La Nuit du carrefour (1932) - film review

Inspector Maigret investigates the mysterious murder of a Dutch diamond dealer, found dead in a stolen car.  The car belongs to an insurance agent, Michonnet, and has been abandoned in the garage belonging to Carl Andersen.   Carl’s sister, Else, is not what she seems, but is linked to a gang of ruthless crooks...

Jean Renoir is not normally associated with the crime thriller genre, but in La Nuit du carrefour he manages to turn out a more than satisfactory adaptation of a Georges Simenon novel.  Whilst it is apparent that the director is still experimenting with his technique, he shows a surprising maturity and in this film he appears to be defining the ground rules for what would become one of the most popular genres in French cinema in the following decades.  Renoir cast his own brother Pierre in the role of the Inspector Maigret, the second film appearance of the legendary pipe-smoking detective (the first being in Jean Tarride’s Le Chien jaune, 1932).

© James Travers 2002

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