A down-and-out student is hired to kill a wealthy woman. When someone else is suspected of the crime, the student taunts police until they realize that they may have to wrong man.
Direction
Meredith's debut drips with shadow-drenched ambition.
Acting
Laughton's Maigret is weary, wily, wonderful.
Cinematography
Paris never looked this ominously beautiful.
Director
Burgess Meredith
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Burgess Meredith directed this while starring in it, reportedly clashing with Laughton constantly. The tension crackles on screen.
This was the first English-language adaptation of Georges Simenon's Maigret novels—Hollywood's attempt to import French noir before they invented their own.
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