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Maigret
Jan 8, 2021 20:52:47 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on Jan 8, 2021 20:52:47 GMT -8
This whetted my appetite for more Maigret, so I checked out a collection of Maigret writings as well as a previous Maigret TV series starring Michael Gambon.
I have started both, but will begin here with the book.
The collection, by Georges Simonen, consists of ten Maigret novellas. They average between 70 and 100 pages each. I have read through the first two 1) Maigret's Memoirs and 2) Maigret Takes a Room. I found both to be well written and entertaining.
I particularly enjoyed the first as Simonen uses a cleaver conceit to tell something of Maigret's story. As the title says, the story is a memoir. In this memoir, Maigret is already a Chief Inspector and has a reputation for success. He starts by telling of a particular day at the "office" in the late 1920s, where he has a regular meeting with other policemen and officials. Maigret stresses that they don't only talk to each other about crime, but like other people, they inquire into the health of each other's families, etc. After the meeting he returns to his room and before he could settle in he receives a phone call from the Big Chief who asks him to come to his room.
When he arrives, the Chief introduces him to a young man named Georges Sim. The Chief asks Maigret to show Sim around and let him accompany Maigret during his work. The Chief stresses that Sim is not a journalist and nothing will appear in any newspaper about the visit.
Maigret lets the young man tag along, and even though he finds Sim somewhat annoying Maigret allows him to view the workings of Maigret's business all day. At the end of the day, Sim thanked Maigret and disappeared.
Months went by and then one day a small book appeared on Maigret's desk, whose author was Georges Sim. Maigret did not read the book until copies kept showing up on his desk and he noticed that his inspectors were looking at him with smiles on their faces. One of them asked, "So you're a character in a novel now, Chief?"
This remark forced Maigret to read the book and he was annoyed to find his name used as that of a Chief Inspector in Sim's novel. Having been promised that such a thing would not happen, he was somewhat irritated. He sees Sim in the Big Chief's office to discuss this point. Sim almost apologizes but explains that when he has imagined a character with a particular name, he cannot seem to change the name. If he tries to, everything else simply doesn't fit.
Suffice it to say, that Maigret accepts the explanation and more such books come out. They grow more detailed and better written as time goes by. Maigret becomes friendly with Sim whose real name is Simonen. Very cute that. Madam Maigret is quite protective of the young man.
Maigret goes on the mention that one of the reasons he is writing the memoir is to correct some of the mistakes Simonen makes and include some details he misses about police work.
I found "Maigret's Memoirs" a very satisfactory introduction to the Chief Inspector Maigret stories. Having finished the first two, I can highly recommend the book for anyone who enjoys good writing and detective stories.
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Maigret
Jan 8, 2021 21:59:01 GMT -8
Post by timothylane on Jan 8, 2021 21:59:01 GMT -8
I read a Maigret novel in a French class, and it persuaded me not to read anything further by him, just as the one Balzac book I had in a French class affected me. I read 2 stories in different anthologies, one in French and one in English, and neither of them persuaded me to give it a try.
I know Atkinson mainly from the Blackadder series, and also from his staunch defense of free speech over the years against the wokeist mobs.
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Maigret
Jan 8, 2021 22:08:19 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on Jan 8, 2021 22:08:19 GMT -8
C'est La Vie.
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Brad Nelson
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Maigret
Jan 9, 2021 10:54:46 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 9, 2021 10:54:46 GMT -8
I’ve watched the Atkinson versions as well and loved them. I was a little more lukewarm regarding the two seasons (1992 and 1993) with Michael Gambon. They have all 12 episodes on Britbox so maybe I’ll continue (if I can figure out where I left off). I can’t find any of the novels either on Gutenberg or on my local online library (via the Libby app). But you can, of ourself, find some on Amazon although their Kindle collection is rather sparse. But they do have Maigret and the Old PeopleIt was interesting to learn, according to this article, that there are 75 stories in all and that there has been a recent six-year effort by Penguin Books to reissue the series in its entirety, including “crisp new translations.” That all sounds good. Who says nothing good every came out of France? [He’s a Belgian writer.] Never mind. I guess I’m still right about that.
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Brad Nelson
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Maigret
Jan 9, 2021 12:07:09 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 9, 2021 12:07:09 GMT -8
Well, that’s the place to start then, at least regarding the novels. And they do have that in Kindle format, so I’ll send myself a free sample as a reminder and a starter.
