Hi all
The new (and third) Maigret film was on TV here in the UK over Easter: 'Maigret at the Crossroads'. It stars Rowan Atkinson who, I think, is growing nicely into the role. For those who do not know, Maigret is a pipe smoking senior detective in Paris in a series of books by Georges Simenon who was himself something of a pipe-fanatic. Maigret is of interest to pipe smokers because he is rarely without his pipe. I read that the producers refused to bow down to the PC brigade on this as the pipe and Maigret are so intimately connected: even more than Holmes and his pipe.
While I was watching the film I noticed that Maigret/Atkinson was smoking Dunhills!
Unless this is a subtle piece of product placement, I wonder how the bean counters in the props department justified the cost!? In any case, it is probably very doubtful if a French detective in the mid-20th century would have been smoking a Dunhill anyway, given that there were so many excellent French companies then.
Incidentally, Atkinson apparently smoked a pipe while at university (although he did not keep it up) - it does show in the authenticity of the way he lights and smokes it.
The new (and third) Maigret film was on TV here in the UK over Easter: 'Maigret at the Crossroads'. It stars Rowan Atkinson who, I think, is growing nicely into the role. For those who do not know, Maigret is a pipe smoking senior detective in Paris in a series of books by Georges Simenon who was himself something of a pipe-fanatic. Maigret is of interest to pipe smokers because he is rarely without his pipe. I read that the producers refused to bow down to the PC brigade on this as the pipe and Maigret are so intimately connected: even more than Holmes and his pipe.
While I was watching the film I noticed that Maigret/Atkinson was smoking Dunhills!
Unless this is a subtle piece of product placement, I wonder how the bean counters in the props department justified the cost!? In any case, it is probably very doubtful if a French detective in the mid-20th century would have been smoking a Dunhill anyway, given that there were so many excellent French companies then.
Incidentally, Atkinson apparently smoked a pipe while at university (although he did not keep it up) - it does show in the authenticity of the way he lights and smokes it.
