344 Full House

[MichaelB]

FULL HOUSE
(Henri Verneuil, 1952, 117 mins)
Release date: 20 July 2026
Limited Edition Blu-ray (UK and US premiere)

Pre-order the UK or US release.

Three of France’s most beloved fictional detectives are on the case in Full House (Brelan d’as), a portmanteau policier from director Henri Verneuil (The Sicilian Clan).

First, Monsieur Wens (Raymond Rouleau, Falbalas), created by Stanislas-André Steeman (Quai des Orfèvres), is puzzled by a case in which the chief suspect seems to have the perfect alibi – he was with Wens at the time of the murder. Secondly, Peter Cheyney’s Lemmy Caution (John van Dreelan, 13 Ghosts) becomes entangled with a femme fatale as he tackles a jewel robbery. The final segment focuses on Georges Simenon’s Inspector Maigret, as Michel Simon (L’Atalante) solves a murder from his sickbed with the aid of an altar boy.

Verneuil’s masterful triple-helping of post-war Gallic noir boasts a screenplay co-written by Jacques Companéez (Casque d’or) and André Tabet (Witness in the City).


INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

• 4K restoration from the original nitrate negative
• Original mono audio
• Michel Simon (1964): Ole Roos’ award-winning short film portrait of the great French actor
• Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials
• New and improved English translation subtitles
• Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Eric Smoodin, archival profiles of director Henri Verneuil and writers Georges Simenon, Stanislas-André Steeman, and Peter Cheyney, and film credits
• UK premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited edition of 4,000 copies for the UK and US
• More to be announced
• All features subject to change

#PHILE344B
BBFC cert: TBC
REGION A+B
EAN: 5060697925432

[domino harvey]

Never even heard of this one, but Verneuil has a better than average batting record and this sounds intriguing. Surprised they wouldn’t go for Lautner too in this pivot, but maybe they will

[MichaelB]

The interview with Michel Simon is an absolute joy. He's a lot more articulate than you might expect from his various shambling performances, although at an early stage he avers that not a single one bears any resemblance to the man himself—but of course he's nonetheless inimitably Michel Simon from beginning to end, breaking off to talk to his beloved pets mid-conversation as if he considers their opinion to be far more valuable (which may well have been the case).

Watching him, I was reminded of an anecdote from the shooting of Blanche a few years after the interview was shot, which is that when Walerian Borowczyk was asked why he gave Simon pretty much no direction, he replied that if you cast an actor like Simon, there's absolutely no point trying to control what he does; you're going to get something you never anticipated, so you might as well just sit back and enjoy it.

[MichaelB]

Final specs:

[domino harvey]

This was pretty lame on the whole. I think the problem, or one of them, is that no matter how much filmmakers (here and elsewhere) insist the literary detective they’re bringing to life is unique, they’re all about the same. Now, I don’t count Lemmy Caution among these as he is quite differentiated from the others (his schtick, as you might surmise from the Godard but consistent among other adaptations, is that he’s a brash American stereotype without pleasantries or charm, kind of like Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda), but to no real benefit here regardless. I doubt anyone would argue any other but the Maigret segment being the strongest, as besides the star power Simon brings (and he is exceptional here, even if the material is not), it’s the only portion filmed with any kind of visual wit or interest. The Msr Wens short is negligible and the Caution is more or less the same kind of story (guilty party thinks they’ve fooled the master detective but he was two steps ahead the entire time, even when it’s impossible to believe that) but worse.

I enjoyed the Simon short included here as a bonus more than the feature, and its artsy ambitions reminded me a bit of that short Kirk Douglas did with the Polish film students around this time