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Brad Nelson
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Maigret
Jan 9, 2021 13:25:15 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 9, 2021 13:25:15 GMT -8
I’m presently watching episode one, season two of the Gambon series: Maigret and the Nightclub Dancer. It’s early-days, as they say. But I’m sure I haven’t seen this one and so far so good. Basically a nightclub dancer comes into Maigret’s headquarters and gives a statement that at work she overheard someone planning to murder some countess. Later, she comes in to retract her statement (huh?) and that’s when Maigret meets her and asks more about what she heard and why she is retracting now. It may be a quibble, but if you don’t want to be seen associating with the police, why go back in person a second time? I believe they had telephones back then. Okay, she’s the designated McGuffin. She is promptly killed by someone and Maigret promptly jumps on the case.
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Maigret
Jan 9, 2021 15:16:22 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on Jan 9, 2021 15:16:22 GMT -8
I just finished watching the second disc (3 episodes) of season one of the Gambon, "Maigret" series.
Now that I have finished the first season, I think I have a good idea of the series' overall quality.
The first thing I noted when I started watching was that the series has a very 1980s feel about it. (I checked the box and it was filmed in 1991) I can't be very specific except to say the production quality is very different from what one would see today. Attention to detail is good, but looser than one would see now.
One small thing which was consistent in each episode was the somewhat irritating detail that every "murder victim," i.e. corpse moved ever-so slightly, when on screen. Each time I noticed this I was taken back to something my wife cheerfully told me some time ago. According to her, during an interview, some film/TV actor or director said that playing a convincing dead person was the hardest thing to do in film. I can believe it after watching these six episodes. I would suggest anyone who goes into acting should practice breath control before dying on screen.
Michael Gambon's Maigret is very different from Atkinson's. In fact, the overall moods of each series are starkly different from the other. The Gambon series is much brighter. It is good, but it is clearly a light-entertainment sort of piece. Gambon plays Maigret as a serious detective, but one who takes things as they come. He doesn't let the world get him down.
Atkinson's series is much darker and foreboding. His Maigret is a world-weary sort who is burdened by the evil in human nature. He is more interested in doing his best to get justice, while Gambon's Maigret is, while interested in justice, probably more interested in doing his work and making sure the law is obeyed.
If the length of a series is any indication of what viewers prefer, then Gambon's must be declared the winner. He made 12 episodes, while Atkinson made only four. I find this a real shame because Atkinson was very impressive as Jules Maigret. I would love to see him do another four, six or more episodes.
The first season of Gambon's Maigret was entertaining enough for me to move on to series two. Let's see what it has in store for us.
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Maigret
Jan 9, 2021 15:26:08 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on Jan 9, 2021 15:26:08 GMT -8
"Maigret's Memoirs" doesn't spend a huge time on a particular case. It is more of a bio and gives the reader a fair amount of personal information as to Maigret's past, including his childhood, and how he became a policeman. I like this kind of information on interesting literary characters.
The next novella, "Maigret Takes a Room" is a typical Maigret case.
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Maigret
Jan 9, 2021 18:03:35 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 9, 2021 18:03:35 GMT -8
I think that’s well described. They are too wildly different characters. Nothing defines the rather laid-back Gambon Maigret like the end of “Maigret and the Night Club Dancer” where he shares a bottle of champagne with the sleazy owner of the titty club where one of the girls worked who was killed. (Nicely played by Tony Doyle, by the way, who plays a good, if one-dimensional, part as the hard-driving employer, Brian Quigley, in Ballykissangel.)
In many ways, this is a wonderful display of the morally-dubious French.
By the way, I thought I hadn’t seen this episode before. And I hadn’t. But I had seen the story before in Rowan Atkinson’s “Maigret in Montmarte.” It’s the same story with a different title.
As I recall now, the one officer who fell in love with the stripper is wonderfully pathetic in the Atkinson version. He’s a little more moderately pathetic in the Gambon version — but cringingly pathetic in both. (What guy can resist the charms of a stripper?) And for me the story got a little confusing. Two different women were killed and I had a hard time keeping up with which woman they were talking about. I found the plot to be a muddle. If you sat me down, I’m sure you could explain it to me.
I don’t remember if I had the same reaction to the Atkinson version. Likely not.
