Maigret and the headless woman
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Maigret and the headless woman |
| Original title | Cécile est morte! |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1943 |
| length | 79 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Maurice Tourneur |
| script |
Jean-Paul Le Chanois , Michel Duran |
| production | Alfred Greven |
| music | Roger Dumas |
| camera | Pierre Montazel |
| cut | Gérard Bensdorp |
| occupation | |
| |
Maigret and the Headless Woman , also known as His Hardest Case , is a French crime film from 1943 based on the novel Maigret loses an admirer (French: 'Cécile est morte') of the Belgian writer Georges Simenon . It is the second film in a trilogy with Albert Préjean as Commissioner Jules Maigret.
action
For six months, the well-known Inspector Maigret has had a daily visit from an old-fashioned, inconspicuous woman. Each time, Cécile Pardon, as her name is, tells the same story: she lives with an old, sullen lady, her aunt, and believes that she often hears mysterious comings and goings there. Maigret does not attach any importance to this stubbornly made statement. A few days later, on a patrol, the inspector found the body of a young woman in a hotel room. She was strangled and then beheaded by the killer. Your identity is not clear. To Maigret's astonishment, the word 'Cécile' is written on the mirror in the room. The superintendent went to Aunt Céciles at once. However, by her, the widow Boynet, he is brusquely put in front of the door. The tenants of the house where Cécile lives don't know anything. Not even Monsieur Dandurand, an old, unkempt bachelor and director of an aid organization for homeless children who lives on the fourth floor. The next morning Maigret learns the name of the murdered: Gilberte Pardon. It was Cecile's sister! He rushes to Mrs. Boynet. Nobody opens, he lets the door open and finds the old woman strangled on her bed. During the investigation, the commissioner learns that Cécile was killed in the same way in a corner of the commissioner's office. Maigret interrogates the tenants of the Boynet house. He learns from Mr Dandurand that the widow Boynet was the extremely wealthy owner of a few ambiguous establishments. Dandurand was its manager. At night she received him for business meetings. Thoughtfully, Maigret realizes that Cécile had not bothered him so often for nothing. At the funeral of the murdered, a legitimate heir of the aunt reports. Compromising papers, which he kept in his house for the suspicious widow and which he is now making available to the police, contain the key to the mysterious crimes. The trail leads to attorney Machepied, who is jointly responsible for the crime with an accomplice. He escapes to La Rochelle, where Maigret and his assistant Lucas catch him after a chase.
Reviews
The lexicon of international films judged: “A complexly written Maigret film, the solution of which comes out of a surprise bag, as it were; unspectacularly staged based on a rather routine novel by Georges Simenon. "
German publication
The film was released in German cinemas in 1949 under the unrelenting title His most difficult case . This dubbed version is considered lost. For the DVD release at Pidax-Film, a new synchronization was made by the Studio Labsix. Since the title His most difficult case is too close to the better-known Maigret film Maigret and his greatest case with Heinz Rühmann, the more meaningful title Maigret und die Frau ohne Kopf was chosen for the new German language version
template
The film is based on the novel Cécile est morte , the 22nd of a total of 75 Maigret novels (the commissioner also appeared in 28 stories). The story was written in Fontenay-le-Comte in December 1940 and appeared in 45 sequels between February 18 and April 5, 1941 in the daily Paris-Soir. The novel was first published in German in 1967 under the title Maigret and the Maid , the new translation from the 1980s is called Maigret loses an admirer .