despite his occasional appearance in the film of major director like max ophuls and jacques becker and jean renoir and from the 1950s onwards jean gabin seem content to rely simply on his effortlessly charismatic screen persona and elevate an apparently interminable succession of old fashion potboiler which and while undeniably enjoyable in themselves and now seem like a regrettable waste of this monumental french film star . nevertheless and i try not to miss any of his film when they crop up on italian or french cable tv channel and and for what it worth and i have always be on the look out for at least two of his late 50 film claude autant lara love be my profession ( 1958 while with brigitte bardot ) and the film under review here . anyway and gabin be perfectly cast a the world weary police inspector who be ponder retirement when the re emergence of an old nemesis a serial killer who stab lonely brunettes come home late at night taunt him back into action with a supremely clever plan to trap the killer and hence the film title . the film also feature in a supporting role the actor who and for all intent and purpose and replace gabin in french filmgoers mind a the brood action hero and lino ventura and but it annie girardot ( a a neglected but ultimately self sacrifice wife ) and jean desailly ( a her impotent and mother fixated artist husband ) who leave the best impression in the crowded supporting cast . jean gabin would go on to appear a inspector maigret in 2 subsequent film maigret et l affaire saint fiacre ( 1959 while which i have catch up with a couple of year ago ) and maigret vois rouge ( 1963 ) and work a further 5 time with director delannoy ( include the afore mention second maigret film ) while interestingly enough and delannoy himself would abandon his own artistic aspiration show earlier in two major french film of the 1940s leternel retour ( 1943 ) and la symphonie pastorale ( 1946 ) to concentrate on modest genre offering ( of which maigret set a trap be the best known and probably best overall as well ) for the rest of his career . inspector maigret be celebrate french pulp writer george simenon most famous literary creation and have previously be portray on the screen by pierre renoir in one of his brother jean most elusive film and night at the crossroad ( 1932 ) and and also by the great charles laughton in burgess meredith intriguing directorial outing and the man in the eiffel tower ( 1950 ) neither of which i have watch ala and would go on to be impersonate by a variety of formidable character actor among them rupert davy and gino cervi and michael gambon for tv .