Monsieur La Souris

A minor but nonetheless interesting director ,Georges Lacombe made at least two very good movies " Pays Sans Etoiles " and "Le Dernier Des Six ";with screenplays written by Pierre Very or the master HG Clouzot (even Tarentino pays a tribute to two of his movies in "Inglourious Basterds"),you play safe anyway.

Like the two aforementioned works ,"Monsieur La Souris" is based on a great writer's book ,Georges Simenon adapted by Marcel Achard.For all that ,the story is not that exciting,being a derivative whodunit with an unexpected twist a la Agatha Christie .The reason why you would watch this is Raimu.Thanks to his huge talent,you never yawn from boredom:he portrays a tramp -his nickname is "La Souris" (the mouse)- on the street ,who gets involved in a criminal affair and plays the occasional detective :he is better at it than the Police (Poirot and Japp,no less).

Raimu's final (very long)lines are priceless and are worth the price of admission alone.

Raimu is a gentleman fallen on hard times, reduced to handing out fliers, shining shoes, and opening doors to autos in front of a night club. While performing the last, he finds a dead man slumped over the wheel. He goes to get someone, but when he comes back, the car has driven off. He finds a wallet in the street with more than 300,000 francs in it. Acting on the advice of his pal Raymond Aimos, he hides the wallet, buys an envelope and pretends to find it, with half the money, under the gaze of the police; a year and a day and the money will be his. But it turns out the dead man was a financier, and Raimu finds himself caught in a web of police investigation, financial maneuverings, and unwed mother Micheline Francey; the picture of her fiance interests him.

Based on the Simenon novel, it's well written, and as usual, Raimu shines: funny, pitiable, smart, conniving, and oppressed by the police, who have no interest in what happens to him, if they can catch the murderer. His scenes with Aimos are delightful. With René Bergeron.