LES CINQ DERNIÈRES MINUTES: MEURTRE PAR LA BANDE (ORTF, 1972)

Commissaire Bourrel and Inspecteur Dupuy, of the Police judiciaire, investigate in the world of comics.

Meurtre par la bande is an episode of the feature-length French detective series Les Cinq Dernières Minutes (1958-1996).

Created by journalist, director, scriptwriter and producer Claude Loursais, Les Cinq Dernières Minutes is one of the first series in the History of French television. It was launched on January 1, 1958 on the only channel of RTF (Radiodiffusion Télévision Française), the predecessor of ORTF (Office de radiodiffusion-télévision française). Les Cinq Dernières Minutes went through many changes in three "eras" until France 2 shown its 149th episode on December 20, 1996.  The first era (1958-1973) was penned by Claude Loursais  — who directed most of its episodes  — with Fred Kassak, Louis C. Thomas, Michel Lebrun, Maurice-Bernard Endrèbe, Henri Grangé, André Maheux, Jean Cosmos, etc. This version starred Raymond Souplex as the gruff Inspecteur/Commissaire Antoine Bourrel and Jean Daurand as Inspecteur Dupuy.

 

Les Cinq Dernières Minutes began as a mystery gameshow aired live. Two selected viewers watched a whodunit, then Inspecteur Bourrel asked them the solution and how to prove it with the possibility to watch again two scenes. Les Cinq Dernières Minutes dropped live broadcasting and the game format to explore different socio-professional environments in episodes shot in studio on video and on 16mm film for the locations. The popularity of the programme peaked in the 1960s-1970s and turned Raymond Souplex and Jean Daurand into TV stars. Bourrel's catchphrase (« Bon Dieu, mais c'est bien sûr! ») entered the vernacular. The series was adapted in Germany (Dem Täter auf der Spur, 1967-1973). Les Cinq Dernières Minutes switched from black and white to colour in 1971.  

 

Helmed by series boss Claude Loursais and penned by Louis C. Thomas with Michel Lebrun, Meurtre par la bande was aired on ORTF's Deuxième chaîne on May 4, 1972. Charny, an abstract painter, is found murdered in an old villa with a strange white mask on his face. Commissaire Bourrel meets Karine, his widow, and her friend Barbara. Bourrel and Dupuy share their perplexity when Doussard, a comic book fan, wants to see the commissaire. He affirms that the crime was inspired by a similar death in a magazine about a hit comic book heroine named Vampyra. Bourrel interrogates Giron, the cynical artist who draws her adventures, and Fontaine, the busy publisher of the magazine. Later Doussard is killed by someone masked as Vampyra. Commissaire Bourrel, who hates comics, must find answers in the creation of the character.

Louis C. Thomas and Michel Lebrun succeed in blending a good plot with an interesting insight into the comic book phenomenon in 1970s France. The scriptwriters did their homework, even mentioning the 1949 law on publications for young people. However, this "Documentaire social" aspect of Les Cinq Dernières Minutes (an insistence of Claude Loursais) sometimes comes heavily. Like in the comic book store where a professor of sociology gives an impromptu mini-conference for Bourrel. French comic book artist Jean-Marc Loreau (aka Loro) drew the pages of Vampyra especially for this episode where Bourrel tells his catchphrase in a balloon (1). Inspecteur Dupuy disappeared from Les Cinq Dernières after Meurtre par la bande because of Jean Daurand's health issues. The actor returned as Commissaire Dupuy in Brigade des Mineurs, the 1977-1979 social drama series created by Claude Loursais.

 

With Jean-Paul Tribout (Juju), André Oumansky (Charny), Claudine Coster (Karine), Paula Dehelly (Barbara), Mike Marshall (Undertaker), Patrick Lemaitre (Doussard), Jean-Claude Massoulier (Fontaine), Henri-Jacques Huet (Giron), Henri Serre (Maussac), Jean-Pierre Sentier (Comic book shop owner), Albert Simono (Professor of sociology), Louis Arbessier (Picquigny), etc. Produced by Oreste Delsale and Michèle Pietri. Main title theme composed by Marc Lanjean (2). Cinematography by André Diot. Video editing by Christiane Coutel. Film editing by Armand Leibovich. Following the death of Raymond Souplex in September 1972 and his final episodes, some new detectives were tested by Claude Loursais in four TV movies aired between July 1974 and January 1975 on the Deuxième chaîne and Antenne 2.  

 

Les Cinq Dernières Minutes was relaunched on Antenne 2 in May 1975 with Jacques Debary (Commissaire Cabrol) and Marc Eyraud (Inspecteur Ménardeau). The duo bowed out in 1991, to be replaced by Pierre Santini (Un juge, un flic) as Commissaire Julien Massard and Pierre Hoden (Inspecteur Antoine Barrier) from 1992 to 1996. The episodes of Les Cinq Dernières Minutes from 1958 to 1991 and Brigade des mineurs are available on Madelen, the streaming service of INA. The Cabrol-Ménardeau era was shown in Germany on ZDF as Kommissar Cabrol ermittelt - Die Fälle des Monsieur Cabrol.

