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© DR - LE QUAI DES BRUMES de Marcel Carné (1938) p9
10/11/2012 07:21
Cast (partiel)
Jean Gabin : Jean, le déserteur
Michèle Morgan : Nelly, la jeune fille sous tutelle
Michel Simon : Zabel, le tuteur de Nelly
Pierre Brasseur : Lucien Le Gardier, chef de bande
Édouard Delmont : Panama, le patron de l'auberge
Aimos : Quart-Vittel
Robert Le Vigan : Michel Krauss, le peintre
René Génin : Docteur Mollet
Marcel Pérès : Le chauffeur du camion
Jacques Soukoff : homme de main de Lucien
Le chien Kiki : le chien
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Like Being Punched Really Hard in the Gut
Author: zetes from Saint Paul, MN
9 February 2001
*
I took a class in French Poetic Realism and Italian Neorealism this past Fall in which I saw many of the best films I will ever see. The third film we watched in the class was Jean Vigo's L'Atalante, which is just about the most gorgeous experience in film viewing I have ever experienced. I left the building in a cloud of euphoria, and I have never stopped thinking about it. One week later, we watched Le Quai des Brumes (Port of Shadows). It affected me greatly in the opposite direction of L'Atalante. It made me lonely and grief-stricken. That is in no way a criticism; for the most part, any film that transforms my emotions, whether for the better or the worse, is a great film.
Le Quai des brumes is about a man played by the great Jean Gabin (the star of La Grande Illusion) who has deserted the army (a fact that is never mentioned specifically, since the French censors refused to let the filmmakers portray such an immoral deed). Everyone who he finds around him is morally corrupt. He finally befriends a dog, the most loyal of all animals, and then Nelly, a young woman who is being torn apart by her gangster suitor, Lucien, and her foster-father Zabel (played by L'Atalante's own Michel Simon).
The whole film falls into unavoidable and quite grueling violence. It is so depressing that the French director Jean Renoir (of La Grande Illusion and Rules of the Game) accused it of being Fascist. Those who know the film know this quotation, and have pondered it for the longest time. It does make perfect sense however. Hope leaves quickly after it is seen, and it is hard to get rid of. It fascistically knocks you down. 10/10
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© DR - LE QUAI DES BRUMES de Marcel Carné (1938) p10
10/11/2012 07:26
Récompenses
Prix Louis-Delluc 1939
Grand Prix national du cinéma français 1939
Prix Méliès de l'Académie du film -ex æquo avec La Bête humaine de Jean Renoir-(également avec Jean Gabin)
Lion d'or (pour la mise en scène) à la Mostra de Venise 1938
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Thirty Years Ahead of Its Time
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The version I watched is the one released in 2004 on Criterion. This comes with a 30-page booklet with an essay by Luc Sante and an excerpt from Marcel Carne's autobiography. The DVD has a very clear picture and crisp sound. I found the story quite interesting and was impressed by each the actors. There is one scene which makes use of classical music during a moment of violence. It made me think of a movie made much later, Stanley Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.
*
PORT OF SHADOWS is about degrees of violence. The adolescent thugs who terrorize the little port city of Le Havre have no idea of what is hidden in the lives of the two protagonists: A soldier who has deserted the army after going through something unspeakable in Tonkin and the urbane middle-aged man who has had enough of losing. I think the inevitability of the events in this movie bothers many people who have reviewed it on this database. It doesn't bother me.
Was the above review useful to you?
8 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Engaging, provoking theatre
Author: Polaris_DiB from United States
17 September 2007
*
Interesting what a contrast this movie makes to Carne's "The Children of Paradise". The two are almost complete opposites where mise-en-scene is concerned, and yet more interesting is that they both show a filmmaker with a craft of form and expression that rises beyond most other filmmakers, including his contemporaries."Port of Shadows" is about a French army deserter (Jean Gabin, wonderful as usual) who attempts to flee the nation in order to finally begin a life away from the bad luck that's always held him. He appears at a small port town, immediately falls in love, and sets off a chain of events that show an inherent fatalism with a sense of humor, tragedy, and substance.
This movie has one of those scripts that's very appealing in the way that it sends characters wandering through the mists, and yet somehow everything comes together and ties up all loose ends by the end. Adding to it the moody, brooding cinematography filled with fog and smoke, and one can't help but immerse oneself gladly into a different world. Also, Carne adds a sense of theatricality and the Carnivalesque that even Fellini couldn't compare to.This is definitely a film that well deserves being called "a classic of French cinema." --
PolarisDiB
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© DR - LE QUAI DES BRUMES de Marcel Carné (1938) p11
10/11/2012 07:30
Anecdotes
-C'est dans ce film qu'on trouve le célèbre dialogue entre Jean Gabin (Jean) et Michèle Morgan (Nelly) qui furent amants à la ville :
JEAN. – T'as d'beaux yeux, tu sais !.
