Maigret, The Series and The Books.

[PaulTheScandinavian]

As actors Bruno Cremer,Gambon and of course Jean Gabin played the Commisaire Maigret the very best

 

[hugodrax]

Maigret smoked caporal gris, sir. While it was never mentioned, the grey paper packet is and that gives it away.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

@HugoDrax, Eh, Qui, Tabac Gris in French stand for the domestic strong shag cut tobacco > Caporal Export or Scaferlatis which,as far as I'm aware of still exist out there among other domestic French blends,all those are strong burleyish shag cut tobaccies

 

[hugodrax]

Je m’appele Paul aussi, monsieur. Vous êtes corretes. Milles merci pour votre explication de cela que j'ai dit. Maigret, il etait le fils d’un registeur et ses goûts étaient ceux d’un paysan.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

@HugoDrax,Monsierur Paul,moi je suis Heureux dr Vous connaitre ,j'ai appris le francaise pendant mes etudes secondaires,mais helas, pendant ces dernier anneés je risque de l'ublier,car presque personne ne le parle ici,également c'est La Russe que je parle plus ou moins,

Ps, moi Je crois que Ce tabacs gris francais ce ceux a peu pres similaire de Tabac Semois Belge)

Methinks French dark blends are pretty similar tastewise to those Semois Tobaccies from Belgium, though a bit rougher tasting

 

[husky]

How can I be almost fifty and never have heard about Maigret?

I guess that makes me the lucky one as I have all of the TV-series and books to look forward to.

Some Michael Gambon on YT but I haven't found anywhere I can watch the episodes with Rowan Atkinson.

I suppose it is difficult to watch Atkinson without "seeing" the comic characters?

 

[scloyd]

@Husky- I watched the Rowan Atkinson's Maigret on Britbox, which I subscribe for $6.99 a month. They offer a FREE 7 day trial. The R.A. Maigret series is a total of 6 hours.
All of the Michael Gambon Maigrets are also on Britbox. I haven't watched those...yet.

 

[armonts]

( Paul said :"Methinks French dark blends are pretty similar tastewise to those Semois Tobaccies from Belgium, though a bit rougher tastin" "

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Yes, it's a bit like that in general !
And we must not forget that in France at the time of the novels, everyone smoked only "gray tobacco", scaferlati, by taste or obligation, by some American cigarettes sometimes for chic women or men.
The character could hardly smoke anything else in stories so detailed and close to reality. :: )

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

@Armonts, Yes Sir, today times have changed since then ,, especially when it comes to smoking culture

 

[hugodrax]

I have mostly the new Penguin English language translations. For the most part, they’re wonderfully done. Maigret is such a rich character and his technique so remarkable. I’m by no means a guy that looks for tobacco references, but for Maigret, everything was so important. There really was nothing, I think, that he didn’t do on purpose.
He was anything but a peasant (peasant, I think, is a state of mind) yet he knew how to play the peasant when it benefited him. He knew how to behave, but would irritate the wealthy by his mere appearance when he had to—he refused English tinned tobacco, yet on at least one occasion bought an expensive English pipe. I firmly believe he smoked caporal to remind himself of his family or maybe out of sheer bloody mindedness. Maigret is a fun, rich character.
I’m so glad I ran into those books in the English language section of Junkado when I was allowed to wander away on my own one day. They didn’t change my life or anything, but they’ve given me many hours of fun.

 

[armonts]

Initially it is the son of a sharecropper, a farmer therefore, on the lands of a chatelain.

(We learn this in the episode "The St. Fiacre Affair", where he returns to the places of his childhood.)
A little man of the earth...

 

[armonts]

( not " A little man of the earth." but "a man proximate the grounds", peasant roots in a French expression…)

 

[hugodrax]

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[scloyd]

Our local PBS station airs Maigret every day at noon, so I have been recording them on the DVR. I have watched two of Bruno Cremer episodes so far. I also picked up three of the newest Penguin Publishing Maigret books and finished book one. I'm really diggin' the Bruno Cremer series.
Here's a little trivia about the Bruno Cremer series. They're filmed in Prague, not Paris. Bruno Cremer got tired of working with Czech and Polish Directors that couldn't speak French, so they brought in Belgian Director Etienne Perier for the "Main on the Bench" episode.
Here is a short interview with Etienne Perier discussing that episode. Interview with Etienne Perier

 

[armonts]

The producer places the postwar action in the 50s. (It is well recognized cars).There were 54 episodes.
It is also co-produced with Czech television Ceská Televize, Belgian French RTBF, French-speaking Switzerland TSR, and Finnish Yle TV1. In order to reduce costs, the series is shot abroad: in Czechoslovakia, Finland, Portugal, and South Africa ("Maigret and the Liberty Bar"). B.Cremer spoke about it at the microphone of Radio Prague in April 2004 during one of his many Prague holidays.
Most of the stories take place in Paris, but in Prague there are corners that can sometimes evoke a city of the 50s, which emanates from Prague in some neighborhoods may have the same charm as some parts of Paris. "
But much is happening in Paris, because everyone recognizes, or in France in the countryside.

I saw a ready-made scene from home that was supposed to be in another city and the image from elsewhere, so that the group together makes believe in an unknown but credible place.
(At the moment the series is going back to France, I have already seen but often I can not help but Watch :roll:,

I must say that I have some memories of childhood 50 years ... :wink:

 

[elpfeife]

I watched the "Majestic" episode last night, armonts, so I saw your street! I assume it is the street where Prosper(correct name?) had his house.

 

[armonts]

Exactly!

We also see Prosper doing the street in bycicle (he smiles when he sees me hidden behind my garden gate)
This house of the 30s was empty for sale by the heirs, and the interior had remained of period by the old owners, with its tiling and everything.
The production had just sent a guy and a girl to spend a stroke of paint on the rack just before the shoot, and decorated a bit in it.

 

[armonts]

( For the anecdote G.Simenon was a little inspired by himself for his character Maigret, except for women!
While Maigret is wise enough and faithful Simenon despite his discreet accountant physique to the tobacco pipe he slept with countless women including prostitutes and he was quite a party animal and happy drinker! 8)
Do not always rely on appearances ... :: )

 

[newportpipe]

I was unfamiliar with Maigret novels and series’. Been watching the Michael Gambon series on Britbox this evening. I like it. I also like the actors that were in one of my favourite series Wooster & Jeeves that are in this series as well. Good stuff!

 

[armonts]

What is especially pleasant in the novels is the atmosphere, the places of action, the characters of the people, it is well described and we immerse ourselves in the story.
It's not always easy to transcribe on screen in a movie where we are more likely to do action for action ...