Police judiciaire

Very close ,in its structure and its approach ,to Hervé Bromberger's "Identité Judiciaire" (1951) ,"Police Judiciaire " has a prominent documentary side;it's not a detective who solves the puzzle;it is a whole team,helped by laboratories,punch cards (!) and witnesses who finally succeeds ;the main story is a whodunit and if the audience guess who the culprit is long before the end ,it does not matter ,for it is the way they investigate that gives the movie substance.

Probably influenced by "detective story" (1952), the movie had big ambitions: around a double murder in a crummy hotel,there are three other investigations ,but the director is not William Wyler and it falls a bit flat ,except for the mini-plot of Daniel Cauchy and his father ,but this is too underwritten .

Anne Vernon is cast against type as a hooker (who claims she is an artist) ."Go and play "Phaedra" at the Comédie Française!" said ironically the detective (Yves Vincent).