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Maigret
Jan 9, 2021 18:22:44 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 9, 2021 18:22:44 GMT -8
Season 2, episode 2 of the Gambon Maigret series is “Maigret and the Hotel Majestic.”
This is pretty much a perfunctory who-done-it. I think Michael Gambon is a capable actor but like Jeb!, he just has no energy. And certainly this plot was nothing to shout about.
In the case of the more crusader-like Atkinson portrayal, I care that Maigret gets his man. In the Gambon version, you have the feeling that if the horn were to sound for the end of the workday, even if Gambon had the criminal in his sights, he’s break off and go have a glass of burgundy. Whatevah.
As Mr. Flu said in so many words, the production values of the Gambon series are way below that of the Atkinson series. And the acting quality of the non-recurring roles is fairly mediocre as well, as if they were pulling people who were standing in line for parts on EastEnders. (I have it in mind to try a couple episodes of one of the standard British soaps. They have several series on Britbox.)
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Post by kungfuzu on Jan 10, 2021 20:45:19 GMT -8
Today, I viewed the first three episodes of season two and found them enjoyable. The production work has improved somewhat since the first season. So far, there are two episodes which were in both the Gambon and Atkinson series. The first is "Maigret Sets A Trap." The second is titled "Maigret and the Night Club Stripper" in the Gambon series and "Maigret in Montmartre" in Atkinson's. Each version is good, and follow the same story line. There are only slight differences between the two.
I find the main difference is that the characters in the Atkinson series are more fleshed out. I would say they are more "pronounced." Perhaps this is because the Atkinson versions are 90 minutes long, whereas the Gambon episodes are only 60 minutes. In any case, the viewer develops a much more detailed picture of the characters and gains a deeper sense of their personalities. A good example of this is the Freddie character in Gambon's film. He is a night-club owner and clearly not a particularly good fellow, but one couldn't say much more about him. On the other hand, the Freddie in the Atkinson piece is a particularly disgusting scumbag and this is shown numerous times during the film. In my opinion, the extra 30 minutes available in each Atkinson episode was put to good use.
One of the things I particularly enjoy when I see older British period pieces for the first time, is coming across many of today's famous actors early in their careers. In "Maigret in Montmartre", Minnie Rider plays the stripper. More interesting was Freddie's wife Rose, who is played by Brenda Blethyn, aka "Vera." I had to replay the scene to make sure it was her, even though I knew she was in that particular episode. It is sometimes amazing how different actors look in different parts. I will finish up that last three episodes in the next few days as I have to return the set to the library this week. They don't extent checkout times for DVDs. So far, I am very glad that I checked out this series. I am even happier that I didn't have to pay a cent for the pleasure.
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Maigret
Jan 10, 2021 21:33:14 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 10, 2021 21:33:14 GMT -8
I did not recognize Brenda Blethyn in that one. Wow. Good disguise.
I’ll continue on in season 2 of the Gambon series and report back as well.
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Maigret
Jan 11, 2021 8:43:32 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 11, 2021 8:43:32 GMT -8
Last night I watched Maigret on the Defensive which is season 2, episode 3 of the Gambon series. I got the impression that this was a hacked-up version of what might have been a good novel. Don’t read further if you haven’t seen it. I’m still confused how, at the end, Maigret figured out that the dentist wasn’t just an abortionist but a serial murderer. And I’m not quite sure how he figured out he was even an abortionist. Maybe I fell asleep, but I don’t remember a string of murdered girls being mentioned anywhere. And I don’t remember how he came to the conclusion that the dentist had been murdering girls. And how he deduced that he was an abortionist was extremely thin. All we saw was a sad-looking young woman waiting in his office. It would certainly be true that Maigret would have been privy to more information via just experience, such as that dentists of the time often moonlighted as abortionists. But we’re not privy to this information. Perhaps worst of all was his interview with the dentist’s receptionist at the end. That conversation didn’t seem remotely realistic. Nor did the compliant dentist at the end make much sense. The entire setup of the plot was strange. Maigret, apparently unable to sleep, gladly accepts the phone call late at night of an anonymous woman who says she’ll commit suicide unless he meets her. She pretends to be drunk and eventually, out of the goodness of his heart, Maigret takes her to a hotel and finds her a room. But it’s all a setup (and one that still doesn’t make a heck of a lot of sense to me). A realize that we never learn Columbo’s first name. Everyone just calls him “Columbo.” Same with Maigret. But would his wife call him Maigret? What a strange thing when I heard that in this episode. Overall, whatever interest (and it wasn’t much) that this episode built up was leaked out by rather cliched plot points and the various oddities mentioned above. But I still have the feeling that the novel must have been better and made more sense.
