The Man on the Eiffel Tower (1949)

Director:

Burgess Meredith

Writers:

Harry Brown (screenplay)
Georges Simenon (novel)

Release Date:

12 December 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

PARIS As You've Never Seen It Before!

Plot:

In Paris, a down and out medical student Johann Radek (Franchot Tone) is paid by Bill Kirby (Robert Hutton) to murder his wealthy aunt...

Plot Keywords:

Maigret | Eiffel Tower Paris | Foreign Language Adaptation | Remake | Paris France

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Charles Laughton	...	Inspector Jules Maigret
Franchot Tone	...	Johann Radek
Burgess Meredith	...	Joseph Heurtin
Robert Hutton	...	Bill Kirby
Jean Wallace	...	Edna Wallace
Patricia Roc	...	Helen Kirby
Belita	...	Gisella Heurtin
George Thorpe	...	Comelieu
William Phipps	...	Janvier
William Cottrell	...	Moers
Chaz Chase	...	Waiter
Wilfrid Hyde-White	...	Professor Grollet

Also Known As:

L'homme de la tour Eiffel (France)

Runtime:

97 min | USA:87 min (DVD)

Country:

USA | France

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Anscocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Unrated | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

A&T Film Production (Allen-Tone)

Trivia:

Producer Irving Allen was the original director, but after only three days of shooting, Charles Laughton threatened to quit if Burgess Meredith did not take over. Laughton directed the scenes in which Meredith appeared.

Quotes:

Inspector Jules Maigret: [to Johann Radek] By the way - there's one thing I'd like to know. Am I following you, or are you following me?

Movie Connections:

Remake of La tête d'un homme (1933)

Nearly a classic

This clever suspenser from the French Maigret novels is undone by first-time director Meredith. The plot revolves around the murder of a wealthy woman and her maid one dark Parisian night. A dandy living off his aunt wishes her dead in public and catches the ear of Radek, a desperate fellow who is very clever but also a bit loopy (cast Gary Oldman in the remake).

Radek engineers a fiendish scheme to implicate a simple tinker in the crime, collect his fee, and lead Inspector Maigret down the garden path. The details are delicious--if you can follow them--and the characters (the dandy, his wife, his mistress, the tinker and his wife, the inspector and his detectives, and the arrogant killer) are interesting enough for three movies. But Meredith allows the plot to get muddy and doesn't really pull the best performances out of his actors (including himself).

Radek's manipulation of the other characters is real genius (for example, he gets others to search for the murder weapon while the cops are tailing him). The Parisian setting is terrific, and the spectacular climax atop the Eiffel Tower is not to be missed, altho it's a bit contrived. The result is a decent film, but Hitchcock would have hit this one out of the park.

Note: The version I saw was from the 50 Mystery Classics DVD set. It's in color, but very faded. However, I actually found its desaturated look to be a pleasant medium between full color and black and white.