The Man on the Eiffel Tower

It did not surprise me to discover after watching this film that three different persons directed it. There is no consistent vision to the film, and the narrative is poorly handled: the plot is complicated, with multiple story threads that are not coherently executed. Shot in Anscocolor, an experimental colour processing technique, the film has a strange, washed out look to it, which could be the result of film stock degrading, as everything seems to have a yellow tinge. In general, the film is quite a drag - not particularly well made, nor easy to follow - however it has a significant amount of minor virtues.

The acting in the film is quite adequate, with Charles Laughton doing the best to make his detective character charismatic: he twitches his nose, smokes a pipe, and talks in an almost monotone voice when he is dealing with a suspect. Franchot Tone comes off the best though, giving a real sense of life to his character, a mastermind criminal who is obsessed with the idea that he cannot be caught, and often raves about it to Laughton. Even Burgess Meredith has some interesting moments as an insecure, introverted man caught up in the mess somewhere.

The music, cinematography and art direction are all adequately good too. The music fits to the appropriate mood of each scene, the camera-work is interesting now and again, either following the characters around or tilting up to look at the different bits of scenery, and the scenery, the locations all fit the tale reasonably well. Set in Paris, yet with Americans involved, there is a sense that this is a foreign environment where no one really knows the rules.

It is not a completely virtue-less movie, but it is still a mess overall. There are a number of jump cuts, although with four threads of story poorly woven together, a continuity error here and there does not disrupt too much. The dialogue is rather lame and often only says the obvious, plus the style of the film is melodramatic, and it often seems overdone. A humorous touch or two, Tone's performance and okay music are pretty much all that makes it bearable.

There were various production problems on this picture , including Charles Laughton's menacing to walk off the picture , as he asked leaving if the original director , Irving Allen , threatening to be replaced and Burguess Meredith then carried on the filming . The film happens in Paris , there a dandy named Bill Kirby (Robert Hutton : Invisible invader , Slime people , Vulture) wishes death his aunt , so he can get her inheritance and pay off divorce his spouse (Patricia Roc : Wicked lady , Canyon passage) and marry his lover (Jean Wallace , Cornel Wilde's wife) . A medicine ex-student named Radek (Franchot Tone , also film's producer) is hired to kill the old lady . By night , a knifes grinder , now become thief , named Heurtin (star Burgess Meredith eventually filmmaker) aware the murder but he loses his glasses and he's helped by the assassin . He's framed of killing and then escapes . Meanwhile , Radek is taunting the police and leaving fake clues and banter on Kirby's two women : the wife and lover . Inspector Maigret becomes involved into investigation and swiftly discovers the owner of the thick glasses , though there is no real evidence against him . Then , Inspector Maigret undergoes a cat and mouse game with Radek . It's a battle of wits , an obstinate detective and an intelligent villain , and winds up pitting two rivals against each other in order to destroy themselves . Meanwhile , there are developed pursuits through Paris streets , squares and on rooftops and an exciting chase on the girders of Eiffel Tower.

The film is based on Georges Simenon novel about the famous detective Inspector Maigret who is adapted on various cinematic renditions . The movie displays suspense , thriller , action , mystery and results to be quite amusing . Casting is frankly magnificent , Laughton is excellent , as always , as Maigret who is early assigned to the case and quickly tracks down the suspicious ; Tone as a maniac-depressive man is top-notch and magnificent Burguess Meredith as a knife grinder becomes involved with problems , he directed partially the film when Laughton threatened to quit if Burgess Meredith did not take over . Besides , appearing Wilfrid Hyde White as a sympathetic professor and Howard Vernon (Jesus Franco's usual actor) as an Inspector . Numerous problems during shooting , as producer Irving Allen was the original director, but after only three days of shooting , Laughton directed the scenes in which Meredith appeared .

Adapted from Georges Simenon's 1931 novel "La Tête d'un homme", his fifth to feature Inspector Maigret . It had already been filmed in France, under its original title, in 1933 . In spite of being splendidly shown streets , squares , monuments from Paris : River Sena , Eliseos Fields , Pigalle , Concorde Square and photographed by expert cameraman Stanley Cortez (Night of hunter , Magnificent Amberson , Secret beyond the door), the cinematography is lousy and faded but the film copy is worn-out , it's necessary an urgent remastering . The motion picture was rightly directed by Burguess Meredith , who replaced director Irving Allen (who was also one of the film's producer) . Allen himself was very dissatisfied with the final results . After its initial run , he bought the film rights back from RKO and kept the prints out of circulation for a long time. Many believed that the film was lost, even Meredith . However, it has been released on VHS and DVD and can be relatively easily found at rental stores . Burguess , subsequently , directed other film titled the ¨Yin and Yang of Mr. Go¨ , as well . The flick will appeal to Charles Laughton fans and intrigue lovers but contains a highly suspense story .

