scene at the end that has culminated as the result of a vile mob mindset looking for a scapegoat. While there is so much to praise about "Panique", its greatest asset is how much it leaves one thinking after its completion. - dbamateurcritic

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS:

1) Directing by Julien Duvivier 2) Screenplay by Julien Duvivier and Charles Spaak (based on the novel "Les Fiançailles de M. Hire" by Georges Simenon 3) Acting by Michel Simon.

Anti-social Michel Simon (M Hire) gradually becomes suspect number one for a murder that has occurred in a small French town. He is disinterested in making friends with anyone and keeps himself to himself until Viviane Romance (Alice) arrives in town. She's been in prison serving time for a crime committed by her boyfriend Paul Bernard (Alfred) who also resides in the town. The police know she didn't commit the crime and are watching her. Simon has a trick up his sleeve but can he break the love bond between Romance and Bernard?

Nobody likes a busy-body - I have one as a neighbour. She hides down the side by her front door and waits there to pounce on us when we arrive at our house by car. All of a sudden, it's "Oh hello!" She doesn't realize we can see her feet waiting there before she casually greets us as if we all just happen to be in the same place at once. And, my God is she a crashing bore with her tales of her family and all the local gossip. We are not interested. Well, Michel Simon is the opposite to that - he keeps himself to himself and you really do warm to him throughout the film. By the end of the film you are urging him on in the terrible situation he finds himself in. Only Viviane can save him.

The cast are good in this tale of murder that grips you and keeps your attention throughout. The dialogue is also very funny in places, especially from the anti-social Michel Simon. I love how he handles the police when interviewed. And check out his confrontation with Bernard - it's genius! He is one cool customer and by this time, the audience really like him.

Back to my neighbours, we have another couple who have recently moved opposite us and they are even worse. They want to socialize at every opportunity and it is just not on!

Just as 'Voici les temps des assassins' is Julien Duvivier's best film of the fifties, this must surely be his finest of the forties. I would go so far as to say this is one of the greatest films made by any director in any decade. This adaptation by Charles Spaak of Georges Simenon's novel of 1933 differs slightly from the original novel in which Monsieur Hire is a petty crook of Jewish origin who is under police surveillance for the murder of a young prostitute. In this version he is a highly intelligent, bookish, unsociable loner. This of course makes him an obvious target for the petty, small-minded mediocrities who inhabit the town. Made so soon after the end of the German occupation this film is redolent of collaboration, denunciation and scapegoating. One of the most terrifying of lines is spoken by the loud mouthed, rabble-rousing butcher: 'If there is a black sheep in the flock you slaughter it'. Even by Michel Simon's standards his characterisation of the kind and tragically misunderstood Monsieur Hire is superlative and represents film acting at its very best. Viviane Romance and Paul Bernard excel as the utterly loathsome Alice and Alfred whose machinations cause his downfall. Technically the film is faultless with never a wasted shot and building to a thrilling climax. Mention must be made of Duvivier's preferred editor Marthe Poncin. Behind the camera is Nicholas Hayer who also shot that other masterpiece of mob misrule 'Le Corbeau'. Like Clouzot's film this is dark and deeply cynical and reflects Duvivier's own view 'that we are far from people who love each other'. If any film deserves full marks then it must surely be this.

With an interesting story and some good suspense, this mystery/thriller works pretty well despite a lack of any particularly appealing characters. At the beginning, it sets up a complicated situation, and builds at a good pace to lead up to a tense finale. It has quite a low-budget look to it, but with a story of this kind, sometimes that actually fits in rather well.

There is a lot going on right from the beginning. In a neighborhood where a murder has just been committed, there is a young woman coming home from prison, seeking out the lover for whom she took the blame. There is also an unpopular and eccentric resident whom no one can figure out. These and other characters soon get involved in a lengthy cat-and-mouse game that keeps things interesting the rest of the way. It would be even more compelling if at least some of the characters were a little easier to sympathize with, but the story itself is enough to hold your attention. One slight drawback - not a fault of the original film-makers - is that the titles (at least on the English version that seems to be available) are very light and often hard to read, so you miss a few things, unless by chance your French is sharp enough to catch everything.

Overall, it's above average for its genre. If you enjoy film noir or older thrillers, and don't mind a low-budget style, this one should be worth a look.

