Full House Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Full House Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 4, 2026

Henri Verneuil's "Full House" (1952) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Indicator/Powerhouse Films. The supplemental features on the release include a documentary film about actor Michel Simon and vintage promotional materials. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A/B "locked".

Henri Verneuil’s body of work is quite diverse. However, on both sides of the Atlantic, Verneuil is remembered for directing several outstanding gangster films. Two of them, Any Number Can Win (1963) and The Burglars (1971), are considered classics.

Full House was part of a European trend that gathered steam in the 1950s and peaked during the 1960s. In France and especially Italy, producers began investing in ‘package films’. They asked established and trendy directors to direct several short segments united by a common theme, which were placed in a 'package' and sold as a feature film. Three of the most popular ‘package films’ from the 1950s are The Seven Deadly Sins a.k.a. Les sept péchés capitaux (1952), Love in the City (1953), and The Anatomy of Love a.k.a. Tempi Nostri (1954). In the 1960s, the ‘package films’ began selling very well in non-European markets, and some producers invited directors from as far away as Japan to contribute to them. Some of the best ‘package films’ from this period are Boccaccio '70 (1962), The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers (1964), Let's Talk About Women (1964), The Maniacs (1964), and The Dolls a.k.a. Le Bambole (1965).

While Full House and the classic ‘package film’ have an identical narrative structure, the former does something rather unusual. It unites three characters made famous by European novelists during the 1930s. The first is Inspector Wens, created by Belgian novelist Stanislas-André Steeman. The second is FBI agent-turned private detective Lemmy Caution, created by British novelist Peter Cheyney. The third is Chief Inspector Jules Maigret, created by the prolific Belgian novelist Georges Simenon. Under Verneuil’s direction, each character makes an appearance in a short segment at the center of which is a perplexing, seemingly unsolvable crime.

However, the nature of the crime and how each character solves it is not what makes Full House worth seeing. Or, at least it is not what makes Full House worth seeing today. Each segment in Full House is intriguing because it produces a cinematic version of its famous central character that is notably different than the classic cinematic version that has immortalized it.

Inspector Wens (Raymond Rouleau), for instance, is a chatty, fast-moving professional who deconstructs and reconstructs the crime, which is a loose replica of the one from The Murderer Lives at 21 (1942), with striking pragmatism. The classic cinematic version of Inspector Wens is a quiet observer, an improvising chameleon who routinely inserts himself into the environment where the killer has chosen to hide, staging developments that ruin the killer’s cover.

The classic cinematic version of Caution has undergone several small adjustments. However, it is instantly relatable to Eddie Constantine, who became Caution in Poison Ivy (1953) and tweaked the character as he headed toward Alphaville (1965). In Full House, John van Dreelen’s transformation, while decent, cannot be compared with Constantine’s. The ideal version of Constantine’s Caution is a hardened, streetwise character who fits perfectly in a pulpy film noir.

Similarly, though inhabited by several famous French actors, Chief Inspector Maigret is instantly relatable to Jean Gabin, who played almost perfectly the witty, at times jaded, introverted man of the law Simenon described in his writings. In Full House, the great actor Michel Simon is witty and appears somewhat jaded, but he is definitely not as convincing as Gabin.

The three segments are adapted from the following novels: Simenon’s “The Evidence of the Altar Boy”, Steeman’s “Monsieur Wens’ Alibi”, and Cheyney’s “I’m Tender-Hearted”.

Full House Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.34:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Full House arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Indicator/Powerhouse Films.

The release presents a recent 4K restoration of Full House, completed at the French lab VDM. This lab has a very poor record with 4K restorations of color French films. However, virtually all 4K restorations of black-and-white French films I have seen emerge from it are either very good or excellent. The 4K restoration of Full House is very good. It produces nicely detailed, sharp, and healthy visuals, many boasting very good depth as well. In a few areas, select visuals can be somewhat unstable, but there are no distracting bumps or jumps. Grain exposure is slightly uneven, too. However, on a large screen it remains pleasing, and there are no traces of any distracting digital corrections. The grayscale is excellent. Blacks, grays, and whites look terrific. I did not notice any large marks, debris, cuts, warped or torn frames to report. (Note: This is a Region-A/B "locked" release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A, Region-B, or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Full House Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French LPCM 1.0 (with a few portions of German and English). Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The Mono track is outstanding. Its clarity, sharpness, and stability are as good as I think they can be. During the action material, dynamic intensity if pretty good, too. The music can sound a bit thin. However, this is a limitation of the original soundtrack, not an anomaly introduced by aging. It is very easy to tell because the upper register is stable and very healthy. The English translation is excellent.

Full House Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Michel Simon - this short documentary takes a closer look at the life and career of Michel Simon. It was produced by Ole Roos in 1964. Fully restored. In French, with English subtitles. (15 min).

• Image Gallery - presented here is a collection of original promotional materials for Full House.

• Booklet - an 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 technical credits.

Full House Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While it is tempting to declare that Full House presents three imperfect cinematic versions of three notorious characters -- Inspector Wens, FBI agent-turned private detective Lemmy Caution, and Chief Inspector Jules Maigret -- this statement would be seriously misleading. It is largely because of Full House and several other old films like it that, soon after, supposedly perfect cinematic versions of these notorious characters materialized. The actors who played the latter cinematic versions borrowed from them and made adjustments that are now considered some of their greatest strengths. It is why Full House is very much worth tracking down. Indicator/Powerhouse Films' Blu-ray release presents a recent, very good 4K restoration of the film, completed at the French lab VDM. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.