A movie made of three sketches , two of which are pleasant ,the third is a throwaway.
A stroll into the streets of Paris leads-somewhat whimsically - into the stories: a well-meaning mature gentleman and a distinguished lady are browsing through the detective stories of an old book store ;and on with the show !
Segment 1 :"Mr Wens' alibi ";from Stanislas André Steeman who provided Henri -Georges Clouzot with two masterpieces "l'assassin habite au 21" and " Quai des orfèvres" ,is now a bit forgotten and it's certainly unfair for his short story ,here ,is a crime in an enclosed place John Dickson Carr would not disown.
Plot : Mr Wens meets a wealthy woman's husband in his apartment :she was victim of several murder attempt and her heir (she wants to divorce) is the main suspect ;but as he's leaving the place, the private eye finds the wife's body in the elevator; the concierge sees nobody but her entering the place and the husband was with Mr Wens, a solid alibi.
Witty dialog and the cabaret scene spares us the suggestive dances and instead, the viewer rejoices in the female impersonator act (the imitation of Gaby Morlay is very successful ). With a little help from Commissaire Malaise (another Steeman hero) and famous Commissaire Maigret (not appearing in the flesh) , Mr Wens (a distinguished Raymond Rouleau)will resolve the riddle .
Segment two : "I'm the tender kind" : by far the weakest link of the movie;Peter Cheney ,Lemmy Caution ,it has not aged well and they did not even hire Eddie Constantine ,who could have saved something from the wreckage .
Plot :Hot on the heels of a gangster ,Lemmy Caution has to frustrate two women's tricks in their plans .
Dreadful stuff.
Segment 3:an altar's boy's testimony. Georges Simenon was,by far ,the most adapted writer (from Renoir to Duvivier to Hathaway)of the lot .His short story focuses on the relationship between a middle -age commissaire Maigret and a brat :one never knows the motive of the crime and almost nothing about the murderer......
Plot :going to church ,a kid sees a sinister-looking guy pulling a dead body ; the criminal threatens the witness: "if you talk to the police, I'll cut your throat and your mother's too. Terrified,in the church , the altar's boy faints ;in the police station, he tells what he 's seen, but nobody wants to believe till Commissaire Maigret intervenes.
And the movie becomes a depiction of the human relations between a grumpy man and a scared little boy ; Maigret's authoritarian missus appears ,which is as rare in the movies as Mrs Colombo in the TV series;suffering from a cold, the famous sleuth investigates in his bed whilst his wife places cupping glasses on him! Michel Simon is true to form ,and excellent as ever ;Christian Fourcade ,the little boy,is superbly directed and never hams it up.
Two good sketches out of three,it's a worthwhile percentage ; trust Henri Verneuil whose know-how can't be questionable.
