A Man's Head

A thoroughly enjoyable crime drama from Julien Duvivier which had it all for me - the atmosphere of smoky French cafes, a clever plot with its wrinkle in a murder for hire scheme, a fantastic villain (Valéry Inkijinoff), very nice camera work and editing, and the warbling of a plaintive song by Missia, giving Édith Piaf a run for her money. It felt ahead of its time and Hitchcockian (as overused as that comparison is), but at the same time, has that wonderful sense of place in 1930s France. I loved the flirtation and the little references sprinkled into the script, e.g. to the William Desmond Taylor murder, Louis XIV's "little country cottage," and the scrawl on the wall saying "Don't shoot the piano player, he's doing the best he can." I also loved the cat and mouse game with the detective (Harry Baur). One to seek out.

This magnificent and brilliant film goes to prove, to any who may not have known, that Julien Duvivier was one of France's greatest film directors. The film is very expressionistic in its shots, shadows, and atmosphere. One can certainly never forget the last, unexpectedly shocking scene of the film. This was the third Simenon novel to be filmed, the first having been filmed the previous year, Jean Renoir's NIGHT AT THE CROSSROADS (1932, see my review), which was a disappointing failure. Here Duvivier triumphs where Renoir sank into the dust. Maigret is played in a droll and understated fashion by the plump and far from glamorous Harry Baur. He says little but accomplishes much, and by eccentric but inspired methods. But the film is dominated by the extraordinary performance of the Russian actor Valéry (Walerian) Inkijinoff as a psychologically complex villain who has only six months to live because of tuberculosis, and therefore has nothing to lose. The intensity, power, and menace of his performance is simply incredible. With him on screen, one could even describe the screen itself as haunted. Inkijinoff had made his mark with his film debut as the Mongol in Pudovkin's STORM OVER ASIA (1928), where his name was spelled properly as Inkizhinov. Here he plays Radek, a penniless Czech émigré living in a cheap hotel room in the centre of Montparnasse, where most of the action of the film is set. He intends to carry out a major crime, but sets up a witless labourer named Joseph Heurtin as a patsy to take the fall for murder. Alexandre Rignault's performance as Heurtin is outstanding. And Duvivier makes the most of this character, showing him walking around with his huge ungainly hands wide open with the elongated fingers dangling, sometimes seen in dramatic shadows which are clearly meant to be reminiscent of the shadows of the actor Max Schreck as the vampire in Murnau's famous NOSFERATU (1922). The closeups of Rignault's puzzled and fearful face, with his large uncomprehending eyes of a fleeing game animal, are immensely powerful. Duvivier has turned this Maigret story into something approaching a Gothic horror tale. We see many lively scenes in Montparnasse cafes, especially a Bar Eden, full of locals nursing their café crèmes, loose women picking up men, and men winking at each other either in complicity or as a sign that they have a good little crime up their sleeves. The compulsive gamblers roll dice on the zinc bar between their Pernods. There is a genuine Montparnasse flavour about this film, which is entirely lacking in Jacques Becker's unsatisfactory and artificial film about Modigliani, THE LOVERS OF MONTPARNASSE (1958). Another strange and compulsive performance in this film is by Gina Manès as Willy's fiancée Edna Reichenberg. Duvivier gives her many lingering closeups where we see her passionately bulging eyes, her fear, her greed, her brazen nature, and when she comes up against Radek, her own incomprehension, equal almost to Rignault's, of that arch-villain's extreme audacity which surpasses anything she has ever known. This film is a deep psychological film masquerading as a Maigret mystery. Duvivier is exploring the limits of human nature with the enthusiasm of a dedicated pathologist. The film really is well described by that popular slang phrase: 'something else'. In other words. 'you gotta see it'. Aspiring film geniuses, be ready to learn from a master.

Director Julien Duvivier pulls all the stops in this Georges Simenon crime story with a dazzling display of film language and a pair of two intense performances years ahead of their time in A Man's Head. Accessing all the tools at his disposal Duvivier presents us with one very stylish mystery with some very taut moments.