Just few movies allow me say that Julien Duvivier is already enough to put this French director in a high pedestal, what a movie!!! A lonely mid age man quiet (Michael Simon) monsieur Hire was strongly stigmatized by his neighbors for his odd behavior, reserved, a true smooth guy who hide a bitter past, caught in a sudden love with a newcomer beauty girl Alice (Viviane Romance), she fits perfect to him, meanwhile she very youngest and already has an bedfellow, the swindler Alfred Chartier (Paul Bernard), she was arrested for him almost a year, now together she discovers that he killed an old woman to steal his money, worst Hire knows everything, Alice and Alfred use a unusual wisdom to set up to Mr. Hire, scattering gossips thru the distrustful neighbors, becomes in a true hysteria, fabulous well-crafted concept to expose the real human nature and a strong social criticism, a near masterpiece from this outstanding Julien Duvivier!!!

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First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 9.25

Julien Duvivier was a very capable director who left some fine films--Carnet de bal is one of my favourites, and La belle equipe is a pleasure--but I never thought of him as the equal of Renoir, Clair or Carne. Panique is a solid work that satisfies us; the performances rise to greatness with Simon and Bernard, and the mise-en-scene is very assured. The only cavil I have is with the crowd scenes: they are just not very interesting and do not increase our involvement with the story. Simenon's novel is a character study, not a work of sociology; we don't need to know what the crowd wants.

Michel Simon was a great actor and here he's at his peak. Dryly humorous, love-struck, violent and tough, it's a memorable performance. Viviane Romance was the great vamp of French pre- and post war film, and she gives a lot of vitality to Alice, the girl who gives herself completely to the worthless Alfred. Max Dalban as the bigoted butcher has some very effective scenes. Finally Paul Bernard is splendid as the thuggish Alfred. He made Madeleine Renaud's life miserable in Lumiere d'ete, he dumped Maria Casares in Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (and was paid back royally for his stupidity): truly, Bernard was one of the great stars of the time.

Returning to France after spending the war in Hollywood, Duvivier bravely tackled this Simenon story about a persecuted (Jewish) outsider accused of a crime he did not commit. The idea of scapegoating, of minorities being denounced to the authorities, must have been a sensitive one in France just after the occupation. The protagonist, Monsieur Hire, is played by the great Michel Simon (why do boxers make great actors?), and the lovers who frame him are physically attractve yet morally repellant. The suspense at the end will mess you up. There's a gorgeous love scene before a church in the snow. The resolution has the same sense of bleak irony as LES DIABOLIQUES - evil triumphs, then is punished. A bit like World War Two?

Panique is a grim little masterpiece, the kind that doesn't just tell you a story but buries you in it, leaving you with a lump in your throat and the creeping feeling that humanity, once gathered in a group, turns feral fast. Duvivier, with his unflinching gaze and fatalistic tone, delivers a bleak portrait of existence-where action is futile, destiny is merciless, and any attempt at escape is a joke at your expense.

Set in a dreary Paris suburb, the film traps its characters in confined spaces-rooms with low, oppressive ceilings that feel less like homes and more like prison cells. It's not just claustrophobic visually; it's existentially suffocating. There's no horizon here, no hope-just narrow streets, narrow minds, and narrower chances.

From the window of his tiny flat, Monsieur Hire watches his new neighbor Alice (Viviane Romance) as she undresses in her bedroom. Like the rest of the neighborhood, his view of others is partial and distorted. But what he can't see, he fills in with fantasy. He imagines her kind, pure, a victim of her criminal boyfriend. It's all in his head, of course. That's another trap: the dream of salvation through someone else.

And then there's the mob. The mob is a constant in Duvivier's worldview-brutal, irrational, unforgiving. Here, it's not just a backdrop but a force of nature, devouring reason and decency in one savage gulp. There's no justice, only bloodlust disguised as righteousness. In Panique, goodness doesn't triumph. It doesn't even get a fighting chance.

Duvivier isn't here to comfort you. He's here to remind you that the world is cruel, that most people are worse, and that if you're looking for a way out, you're probably already too late.

"If there is a black sheep in the flock, you slaughter it."

