PORT OF SHADOWS (LE QUAI DES BRUMES)
Directed by: Marcel Carné.
Produced by: Grégor Rabinovitch.
Written by: Jacques Prévert, based on the novel Le Quai des brumes by Pierre Mac Orlan.
Director of Photography: Eugen Schüfftan.
Edited by: René Le Hénaff.
Music by: Maurice Jaubert.
Released by: Criterion Collection.
Language: French with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: France. 90 min. Not Rated.
With: Jean Gabin, Michèle Morgan, Michel Simon & Pierre Brasseur.
DVD Features: Stills & posters gallery. Trailer. New high-definition digital transfer with restored image & sound. New & improved English translation. Thirty-two page booklet with a new essay by cultural historian Luc Sante & a excerpt from Marcel Carné's autobiography Ma vie à belles dents (My Life with Gusto).

Port of Shadows is seemingly one of the most drab and depressing films you will encounter from the 1930s. This was a time when color was begging for a spot in Hollywood, where innovations in sound were churning out one musical after another to the delight of audiences everywhere. Upon its release, the film was met with a disappointing ire, viewed by many as harshly disheartening. While it is indeed all of these things, Port of Shadows is also beautifully directed by French filmmaker Marcel Carné. It is a wonderful work to look at and effortlessly garners any appreciation previously denied to it.

Soldier-turned-deserter Jean (the cool tough guy, Jean Gabin) is looking for a new life in the port town of La Havre. His sole companion is a loyal stray mutt he met hitchhiking. In a dive on the outskirts of town, he meets a fellow runaway, 17-year-old Nelly (Michèle Morgan), who is connected with the disappearance of a local gangster. The film is beautifully noirish, with smoke and fog almost becoming a third main character. The isolated settings and dark tone can at times seem like pessimistic overkill, but the film must also be commended for knowing full well what kind of mood it wants to achieve. Port of Shadows sentences its characters to despair so effortlessly that happiness becomes for them either a distant memory or an impossibility. With its backdrop of crime, a jaded older man protecting an ingénue, as well as its cynical spirit, this is the French cousin to The Petrified Forest (1936), with Leslie Howard, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart.

DVD Extras: The features are relatively sparse for a Criterion release. On the disc itself there is only a trailer and a photo gallery containing posters, productions stills, and publicity shots. Both are skippable. The only other feature is a 32-page booklet that thankfully includes two well-written and gratifying essays. The first is from historian Luc Sante, as he cohesively discusses the film's substantial influence on French cinema. The second is taken from Marcel Carne's autobiography My Life with Gusto. Here he discusses German studio troubles (he does admit to the director having more power than the producer at this point) as well as casting (signing Jean Gabin was another production in and of itself). Michael Belkewitch
August 23, 2004