NELLY. – Embrassez-moi. (il l'embrasse)
JEAN. – Nelly !
NELLY. – Embrasse-moi encore.
*
-On trouve également d'autres répliques savoureuses, comme « vaut mieux avoir cette tête-là que pas de tête du tout », prononcée par Michel Simon.
-Le film sortit en Italie avec des dialogues modifiés par la censure fasciste, qui transforma le personnage de Jean Gabin (un déserteur) en un militaire en permission.
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make sure the razor blades are locked up
Author: blanche-2 from United States
22 September 2011
Jean Gabin and Michelle Morgan star in the stylish Marcel Carne film, "Port of Shadows," made in 1938. There is simply no one like Jean Gabin - Hollywood had no idea what to do with him - here he was, this amazing leading man who looked like a character actor. Thankfully, the French knew what they had and kept him busy for 48 years.
*
Gabin plays Jean, a military deserter who comes into the French port of Le Havre, intending to leave aboard ship for Venezuela. He meets the beautiful Nelly and is adopted by a small dog. Nelly is a real man magnet; she has a boyfriend Maurice, a father figure who is in love with her named Zabel, and Lucien, a hood in love with her. She and Jean fall in love, even though in her heart she knows that he has to leave Le Havre.
*
These French films out-noir American film noirs, and this is a stylish, dark film filled with sadness, with a depressing ambiance throughout. If you were miserable when you started watching it, you'll be a mess when it's over. What I've gone through for Gabin - he was in so many dark, depressing films! If you're a fan of film noir (and/or Gabin), this is for you.
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© DR - LE QUAI DES BRUMES de Marcel Carné (1938) p12
10/11/2012 07:35
On passe aux choses sérieuses et l'on entre dans le vif du sujet
Production
Marcel Carné a expliqué dans ses Mémoires les circonstances dans lesquelles est né le projet de réaliser un film adapté du roman de Pierre Mac Orlan publié en 1927 : c'est Raoul Ploquin, responsable des films français pour l'UFA qui avait demandé au réalisateur de Drôle de drame s'il n'avait pas un sujet de film à proposer à Jean Gabin, alors sous contrat avec la firme allemande.
Carné proposa Le Quai des brumes. Gabin et Ploquin, après lecture, estimèrent que l'on pouvait en tirer un film intéressant. Jacques Prévert, qui aimait beaucoup le roman, accepta de participer au projet.Carné avait dès le début du projet envisagé de confier le rôle de Nelly à Michèle Morgan, qu'il avait vue dans Gribouille (1937) de Marc Allégret, mais celle-ci était déjà engagée pour le tournage d'un autre film du même réalisateur, Orage (1938).
*
L'action du roman se passe pour l'essentiel à Paris, dans le quartier de Montmartre (et notamment au Lapin Agile) vers 1910. Mais, après avoir visité les studios de l'UFA, Carné craignit que la reconstitution des lieux en studio ne fasse trop lourde, trop théâtrale, et il décida avec Jacques Prévert de déplacer l'action du film dans un port. ils optèrent pour le port de Hambourg.
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© DR - LE QUAI DES BRUMES de Marcel Carné (1938) p13
10/11/2012 07:42
Le film ne put être tourné à Hambourg, les services de la propagande allemande ayant exprimé de fortes réserves sur le film. Raoul Ploquin expliqua à Carné que Joseph Goebbels s'était montré particulièrement hostile à cette histoire de déserteur.
L'UFA refusa donc le tournage du film, dont les droits furent rachetés, en même temps que le contrat qui liait Gabin à la firme allemande, par le producteur Gregor Rabinovitch. Marcel Carné nota dans ses Mémoires ce qu'avait de singulière cette transaction : quatre producteurs s'étaient proposés pour racheter les droits du film, et l'UFA choisit parmi eux le seul qui fut juif (et qui avait fui l'Allemagne nazie en 1933). Le cadre choisi fut finalement le port du Havre.
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Les retards pris sur la production du film permirent à Michèle Morgan, qui avait terminé le tournage d'Orage, d'intégrer celui du Quai des brumes.En France, le scénario passa le cap de la censure, mais le représentant du Ministère de la guerre demanda que le mot « déserteur » ne fût pas prononcé dans le film.(pas question de risquer de démotiver la chair à canons de leur saloperie de guerre de riches...gros fumiers!)
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