Port of Shadows

Infobox_Film
name = Port of Shadows


imdb_id = 0030643
writer = Jacques Prévert
starring = Jean Gabin
Michel Simon
Michèle Morgan
Pierre Brasseur
director = Marcel Carné
producer = Gregor Rabinovitch
distributor =
released = May 18, 1938
runtime = 91 min
language = French
budget =
amg_id = 1:106403

"Port of Shadows" ( _fr. Le quai des brumes) is a 1938 French film directed by Marcel Carné. It stars Jean Gabin, Michel Simon and Michèle Morgan. The screenplay was written by Jacques Prévert based on a novel by Pierre Mac Orlan. It is a notable example of the poetic realism genre.

Plot summary

Jean, a deserter from the French army arrives in the port of Le Havre where, by chance, he is offered a change of identity and the opportunity to sail to the safety of South America. He is reluctant to leave, however, because he has met and fallen in love with a young woman, Nelly. Jean's fortunes take a turn for the worse when he makes a stand to protect Nelly from her guardian, Zabel, and a former admirer, both of whom are ruthless crooks.

Overview

Maurice Jaubert's moody opening theme transports the viewer into a world of mists and shadows. There are a few attempts at light relief - the little white stray dog which is constantly at Gabin's heels despite his efforts to shake it off, the depressive artist who sees death in everything he paints ("La nature morte!" comments another character in response), the uplifting music of the fairground scene. However, the sense throughout is one of overwhelming doom and unavoidable tragedy, capturing the mood of pre-war France quite well. One can almost see the writer and director each holding a cut-throat razor to his throat as they worked on the film.

Though the film's abiding mood is one of melancholy, its three stars, Jean Gabin, Michèle Morgan and Michel Simon (now all revered as legends of French cinema) all turn in affecting performances. Gabin is at his most enigmatic and engaging as the taciturn ex-soldier looking for a better life and not expecting to find it. Morgan shows her worth in the last minutes of the scene when she realises that her love is going to be lost, one way or another. And Michel Simon's supremely villainous Zabel is sophisticated but undoubtedly evil.

Cast

*Jean Gabin as Jean
*Michel Simon as Zabel
*Michèle Morgan as Nelly
*Pierre Brasseur as Lucien
*Édouard Delmont as Panama
*Raymond Aimos as Quart Vittel
*Robert Le Vigan as Le peintre
*René Génin as Le docteur
*Marcel Pérès as Le chauffeur
*Jenny Burnay as L'amie de Lucien
*Roger Legris as Le garçon d'hôtel
*Martial Rèbe as Le client

Trivia

A scene from the film is seen projected in the 2007 Oscar-nominated dramatisation of Ian McEwan's wartime tragic drama "Atonement".

External links

*
* [http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=245&eid=368&section=essay Criterion Collection essay by Luc Sante]