Maigret Sees Red (Blu-ray Review)
Director
Gilles GrangierRelease Date(s)
1963 (March 17, 2026)Studio(s)
Les Films Copernic/Titanus (Kino Lorber Studio Classics)- Film/Program Grade: B+
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: B-
Review
Kino Lorber has in recent years been releasing to Blu-ray lots of classic French films, often packaged as multi-film sets, triple or even quadruple bills. Somehow Maigret Sees Red (Maigret voit rouge, 1963), starring Jean Gabin, warrants its own, separate release, slipcover included. This, apparently, is not so much a reflection of its artistic significance as the fact that Kino previously released Gabin’s two earlier Maigret films, Maigret Sets a Trap (1958) and Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case (1959), and because Kino also released, in multiple volumes, the British-made Maigret television series starring Rupert Davies.
On its own merits, Maigret Sees Red, a French-Italian co-production based on Simenon’s 1951 novel Maigret, Lognon and the Gangsters, is nothing more or less than an entertaining program picture/star vehicle for Jean Gabin. Filmed in black-and-white, in a style that was quickly vanishing from French cinema, it’s a lot of fun even though it’s basically postwar Gabin playing Gabin. Rupert Davies’s performance as Jules Maigret on the concurrent British TV series is much more meticulous and studied, closer to Georges Simenon’s character; Gabin’s is limited to occasionally sticking a pipe in his mouth.
Near the Gare du Nord, Inspector Lognon (Guy Decomble), Maigret’s assistant, witnesses a man gunned down by three assassins in a passing Chevrolet. Lognon goes for help but when he returns the wounded man has vanished, picked up by others driving a white Citroën DS. Later, Lognon himself is briefly kidnapped and beaten. Maigret (Gabin) investigates a bar run by a Sicilian-American Pozzo (Vittorio Sanipoli), whose owner, Lily (Françoise Fabian), had recently been harboring a trio of American gangsters, she in love with one of them, Bill Larner (Edward Meeks), the others being ex-boxer Charlie (Ricky Cooper), and no-nonsense hit man Cicero (Michel Constantin, who appears dubbed throughout). The trio have since taken refuge in the French countryside. Meanwhile, American diplomat Harry McDonald (Paul Carpenter), an old friend of Maigret’s, tries to persuade the inspector for reasons unknown to drop the case.
With its American gangsters—and fair amount of English dialogue—and slam-bang shootouts, Maigret Sees Red is hardly emblematic Georges Simenon. Maigret’s wife, an important character in the novels, does not appear, nor do other characteristics of Maigret himself, such as his love of food and drink. In the concurrent British TV show, partly filmed in France, Rupert Davies’s Maigret superbly captured the character’s unflappable, circumspect nature, particularly when interrogating suspects and witnesses, observing every little detail while never giving anything away. In the novels and the TV series, Maigret almost never fired his gun (in 75 Maigret novels and 28 short stories, Maigret fired his gun just four times), but in Maigret Sees Red, Maigret gets involved in several shootouts with the American gangsters.
That’s not to say the film and Gabin aren’t enjoyable; they are, especially if one recognizes the film primarily serves Gabin’s talents and appeal rather than Simenon’s character. Amusingly, there’s even an in-joke reference to the actor’s brief Hollywood career. But it is stony-faced Gabin playing his long-established screen persona rather than an actor immersed in an iconic literary characterization.
Part of the fun of Maigret Sees Red is its cast. Françoise Fabian, perhaps best known for Éric Rohmer’s My Night at Maud’s, appears in an early role, as does Marcel Bozzuffi, he primarily known for playing ruthless villains (as in The French Connection), but here playing Inspector Torrence, one of Maigret’s assistants. Fabian had been married to director Jacques Becker, but widowed in 1960. During Maigret Sees Red, she met Bozzuffi and they became a couple, though didn’t officially marry until shortly before his death in 1988.
Other than ruddy-faced Constantin, who looks anything but American, the English-speaking performances are unexpectedly good, especially Paul Carpenter, a Canadian-born actor primarily based in England, where he appeared in such films as The Third Man, Night People, Doctor at Sea, Fire Maidens from Outer Space, The Battle of the River Plate and others. His last role was as a U.S. General in Goldfinger (1964), released the year of his death. His French is rudimentary but a lot of his dialogue is in English, and his performance is quite good, particularly in the film’s final scenes.
One of France’s most commercially successful directors, Gilles Grangier frequently worked with Jean Gabin (e.g., Gas-Oil, also on Blu-ray from Kino), and knew both how to direct actors and had a strong if not especially innovative style in the Raoul Walsh mold that keeps things moving.
In black-and-white and 1.66:1 widescreen, Kino’s Blu-ray of Maigret Sees Red, licensed from StudioCanal, is drawn from the latter’s 4K restoration and looks outstanding. The image is very impressive throughout; details of the material used for jackets, the metallic sheen of vehicles, etc. really come through. The DTS-HD Master Audio (2.0) is also excellent, as are the optional English subtitles on this Region “A” encoded disc.
Extras are limited to an informative audio commentary track by Simon Abrams and a theatrical (French) trailer, also in excellent condition and also English-subtitled.
Of Jean Gabin’s three Maigret films, I liked Maigret Sees Red the best, despite it being the least Simenonian. As a Jean Gabin vehicle, it delivers the goods, and though nothing special, I found it entertaining and diverting. Recommended.
- Stuart Galbraith IV