 

(1) Meurtre par la bande is retrospectively compared to The Winged Avenger, an episode of The Avengers which was shown in France only the following year.

(2) Arsenic Blues, actually composed by Marc Lanjean for the movie La Peau de l'ours (1957).

 

Les Cinq Dernières Minutes and Raymond Souplex on this blog:

 

https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2024/07/les-cinq-dernieres-minutes-la-memoire.html 

https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2024/07/fausse-note-ortf-1974.html

https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2024/06/si-ce-nest-toi-ortf-1974.html

https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2024/06/rouges-sont-les-vendanges-ortf-1974.html

https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2024/07/des-yeux-par-milliers-braques-sur-nous.html

BEYOND THE GRAVE - A NEW ADAMSBERG'S CASE/SUR LA DALLE (FRANCE 2, 2024)

Commissaire Adamsberg is back on pubcaster France 2 after a five-year break to investigate in an uneven 2 x 90-minute TV movie.

 

Sur la dalle will be shown by the channel on October 21 and October 28, 2024.     

Created by best-selling French crime writer Fred Vargas (nom de plume of Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau), the contemplative and melancolic Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg is the main character of several books published between 1991 and 2023. This unorthodox detective is usually surrounded by a colourful team comprised of the erudite Commandant Adrien Danglard, computer expert Lieutenant Froissy, Lieutenant Voisenet (an amateur ichthyologist), Lieutenant Louis Veyrenc, Brigadier Estalère, Mordent, Mercadet, Noël and the colossal "polyvalent goddess" of the brigade criminelle: Lieutenant Violette Retancourt.

Pars vite et reviens tard (Have Mercy on Us All, 2001), the third Commissaire Adamsberg mystery, became a Régis Wargnier feature film in 2006 with José Garcia as the commissaire. In 2008, director and producer Josée Dayan (Les rois maudits, Les misérables, Le comte de Monte Cristo) launched her Collection Fred Vargas for France 2 with Sous les vents de Neptune. Author, scriptwriter and director Emmanuel Carrère penned this 2 x 90-minute adaptation of the fourth Adamsberg novel (Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand, 2004) starring Jean-Hughes Anglade (Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg), Jacques Spiesser (Magellan) as Danglard, Hélène Fillières (Camille Forestier), Myriam Boyer (Clémentine), Jeanne Moreau, Corinne Masiero (Retancourt), etc.

Sous les vents de Neptune was followed by L'homme aux cercles bleus (The Chalk Circle Man, Adamsberg #1) and L'homme à l'envers (Seeking Whom He May Devour, Adamsberg #2) in 2009 and Un lieu incertain (An Uncertain Place, Adamsberg #6) in 2010, three 90-minute made-for-TV movies. Nine years later, Jean-Hughes Anglade returned as Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg in Quand sort la recluse (1), a 2 x 90-minute television film helmed by Josée Dayan and written by Emmanuel Carrère. Published in France during Spring 2023, Sur la dalle is the tenth Adamsberg book by Fred Vargas. Filmed between February and March 2024 under the direction of Josée Dayan, the adaptation was written once again by Emmanuel Carrère. Except that this time the character is portrayed by Yvan Attal (Munich, Anthony Zimmer).

Adamsberg receives a text message from Commissaire Franck Mathieu, a colleague from Brittany whom he worked with two years ago. Mathieu tells him that Gaël, a gamekeeper,  has been murdered. Despite the objections of Retancourt, Jean-Baptiste cannot resist going to the Breton village of Louviec to learn more. Danglard, Froissy and newcomer Sabine Natoutruc join Adamsberg on the case. The main suspect is a descendant and lookalike of François-René de Chateaubriand paid to promote the famous author's Château de Combourg. Soon another murder is committed and the mystery grows in an investigation involving a limping ghost, a hunchback, fleas, shadows, dead cats and a serial killer.

The choice of Yvan Attal as the new Adamsberg is rather smart. Danglard is now played by Louis-Do de Lenquesaing and Sylvie Testud returns as Froissy. Since Un lieu incertain, Corinne Masiero became the star of the hit crime drama Capitaine Marleau (2015), produced and directed by Josée Dayan. The actress leaves Sur la dalle after 30 minutes under the pretext that Retancourt doesn't like Chateaubriand. Virginie Ledoyen plays Sabine, her de facto substitute though Violette is irreplacable. The first part of Sur la dalle drowns itself in some of the dialogues. Thankfully things get better with the second part of this "new Adamsberg's case". Set in a timeless Brittany, Sur la dalle has the feel of a Midsomer Murders episode.

