The Night at the Crossroads Reviews

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Jean Renoir and since it seemed to have a decent reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I thought it was actually pretty cool to see the very first movie adaptation of a book dealing with commissaire Maigret, probably the most famous French police detective ever. The fact that it was directed by one of the best French directors was also quite promising and, indeed, this movie is considered as the very first French film noir, no less than that. Unfortunately, to be honest, I actually had a rather hard time to get into this movie after all. Sure, the fact that the copy I saw on YouTube was of very poor quality with sometimes some barely audible dialogues probably didn’t help but I still think it was a rather minor effort from Renoir. Concerning the characters, Maigret was actually played by Pierre Renoir, Jean Renoir’s own brother, and the guy was pretty good, even if his character not very developed. However, the most intriguing character turned out to be Else Andersen. It was pretty neat that Winna Winifried was actually Danish like her character was supposed to be and rather bewildering that she was apparently only 18 years old at the time but she certainly brought something weird and unhinged to her character. It’s too bad that the other characters didn’t get the same curtesy but, with less than 80 mins of running time, it was to be expected. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really dazzle me, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in Jean Renoir’s work.