Category Archives: France

Les Seins de glace (1974) – Tuesday’s Forgotten Film

Posted on 9 April 2013 by

On Friday I reviewed Richard Matheson’s debut novel Someone is Bleeding (click here to read it), a pretty decent whodunit spiced up with some less convincing post-war cod Freudian psychologising. The novel was filmed in France and released there in … Continue reading →

Posted in 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, France, Richard Matheson, Tuesday's Forgotten Film | 12 Comments

Fedora’s 200,000 visits

Posted on 24 February 2013 by

Where does the time go? This site just passed another milestone at the beginning of this week with its 200,000th visit! Flabbergasting is the word. To celebrate, here is Alain Delon sporting one of my favourite fedoras in action in … Continue reading →

Posted in 'In praise of ...', France, Scene of the crime | 34 Comments

THE YELLOW DOG (1931) by Georges Simenon

Posted on 9 November 2012 by

This is one the first Maigret novels. Georges Simenon chronicled some 100 of his cases over a period of 40 years but initially churned them out in a blaze of activity – indeed this was the first of seven Maigret … Continue reading →

Posted in 2012 Alphabet of Crime, Crime Fiction Alphabet, France, Friday's Forgotten Book, Georges Simenon, Maigret, Police procedural, Scene of the crime | 42 Comments

THE BEAST OF THE CAMARGUE by Xavier-Marie Bonnot

Posted on 2 November 2012 by

Dr Xavier-Marie Bonnot, author of the Commandant de Palma series, is the focus of this week’s Alphabet of Crime entry, which is reaching its always fairly head-scratching conclusion now that most of the ‘easier’ letters, shall we say, have been … Continue reading →

Posted in 2012 Alphabet of Crime, Crime Fiction Alphabet, France, Noir, Scene of the crime, Support Your Local Library Challenge | 48 Comments

The Last of Sheila (1973)

Posted on 9 October 2012 by

This Edgar-winning murder mystery challenges a group of Hollywood players to solve a series of riddles while on the French Riviera – but just what is the prize and who is playing who? This fabulously elaborate movie was co-written by … Continue reading →

Posted in France, Scene of the crime, Tuesday's Forgotten Film | Tagged | 20 Comments

That Woman Opposite (1957) – Tuesday’s Forgotten Film

Posted on 4 September 2012 by

Phyllis Kirk stars as the eponymous young woman in peril in this unpretentious British whodunnit (released in the US as City After Midnight). Eve Atwood is a wealthy American divorcée living in the small town of La Bandalette in France. She … Continue reading →

Posted in France, John Dickson Carr, Scene of the crime, Tuesday's Forgotten Film | Tagged , | 20 Comments

THE EMPEROR’S SNUFFBOX (1942) by John Dickson Carr

Posted on 2 September 2012 by

Singled out by Carr himself as one of his best efforts, this is quite an anomalous title from the great writer’s oeuvre, though it displays many of his greatest virtues. Constructed with his trademark cunning, the story does not feature … Continue reading →

Posted in 2012 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge, Agatha Christie, Amnesia, France, John Dickson Carr, Scene of the crime | 25 Comments

MAIGRET STONEWALLED (1931) by Georges Simenon

Posted on 20 July 2012 by

If one thinks of the great detective story writers from the Golden Age that have received serious and continued critical attention over the decades, the names that immediately spring to mind are Poe, Doyle, Christie, Hammett and Chandler. The only … Continue reading →

Posted in France, Friday's Forgotten Book, Georges Simenon, Maigret, Paris, Police procedural, Scene of the crime | 18 Comments

Crescendo (1970) – Tuesday’s Forgotten Film

Posted on 21 February 2012 by

Hammer made a return to the thriller genre after a break of several years by dusting off an old script by Alfred Shaughnessy that originally had been intended as a possible vehicle for Joan Crawford with Michael Reeves to direct. … Continue reading →

Posted in France, Hammer Studios, Jimmy Sangster, Scene of the crime, Tuesday's Forgotten Film | 12 Comments

Maniac (1963) – Tuesday’s Forgotten Film

Posted on 13 December 2011 by

In the movies it seems that the ‘Rural South’, irrespective of where it may actually be in the world, is synonymous with savage attitudes and retrograde customs; an atavistic haven where old customs die-hard; and where outsiders, usually from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Noir, France, Hammer Studios, James M. Cain, Jimmy Sangster, Tuesday's Forgotten Film | 15 Comments