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The Man On The Eiffel Tower [DVD] [1949]
 
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The Man On The Eiffel Tower [DVD] [1949]

DVD ~ Charles Laughton
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
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The Man On The Eiffel Tower [DVD] [1949]
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Product details

  • Actors: Charles Laughton, Franchot Tone, Burgess Meredith, Robert Hutton
  • Directors: Burgess Meredith
  • Format: Colour, Dolby, PAL
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: PG
  • Studio: Odeon Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: 23 Jun 2008
  • Run Time: 97 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B0015YY772
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 17,322 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Product Description

In Paris, a down and out medical student Johann Radek (Franchot Tone) is paid by Bill Kirby (Robert Hutton) to murder his wealthy aunt. A knife grinder (Burgess Meredith) is suspected, but Radek keeps taunting the police until they realize that he is the killer. The police and Maigret (Charles Laughton) are led on chases through the streets and over the rooftops of Paris and finally up the girders of the Eiffel Tower. Written by Herman Seifer {alagain@aol.com} Bill Kirby, 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. Radek offers to murder the old lady so Kirby can get his inheritance, pay off his wife to divorce him, and marry his wife's friend. On the night of the murder, a would-be burglar named Heurtin stumbles upon the corpses of the old lady and her maid. Heurtin, who is almost legally blind, loses his glasses and must be helped home by the killer. Inspector Maigret is assigned to the case and quickly tracks down the owner of the thick glasses. Heurtin helps identify the Radek, but there is no real evidence against him. So begins a clever game of cat-and-mouse, in which Radek taunts the police with clues and his dirty money and blackmails Heurtin, then Kirby, and then Kirby's wife and mistress into to helping him, even while Maigret is patiently tailing him, waiting for him to make a mistake.


Synopsis

This psychologically powerful drama deals with the efforts of a brilliant police inspector to break down the will of a man he suspects of murder. The lack of evidence forces the wily detective to resort to subtle interrogative techniques.
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Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Nicely Restored Version, 30 Jun 2008
This great classic film has finally been released on DVD in a version restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. I've purchased many awful public domain versions on DVD over the years, and this restored version is probably the best this film will look. There are some scratches and lines running through it, but the colors are nice and they enhance the enjoyment of this film.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing, flawed psychological thriller with a fine Franchot Tone performance, 26 Oct 2008
By C. O. DeRiemer (San Antonio, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
The Man on the Eiffel Tower is an odd failure of a movie. It's disjointed, has no sympathetic characters except Inspector Maigret and his cops, features an overbearing music score and relies heavily on scenic Paris to maintain interest. What I find intriguing is the work of the three lead actors, Charles Laughton, Franchot Tone and Burgess Meredith, especially Tone. The story itself picks up steam in the last half, and the final chase through the iron structure of the Eiffel Tower is fascinating and suspenseful. While elements of the plot are discussed below, everything is known to the viewer within the first 15 minutes.

It's Paris in the late Forties. A young man (Robert Hutton), with his wife (Patricia Roc) and his girl friend (Jean Wallace), is overheard in a bar bemoaning how long it will most likely take before his rich aunt dies and he will inherit a great deal of money. A few days later the aunt is stabbed to death. It's clear that the nephew and the man who overheard his conversation made an agreement. By chance a poor sharpener of knives, Joseph Huertin (Burgess Meredith), almost blind even when he is wearing his thick eyeglasses, burgled the mansion the same night of the killing. He discovered the bodies (the aunt's maid had been killed, too), bloodied his hands and met the murderer, whom he could not recognize. Huertin is caught, but police inspector Jules Maigret doesn't believe he did it. What follows is a cat and mouse game between Maigret and a former medical student, a clever, often charming psychopath named Johan Radek (Franchot Tone). As one of his former professors tells Maigret, "Radek had a remarkable flair for sensing the weaknesses of others." Maigret slowly lays traps for Radek, and Radek taunts and leads Maigret on. The climax is the chase up the Eiffel Tower, with Radek climbing through the iron superstructure, followed by Huertin, with Maigret ascending by the cable-pulled passenger car.

The city of Paris plays an important role in this movie. It was shot on location, and the film is stuffed with visions of the city, from the Cafe Les Deux Maggots, reputed to be the oldest cafe in the city, where much of the plot bubbles, to the elegant Hotel George V, from the Champs-Elyses to the Seine to narrow streets and rooftops. It's a fascinating look at the city, made even more appealing now by the absence of crushing traffic. The interior of the Eiffel Tower becomes an iron maze of trusses, beams and open stair steps.

Laughton plays Maigret as perhaps too avuncular, but his Maigret is just as clever and shrewd as the original. Meredith's role as the nearly blind Huertin is probably less sympathetic than was intended. The character is simply too dull-witted to feel much empathy toward. Tone, on the other hand, plays Radek with great unbalanced charm. He buys Maigret lunch one afternoon at the restaurant atop the Eiffel Tower to preen in his cleverness. Tone manages to combine ego, menace and hysteria in one long monologue directed at Maigret. Franchot Tone has always seemed to me to be an underrated actor. He was a star in the Thirties but slipped steadily down throughout the Forties. His private life was often messy. Still, he could do more with less than most actors and was always, in my view, well worth watching.

The first half of the movie is contrived and disjointed, with Radek barely appearing. When a tense plot point looks as if it's going to be developed, more often that not an excuse for one more scenic chase through Paris arises. The second half of the movie, however, starts to cook. The duel between Radek and Maigret takes over, Maigret sets his traps and Radek's ego leads him to dangerously underestimate Maigret. The last 20 minutes are worth waiting for.

The film must have been a labor of love that didn't work out. Franchot Tone was the co-producer with Irving Allen, who was set to direct. He started filming, then Laughton demanded that Allen be replaced by Burgess Meredith, who then had Laughton direct the scenes in which Meredith appeared. After the movie failed at the box office, Allen bought the rights and buried the film for years. While The Man on the Eiffel Tower is not a successful film, it has much to enjoy.
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