Comedian and actor Olivier De Benoist is Commissaire Mathieu. The great character actor Philippe du Janerand (Nikita) plays Maël. Also with Eric Caravaca (Robic), Micha Lescot (Josselin), Vincent Deniard (Johan), François Bureloup (Uranus), Riwan Belkacemi (Louis), Claire Nebout (Marie Serpentin), etc. No La Boule, the  big cat who lives on the photocopier in Adamsberg's brigade, but a hedgehog (credited as Le hérisson) "played" by... Pompon. Co-produced by Passionfilms and Gaspard & Co with France Télévisions and the participation of TV5 Monde. Produced by Josée Dayan and Gaspard de Chavagnac. The superb music was composed by Reno Isaac. Cinematography by Ramin Poursaid. Editing by Yves Langlois, assisted by Florence Leconte. Distributed by France tv Distribution.

(1) Quand sort la recluse is based on the ninth Adamsberg mystery (This Poison Will Remain, 2017).

https://www.francetvpro.fr/contenu-de-presse/68550446
https://www.chateau-combourg.com

See also: 

https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2019/04/collection-fred-vargas-quand-sort-la.html

ALLMEN UND DAS GEHEIMNIS DES KOI (DAS ERSTE)

The vacations of the dandy art detective Allmen turn into business as usual (i.e. troubles) when he must find a stolen Koi fish.

The flamboyant Johann Friedrich von Allmen and his loyal though sarcastic Guatemalan valet Carlos first appeared in Allmen and the Dragonflies (Allmen und die Libellen, 2011), a novel written by bestselling Swiss author Martin Suter and followed by five more books. Four Allmen TV movies based on the novels were aired by pubcaster Das Erste between 2017 and 2021: Allmen und das Geheimnis der Libellen, Allmen und das Geheimnis des rosa Diamanten, Allmen und das Geheimnis der Dahlien and Allmen und das Geheimnis der Erotik. Allmen und das Geheimnis des Koi, the fifth one, was filmed in 2023 and shown last month in Germany and Austria.

Those movies star Heino Ferch (Nordholm, Anatomy of Evil) as Johann Friedrich von Allmen and Samuel Finzi (Flemming) as Carlos. Andrea Osvárt (Tranporter: The Series) plays Joelle "Jojo" Hirt, the daughter of one of the richest men in Switzerland and Allmen's love interest. From the second film, Isabella Parkinson joined the cast as Carlos' Colombian girlfriend Maria Moreno. Adapted by scriptwriter Martin Rauhaus (Hotel Heidelberg) from the book Allmen und der Koi, Allmen und das Geheimnis des Koi is directed by Sinje Köhler. Far from his money issues and the attention of the Zurich tax office, Allmen is on holiday in Tenerife with Jojo and Carlos.

 

Film mogul Steve Garrett uses music producer Freddie Turnbill, a friend of Johann, to get the services of the detective but not for a missing work of art. He wants him to find "Boy", his $1,5 million Japanese Koi fish which vanished from the pond in his garden. Garrett won't take a no for an answer so he forces Johann to accept. Garrett's girlfriend Dr. Akina de la Vega happens to be a Koi expert, author of a book called Miracle of the Koi. Allmen meets English photographer Helen Lifehouse and Italian gangster Vittorio Giunninazzi. Freddie is murdered and Jojo decides to investigate too. No Prague doubling as Zurich this time but the beautiful scenery of Tenerife, which suits our quatuor very well.

 

The excellent cast also includes Uwe Kockisch (Donna Leon) as Steve Garrett, Falilou Seck (Freddie), Alejandro Barrios (Bajrush), Edita Malovčić (Dr. Akina de la Vega), Jörg Witte (Vale), Michaela Rosen (Helen Lifehouse), David Lifschitz (Der König von Palma) as Vittorio Giunninazzi, etc. Produced by UFA Fiction  (a Fremantle company) with SunnySideUp Productions (Balko Teneriffa) for ARD Degeto and Das Erste. Produced by Alena Gößling and Sinah Swyter. Karsten Kilian and Bettina Höfke are the production managers. Holger Krenz is the line producer. Music by Fabian Römer and Mathias Hillebrand-Gonzalez. Thomas Franz is the production designer. Cinematography by Frank Küpper. Editing by David Kuruc.

 

Production services in Spain by Rolf Wappenschmitt (SunnySideUp), carried out in the Canary Islands. Allmen und das Geheimnis des Koi has benefited from the Spanish Tax Rebate in collaboration with the Spanish Government and the Tenerife Film Commission. We're not finished with the adventures of Johann Friedrich von Allmen, Carlos and their lady friends because there's a seventh Allmen book called Allmen und Herr Weynfeldt, released in March 2024. This "Herr Weynfeldt" is in fact Adrian Weynfeldt, the main character of Martin Suter's novel Der letzte Weynfeldt (2008).

 

https://www.daserste.de/unterhaltung/film/filme-im-ersten/sendung/allmen-und-das-geheimnis-des-koi-100.html 

https://www.diogenes.ch/foreign-rights/authors.html?detail=ea558281-f42e-425c-9959-7c0411d831c5

https://sunnysideup-productions.es/

https://www.tvspielfilm.de/news/tv/heino-ferch-ist-als-kunstdetektiv-zurueck-wie-geht-es-nach-allmen-und-das-geheimnis-des-koi-weiter,12569309,ApplicationArticle.html