In a small town in France, an erudite loner (Michel Simon) photographs the downtrodden in life and enjoys the finer things, like a nice cut of bloody meat from the local butcher. He's a visitor to the town who's decided to stay for three years, but most of the townsfolk dislike him, with one neighbor telling her daughter to stay away from him. Meanwhile, a crook (Max Dalban) is surprised when his lover (the radiant Viviane Romance) shows up earlier than he'd expected. She had been in prison, you see, serving time for a crime he committed. The town is then stirred up by the discovery that a woman has been murdered in a vacant lot, setting in motion an investigation that is soon derailed by a mob's mentality that isn't all that interested in a careful examination of the facts. Further tension comes from a love triangle formed between the three principals; the outsider has become smitten with the young woman after seeing her in her lingerie ala Rear Window.

There's a lot to love about this film - the story is tight, its black & white cinematography is wonderful, and the message of the danger of a mob, which is so easily fooled by a little misdirection, is on point. Viviane Romance is fantastic here, flirting with her lover, recounting her time behind bars while lying in his arms after sex, and quietly becoming aghast when he confesses his latest crime. It's not clear where her motivations are going to go from there, and the degree to which she's conflicted is played perfectly by Romance. In one scene where she's sitting at face to crotch level, she works her charms on the outsider by briefly showing a nipple and hiking her skirt up her thigh. There are certainly noir overtones to her character and the feel of the film, and a level of suspense on a par with Hitchcock. I also loved the little details from the carnival, like the bumper car footage which foreshadows the town's cruelty to the outsider, and the crassness of the women's wrestling match ("The real deal! No fake boobs! No false calves!").

What takes the film to the next level, however, is its context. It's not important to the story but adds considerable depth to its meaning to know that the character of the loner is Jewish (his last name is revealed to be Hirovitch), and that the story was written at a time when the French were collaborating with their Nazi occupiers. What happens to him is chilling regardless, but it's also laced with this biting commentary about French complicity, and of course, about humanity at large. It's just great stuff from Julien Duvivier - and I loved his final bit of irony, the singer who croons "One day, maybe all of mankind shall walk united, hand in hand, love, love, the beauty of the world" after we've seen his real views.

In his small town just outside of Paris, Monsieur Hire (Michel Simon) is considered a bit of an oddity by the locals. Hire makes no attempt to close the gap and mostly keeps to himself. He meets and falls deeply for a woman (Vivianne Romance) however and it will lead into deep trouble for him. When a well known woman is murdered his odd ways are magnified and a witch hunt begins.

French director, Julien Duvivier, who waited the Occupation out in Hollywood promptly returned to his homeland and threw shade at the French with this indictment en masse of a town in search of a scapegoat. A work of the poetic realism movement, Duvivier strings together scene after scene of gracefully lit, sharply edited suspenseful and tender moments that actually culminates with an actual cliffhanger.

Simon is superb. At first cooly dismissive then painfully vulnerable as he falls for Romance. Romance also makes for a fascinating fatale, more capable of feeling guilt than cold bloodedness. The callous town folk, led by Rita Lecio also make for some excellent hypocritical caricatures in a film that is both murder mystery and possibly a recent mirror to history.

Only 24 reviews for such a great movie? This is sad.

PANIQUE is an amazing crime/drama, with emphasis on the "drama" element. This is not an action movie, with gangsters killing each other. This is a classy/sophisticated piece of art, dealing with issues as lust/passion/corruption/deceit/herd mentality etc. It's multilayered, covering a lot of ground of the "human situation". There are some unexpected turns ("turn" is more proper word than "twist") and it will surprise the viewer. I am being vague in order for not spoiling it, you should watch it without knowing anything about the plot.

Viviane Romance and Michel Simon are magnificent. I remember Simon from another great movie i watched recently (PORT OF SHADOWS), wow, what an actor! Vivian Romance did the unthinkable : Acting wise, she was equal to him.

Not much to say, just watch it if you are a cinephile or if you got tired with cinema mediocrity and you want to cleanse your soul.

I recently watched Monsieur Hire and I discovered that it is a remake of Panique. Michel Simon is Hire, a loner who is disliked due to his distance from others. He meets Alice(Viviane Romance), a femme fatal with a shady past. Her boyfriend is a lowlife criminal and together they set up Hire. The film is a true black and white film noir and a very good one. I recommend watching in chronological order.