As I started watching The Man On the Eiffel Tower it looked like it was going to go in the direction of Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train. Robert Hutton is having a sit down with his wife Patricia Roc and his mistress Jean Wallace in a Paris cafe. He gets an offer from Franchot Tone who was all ears that he'd kill Hutton's aunt who controls the family pursestrings so that Hutton could be independent.

Tone doesn't lack for chops. He not only does the deed with a maid thrown in for good measure, he manages to pin the crime on milquetoast Burgess Meredith who just happened on the scene.

Fortunately police inspector Maigret as played by Charles Laughton doesn't buy the pat scenario. He turns up Tone as a suspect, but he can't quite pin it on him. Tone's character reeks of Nietzchean superiority and France had just gotten liberated from a country that bought into that philosophy. Probably for today's audience, especially an American one, that particular dynamic can't be appreciated.

Even an escape allowed by the Paris police by Meredith blows up in Laughton's face and threatens to ruin the career of Inspector Maigret. Fortunately Laughton has a few tricks up his sleeve.

What we have in The Man On the Eiffel Tower is three very distinguished players from stage and screen who got together and made the film almost as a lark. Tone spent his entire film career trying to get out from under typecasting as a debonair gentleman in tails who usually loses the girl in the end to a bigger name. Right after this was done Franchot Tone did exactly that role in Frank Capra's Here Comes the Groom. His role here as Radek is certainly miles away from his usual parts. Tone produced this as he also produced another independent film the year before, Jigsaw, which was shot in New York.

He got friend Burgess Meredith to direct and play the stooge. The story unfortunately does sag at times until the climax chase scene on the Eiffel Tower. That whole sequence is almost like The Third Man except where Harry Lime seeks escape in the sewers of Vienna, superman Tone leads his pursuers up the Eiffel Tower. In the end though he's not quite the superman he thinks he is.

Charles Laughton made a nice Inspector Maigret. This is the second French police inspector of literature he's done. But there sure is a world of difference between Maigret and Javert of Les Miserables. In fact Laughton is far more like Sir Wilfred Robards in Witness for the Prosecution than Javert.

It's too bad that director Meredith didn't have the kind of computer generated special effects and had to rely on brave stunt men and actors to do the job. If Man on the Eiffel Tower were filmed today, I'm sure it would have been far better.

This criticism is almost a cliché, but Alfred Hitchcock could have really done something with The Man on the Eiffel Tower.

I'd read about this movie years ago (and nearly bought a DVD at the supermarket, but passed) so I was pleased to see it on PBS last night. It does sustain interest but ultimately isn't very satisfying. Parisian locations are very nice and lend the right touch of authenticity to Simenon's tale, but the most disappointing element is the cast. As the villain (spoiler?) Franchot Tone (who also co-produced) begins well in his quieter scenes but as his megalomania takes over he simply shouts his way through the part. Meredith plays a mousy character he's done countless times (the glasses gimmick would be used again, memorably, in a "Twilight Zone" episode). Most unfortunate is Charles Laughton, an actor I rarely find less than hugely entertaining (even in ABBOT AND COSTELLO MEET CAPTAIN KIDD) who in this film just can't seem to find a handle for his character, coming across as erratic and boring. The only actor who emerges with professional honor intact is Wilfred Hyde White, who shines briefly in a small cameo.

The climactic chase on the Eiffel Tower, however, is a vertigo inducing delight, marred only slightly by unfortunate use of a dummy. A movie worth seeing once, especially for the finale, but not more than that.

The exciting finale is by far the best part of this movie, which is an adaptation of one of Georges Simenon's crime stories featuring Inspector Maigret. Most of the movie is rather uneven, although it does have some interesting moments. Except for Maigret, who is played by Charles Laughton, most of the characters never really come to life, which keeps the story from being as involving as it could have been.

The Parisian cinematography helps sustain it through some of its murkier stretches, and it is likely that it might have been more impressive visually in its original state. Most or all of the prints on home video or television airings now have most of the color washed out of them, giving it a drab appearance that probably does not do justice to the original camera work.

The story has some interesting features in itself, with a murder plot involving several persons in one capacity or other, and Maigret engaged in a battle of wits with the killer, leading up to the finale on the Eiffel Tower. This lengthy sequence features some well-chosen views, and at times they create a dizzying feeling of suspense. Director Burgess Meredith's technique is unexceptional in the rest of the movie, but in this sequence it works quite well, and of course it had to overcome the technical challenges involved without the aid of computer imagery.

Most of the movie is really of interest only for some scenery, the curiosity value, and perhaps for the cast, but the exciting finale makes up for a lot of its weaknesses. If nothing else, the finale is worth watching for its own sake.