Port of Shadows (1938)

Port of Shadows (“Le quai des brumes”)
Directed by Michel Carné
Written by Jacques Prevert from the novel by Pierre Dumarchais
1938/France
Ciné-Alliance
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Le peintre: A tree. But when I paint one, it sets everyone on edge. It’s because there’s someone or something hidden behind that tree. I can’t help painting what’s hidden behind things. To me a swimmer is already a drowned man..[/box]

I was surprised how little I remembered about this really excellent film.

Jean (Jean Gabin) is a French army deserter who has also apparently committed some crime of passion.  He arrives in Le Havre seeking a way to escape.  Nelly (Michele Morgan) is a seventeen-year-old running away from her jealous, lecherous godfather (Michel Simon) and a past affair with Maurice.  Lucien (the fantastic Pierre Brasseur) is a cowardly gangster in search of Maurice and some papers.  Fate is not kind to any of these people.

The docks of Le Havre are permeated by fog and cruel destiny.  1938 seems to have been a very good year for French proto-noirs.  No one could be more doomed than our hero and, while our heroine is sincere, she is nonetheless fatal.  The acting is excellent.  I seem to admire Michel Simon more with every performance I see.  The Jacques Prevert (Children of Paradise) dialogue is haunting as is the score.  This is a dark and sad film but very beautiful.   I highly recommend it.

Re-release trailer