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Maigret
Jan 11, 2021 10:18:20 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on Jan 11, 2021 10:18:20 GMT -8
Both the above points had nothing to do with Maigret's initial investigations and he only came upon them because of the young lady/dentist trying to set him up.
The question of the dentist being an abortionist became clear to me during Maigret's last discussion at his doctor's home. The question of the dentist being a serial killer came out of nowhere. I thought the writers were being a little too cute, but it didn't spoil the rest of the film for me.
Perhaps Simonen had something against dentists. We have already run into to two of them in the DVDs and collection of his stories.
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Maigret
Jan 11, 2021 11:13:34 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 11, 2021 11:13:34 GMT -8
I just recall them talking about the possibility. I don’t remember any clear evidence. It just seemed lie, Shazam, Maigret had him pegged as an abortionist and a murderer and I wondered if I had missed a half hour of the show.
Like I said, I’m guessing this was a roughly (very roughly) edited version of the book trying to be squeezed into television time. I don’t think they succeeded very well.
And the girl calling Maigret seemed like a giant McGuffin. He was set up far too easily. He went along far too easily. Anyone in their right mind (even if he went to that initial meeting alone because of a perceived emergency) would have called someone for backup — and certainly would have called someone before taking her in the middle of the night to a hotel and renting a room. I just didn’t buy it.
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Maigret
Jan 11, 2021 11:19:58 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on Jan 11, 2021 11:19:58 GMT -8
I completely agree. It seems to me that most series like this resort to McGuffins to get a story started or ended. That being the case, I am not too disturbed by this one.
This is Maigret! One doesn't need clear evidence, one deduces and moves on. That's what he is paid for.
Isn't it Jesse Stone who constantly talks about his "Coply intuition?"
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Maigret
Jan 11, 2021 12:07:26 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 11, 2021 12:07:26 GMT -8
Yes, I love that aspect. With Jesse stone it is fairly clear (at least to detective buffs) that his “coply intuition” is a combination of accumulated experience and his ability to read people. And there’s just that nice bit left over where you suppose that it isn’t anything mystical but that he taps into things he’s perhaps seen but that don’t quite reach the conscious mind.
I don’t dislike Gambon as Maigret. But I don’t think some of the plot-points or characters are as convincing.
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Maigret
Jan 11, 2021 13:53:05 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 11, 2021 13:53:05 GMT -8
I’m about halfway into the fourth episode of season two, Maigret’s Boyhood Friend.These are definitely not American stories. I couldn’t help thinking “These French are all degenerates.” This is about a woman (prostitute? surrogate wife? whatever?) who is murdered. She has a cadre of five men that she sees on a particular day of the week. Most of the men presumably don’t even know about the other men. They all seem to think that they are her one-and-only. It’s fun to see Peter Blythe (Ballard, Rumpole) playing one of these...degenerates, fools, your-word-of-choice. He does truly seem to be shocked, shocked that his “mistress” is seeing other men. Or else he’s just putting on an act. This kind of story has “French” written all over it. No wonder the Germans so easily conquered them. But, as an episode, it’s probably been above-average so far.
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Maigret
Jan 11, 2021 14:51:12 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on Jan 11, 2021 14:51:12 GMT -8
Heh! Simonen was a Belgian. Let's give credit where credit is due.
I think I have mentioned it before. There are a lot of strange Belgians.
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Maigret
Jan 11, 2021 16:48:44 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 11, 2021 16:48:44 GMT -8
I finished “Maigret’s Boyhood Friend” and it reminds me why I didn’t stick with this series.
There’s technically nothing wrong with it. Maigret is a distinct character. He’s somewhat mildly iconic in a pipe-smoking sort of way. The plots are fair enough, but certainly nothing special.
But at the end of the day, I would rather watch a series where Lucas was in charge. For me, Maigret is sort of blah, lukewarm. If he was a corrupt cop, he’d be more interesting. But as an officer for law-and-order, he’s rather dull. Still, if I get time, I may read one of the novels and see what was actually intended for this character.
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