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Friday, June 3, 2022

MONSIEUR LA SOURIS / MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (1942)

Better translation, MR. MOUSE, nickname of the streetwise tramp played by Raimu in this fine adaptation of Georges Simenon’s novel.  Though usually focused more on character and terroir than the nuts & bolts of murder & mystery, here Simenon goes positively Agatha Christie working up a tricky plot to unravel as Raimu finds a dead man in a fancy car only to see it drive off moments later, leaving a fat wallet in the street for him to pick up.  Thinking to have his cake and eat it too, Raimu hides the wallet in a bistro banquette before handing most of the cash to the police . . . for safe keeping.  Wait a year, and if no one claims the money, it’s his legit.  If only robbery and murder wasn’t hiding behind his not-so-good fortune.  Soon, the police want him back for questioning; businessmen behind the lost cash  need to get hold of that missing wallet; and the toughs who murdered the man in the car and lost the wallet with the ƒ100,000 are hunting all around town for Raimu.  Functionally directed by Georges Lacombe on tiny constricted sets (filmed during the Occupation), the playing in the opening reels is too cute by half, but everyone soon finds purpose and cut back on the mugging as puzzle-solving and Raimu’s philosophical bent kick in.  With a great line-up of types showing up in support (cops & commissioners, compromised execs, mistresses, a shady philatelist, implacable hoods), this superior mix of pacey suspense, ratiocination and quipable aperçu is a treat.  Particularly so for Raimu fanciers.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Dying at 62 from post-surgical complications in 1946, Raimu’s common-touch genius wouldn’t be seen on screen again till Peter Ustinov briefly located it for TOPKAPI/’64. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2012/03/topkapi-1964.html

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