Prolific Belgian novelist Georges Simenon introduced Inspector Jules Maigret to the world in 1931. Film makers were quick to spot the potential but Simenon was deeply disappointed with the first two adaptations, one of which, 'Nuit au Carrefour' was directed by Jean Renoir with his brother Pierre as Maigret.
Simenon was perfectly happy for Renoir to reprise the role in the proposed film of his 'Battle of Nerves' but Simenon himself wanted to direct! Unsurpisingly this idea was knocked on the head. Simenon and Renoir were out and in came Julien Duvivier and Harry Baur who had already made three films together. The title was changed to 'A Man's Head.'
From the opening shot of Madame la Guillotine one is gripped. Duvivier has used this story as a means of conveying his bleak view of the human condition.
No adaptation of Maigret, to my knowledge, has succeeded so well in capturing the seediness of demi-monde Montmartre where morally ambiguous characters exist as best they can. This is Film Noir in all but name. The director is aided in this by the art direction of Georges Wakhevitch, for some reason 'uncredited' and his preferred cinematographer at the time Armand Thirard. There is also an inspired use of the voice of chanteuse Damia whose songs are redolent of loss.
Some have criticised the film for making the Maigret of Harry Baur a secondary character to the murderer Radek of Valery Inkijinoff. This is however reminiscent of the relationship between Inspector Porfiry Petrovich and Raskolnikov in 'Crime and Punishment' and is just as effective. As in Dostoevsky's masterpiece all that Maigret has to do is to bide his time and give Radek enough rope. Ironically Bauer was to play Porfiry for Pierre Chenal in 1935.
Inkijinoff excels in the challenging and psychologically complex role of a man under sentence of death from Tuberculosis who has nothing to lose by killing for money and then blackmailing the man who hired him. His one grip on life comes in the shape of his unrequited passion for the Edna of Gina Manes. After a while however his character becomes rather tiresome and one longs for him to be put out of his misery. Mlle Manes, although not a conventional beauty, has sexual charisma in spades and Duvivier has made wonderful use of her eyes, by turns seductive and cunning.
There are two masters at work here. Duvivier, a master of film-making and Bauer, a master of film acting. French cinema has always been more about character than plot and here director and cast are in their element.
Heaven only knows what Simenon thought of the remake 'Man on the Eiffel Tower' but by then he was probably too rich to care. The film lacks a strong hand at the helm and Charles Laughton's idiosyncratic performance as Maigret lacks depth.
Apparently, for reasons best known to himself, Simenon's personal preference in the role was for Rupert Davies!!!!
