Director: Maurice Tourneur
Screenplay: Jean-Paul Le Chanois, Michel Duran
Starring: Albert Préjean, Santa Relli, Germaine Kerjean, Jean Brochard
Country: France
Running Time: 90 mins
Year: 1944
Rating: 12
Cécile Is Dead (1944) is a slick crime thriller revolving around a series of murders, with one being particularly gruesome. It’s one of the many on-screen adaptations of the Jules Maigret French detective novels.
Eureka has released the movie as part of their Masters of Cinema series with a 1080p HD restoration by the Gaumont Film Company.
The black and white mystery tale is well-paced and has a B-movie kind of vibe. I see it as a good nuts-and-bolts type of movie, in the sense that it just works and holds your attention for its 90-minute run.
The most interesting aspect of this film is the fact it was made in Nazi occupied France. It was produced by Continental Films, a German controlled French film company, but made by French filmmakers.
The project was helmed by director Maurice Tourneur, whose previous film The Devil’s Hand (1943) has also recently been released in the Masters of Cinema series, who was a titan in the silent era, having directed the likes of Mary Pickford and Wallace Beery.
The film stars Albert Préjean as Maigret, who’s said to offer a fresher younger, more active, take on the famous police detective. He’s perfectly serviceable in the role and has a commanding presence.
Santa Relli is fantastic as the eponymous and ultimately doomed Cécile. The film does a fantastic job of building up the tension towards Cécile’s death – in a Hitchcockian sense, we know her death is coming, it’s just a matter of when it will happen.
Other performance highlights include André Gabriello as Lucas, who brought a lightness to the darker story with his humour, Jean Brochard as Dandurand, who was wonderfully villainous, in a moustache twirling sense, and Germaine Kerjean as Madame Boynet, who was remarkably vile.
Pierre Montazel’s cinematography is very effective at building up a nefarious atmosphere with various expressionist looking shots, especially early on when Cécile enters the station to find Maigret. It’s a clear restoration with a heavy dose of film grain accentuating the picture. The sound is also clean and layered, enhancing the drama on the screen.
The film did a great job of communicating the more nefarious elements with subtlety – like the first gruesome murder discovery. It has compelling moments but ultimately, I found the picture quite forgettable and it almost feels a parody of the detective genre, at times.
It’s a fun film and worth checking out, especially if you are interested in the period of history it was made, as the special features add some fantastic context.
Film:
For more details on what’s included in the package, see below:
- Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Sean Phillips [2000 copies]
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on Cécile is Dead and adaptations of French literature under German occupation by Andrew Watts [2000 copies]
- 1080p HD presentation from a restoration by Gaumont Film Company
- Original French mono audio
- Optional English subtitles, newly revised for this release
- Introduction to the film by Christine Leteux, author of Maurice Tourneur: réalisateur sans frontières (2015)
- New audio commentary by crime cinema expert Sergio Angelini, host of the Tipping My Fedora podcast
- My Friend Maigret – new discussion of Inspector Maigret from page to screen with film historian Martin Hall
Audio commentary – The film’s commentary has been provided by crime cinema expert Sergio Angelini, who hosts the Tipping My Fedora podcast. It’s a fantastic commentary, very detailed. He speaks with remarkable passion about the film, giving details about each performer on screen, the context surrounding the movie and Continental Films. He also gives explanations as to how key scenes and sequences were achieved on screen.
Introduction to the film by Christine Leteux (17 mins) – Again, in-depth knowledge from an expert. Leteux spoke about the history behind the film, Continental Films’ involvement, and the film’s reception at the time in occupied France. This was a really illuminating watch.
My Friend Maigret (16 mins) – Film historian Martin Hall spoke about the Maigret character’s literary background and life on film. He speaks about history of character in depth, goes through all the iterations, and he even speaks about his favourite takes on the detective.
Limited edition booklet – The booklet comes with an essay entitled Maigret Under Occupation by film historian Andrew Watts. It contains about nine pages of text with extensive writing on the subject of adaptations of French literature under German occupation, along with great stills from the movie. It provides an extensive and in-depth look into the topic.
Disc/package:
Eureka releases Cecile Is Dead (1944) on the 18th of May, 2026.