Gaston Jaquet (Willy Feriere) is a near do well aristocratic poser with a greedy girlfriend (Gena Manes) who has the opportunity to off a rich relative in Versailles. They see it through and then are blackmailed by the killer (Valery Inkijinoff) who frames someone else (Alexandre Rigneault). Enter famed inspector Maigret (Harry Baur) to solve matters.

Whether it his famed close-ups or crowded canvases, Duvivier emphasizes form over content with some bravura editing and tight compositions that not only flesh out a drama but a period as well. His camera constantly on the move, his transitions varied, he gives the film a vitality and pace that never wavers.

As desperate characters Manes and Rigneault are excellent, Inkijinoff incredible in moments while Baur contributes a nice, nonplussed rumpled Maigret.

...but not as good as "Panique" !There are several good sequences but by and large ,the movie lacks focus,intensity,unity.It's like an orchestra where the musicians play different tunes.Valery Inkijinoff,for instance gives an intense portrayal of this terminally ill man who has got nothing to lose,and Alexandre Rignault is equally good as the poor idiot caught into a trap he does not understand.The couple ,on the other hand,has no real presence and is in direct contrast to their two accomplices.Harry Baur is a not very good Maigret.You'd better see him in Duvivier's "Poil de Carotte" and "David Golder".

But there are impressive scenes:the idiot entering the house and discovering the murder;all the sequences that feature Inkijinoff; the final scenes ,which,although they lack mastery ,predate the terrifying conclusion of "Voici le temps des assassins" :no room for a happy end! The 1930-1935 ,in spite of successful flicks such as "Poil de Carotte" and "David Golder",was an experimental time for Duvivier.Hit-and-miss best describes his art which would come into full bloom in the second half of the thirties,and continue (whether the Nouvelle Vague buffs like it or not) through the forties and fifties.

Prolific Belgian novelist Georges Simenon introduced Inspector Jules Maigret to the world in 1931. Film makers were quick to spot the potential but Simenon was deeply disappointed with the first two adaptations, one of which, 'Nuit au Carrefour' was directed by Jean Renoir with his brother Pierre as Maigret. Simenon was perfectly happy for Renoir to reprise the role in the proposed film of his 'Battle of Nerves' but Simenon himself wanted to direct! Unsurpisingly this idea was knocked on the head. Simenon and Renoir were out and in came Julien Duvivier and Harry Baur who had already made three films together. The title was changed to 'A Man's Head.'

From the opening shot of Madame la Guillotine one is gripped. Duvivier has used this story as a means of conveying his bleak view of the human condition. No adaptation of Maigret, to my knowledge, has succeeded so well in capturing the seediness of demi-monde Montmartre where morally ambiguous characters exist as best they can. This is Film Noir in all but name. The director is aided in this by the art direction of Georges Wakhevitch, for some reason 'uncredited' and his preferred cinematographer at the time Armand Thirard. There is also an inspired use of the voice of chanteuse Damia whose songs are redolent of loss.

Some have criticised the film for making the Maigret of Harry Baur a secondary character to the murderer Radek of Valery Inkijinoff. This is however reminiscent of the relationship between Inspector Porfiry Petrovich and Raskolnikov in 'Crime and Punishment' and is just as effective. As in Dostoevsky's masterpiece all that Maigret has to do is to bide his time and give Radek enough rope. Ironically Bauer was to play Porfiry for Pierre Chenal in 1935.

Inkijinoff excels in the challenging and psychologically complex role of a man under sentence of death from Tuberculosis who has nothing to lose by killing for money and then blackmailing the man who hired him. His one grip on life comes in the shape of his unrequited passion for the Edna of Gina Manes. After a while however his character becomes rather tiresome and one longs for him to be put out of his misery. Mlle Manes, although not a conventional beauty, has sexual charisma in spades and Duvivier has made wonderful use of her eyes, by turns seductive and cunning.

There are two masters at work here. Duvivier, a master of film-making and Bauer, a master of film acting. French cinema has always been more about character than plot and here director and cast are in their element.

Heaven only knows what Simenon thought of the remake 'Man on the Eiffel Tower' but by then he was probably too rich to care. The film lacks a strong hand at the helm and Charles Laughton's idiosyncratic performance as Maigret lacks depth.

Apparently, for reasons best known to himself, Simenon's personal preference in the role was for Rupert Davies!!!!