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Overview
Cécile est morte is a French thriller film first released in 1944,
directed by Maurice Tourneur.
The film is based on a novel by Georges Simenon and stars Albert Préjean, Santa Relli, Germaine Kerjean and Luce Fabiole.
It has also been released under the title: Cecile Is Dead.
Our overall rating for this film is: good.
Synopsis
Convinced that her life is in danger, Cécile appeals to the police to help her.
She insists that a mysterious stranger has already made a number of nocturnal intrusions
into the apartment where she lives with her bullying aunt. But no one, not even
the great Inspector Maigret, takes her claims seriously – until she is murdered...
Film Review
In this, the second of the three Maigret films made by the German-run Continental Films
during the Occupation, popular film star Albert Préjean reprises his role
as the famed pipe-smoking detective, accompanied by his improbable side-kick Lucas.
Although, again, the film fails to capture the atmosphere of the Georges Simenon novel
on which it is based, it does offer a reasonably satisfactory alternative – a suspenseful
and witty black comedy.
The film was directed by Maurice Tourneur, whose stylised approach – ironically – seems to owe something to German expressionism. It is certainly a very different work to the two other Maigret films made by Continental, under the direction of Richard Pottier. Sadly, the one thing that the three films have in common is that Albert Préjean looks painfully ill at ease in his role as Maigret. © James Travers 2003 Write a review for this film... User Comments
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Related links
More French Crime/ThrillerMore French Thriller Recent DVD releases |
Credits
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If you like this film you may also like the following: La Bête humaine (1938) Chair de poule (1963) Le Corbeau (1943) Le Crime de Monsieur Lange (1936) Les Diaboliques (1955) Du rififi chez les hommes (1955) Entre onze heures et minuit (1949) Goupi mains rouges (1943) Les Inconnus dans la maison (1942) L’Insoumis (1964) Macadam (1946) Mélodie en sous-sol (1963) Le Quai des brumes (1938) Quai des Orfèvres (1947) |


