Port of Shadows - Criterion Collection

Rating:
Summary: French l'age d'or poetic realism classic from Marcel Carné
Review: French cinema reached its Golden Age in the 1930s with directors like Jean Vigo, Julien Duvivier, Jean Renoir, and of course Marcel Carné. While Quai des Brumes certainly lacks the romantic spark of L'Atalante or the striking presence of La Grande Illusion, it does have others things going for it, such as wittily profound dialogue and a marvelous aura of prewar continental malaise. The plot seems a little too similar to Pepe Le Moko, but Jean Gabin carries the load quite well, making it worth the ride again. The supporting cast, including Michel Simon (Passion of Jean of Arc, L'Atalante) as Zabel the creepy godfather and Pierre Brassuer (Les Enfants du Paradis) as Lucien the weasely gangster are both very good as well. And the foggy scenes filmed over the port city of Le Havre provide a perfect visual aid to the gritty poetic realism of the storyline.

Regarding the Criterion DVD, there are only English subtitles, no other languages. The only extras are a fun French trailer and a set of stills with comments which are somewhat interesting. The video quality is really no better than the VHS tape, but at least they have made it available for us on DVD. The price is still too high of course but at least it has come down lower than their earlier titles.


Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Cinematic Experience in a Foggy Atmosphere...
Review: Jean (Jean Gabin), a deserting soldier, emerges out the darkness as an approaching truck's lights cut through the night. The truck driver offers Jean a ride which he gladly accepts as he is weary from his long journey away from his dark past in the French military, a past that Jean wants to escape as it brings him pain and anxiousness, which haunts his restless mind. Weariness and dreadful memories brings Jean into a foggy world where he drifts between sleep and awareness while the truck is traveling in the direction of the French port city of Le Havre, which is equally foggy and full of threats.

Hopeful, Jean arrives to Le Havre where he intends to find a new beginning to his life, and where he can discard his past. A port city offers several opportunities for a person such as Jean to embark on new journeys as the port is full of ships leaving each day for new destinations. Through the help of some strangers that Jean meets at a worn down tavern he begins to find a light, which could help guide him back on track to a new life. However, the fog remains as Jean's destiny has different plans for him as his good nature seems to affect the people he meets.

Port of Shadows is a poetic visualization of a realistic story, which Carne gave a magic touch to by using visual signs to enhance the cinematic experience. These signs have a symbolic value for the audience as it offers cerebral participation in the film, which can be pondered for some time. The symbolism of the fog and use of a port city has a profound effect on the films cinematic value as it may causes some cognitive dissonance as both coexist and could be associated with opposite notions. An example of this symbolic antagonism for the fog and the port is the freedom of a port and the barrier of the fog. An analogy can be drawn the antagonism between the fog and the port to Jean's ambiguous character who is good, yet capable of violence.

Port of Shadows is a powerful film based on a novel by Pierre Mac Orlan that does not leave anyone untouched regardless of background or creed. The story depicts elements of human ambiguity, crime, and love, which is elevated with brilliant cinematography and direction. The cinematography uses several close-ups and zoom-outs in order to bring the characters feelings to the audience, which enhances the visual experience of the excellent cast. In the end the audience will have experienced a most brilliant cinematic event.


Rating:
Summary: Jean Gabin steps out of the shadows
Review: Jean Gabin is a great French actor - rugged and rude with the swagger and confidence of a male achetype he nonetheless posseses a style and charm that makes him appear as if he could sweep any woman off her feet of the most posh Paris night spot. Here Gabin's performance is no exception as he portrays a solider weary of colonial French outposts who has abandoned his duties. Arriving in the port of Le Harve he soon encounters the murky band of hangers-on, losers, and unseemly characters one might suspect would lurk in such a place. Some of the most dangerous are a small band of wanna-be gangsters whose penchant for violence and desire for respect outweighs their low intellingence.

The one bright spot in this sordid locale is Michele Morgan as Nelly. Morgan nearly stops the heart of the viewer at first moment on the screen as the ultimate femme fatal wrapped in translucent raincoat with a beret covering her blonde locks.

The combination of these two, some nice supporting performances - including the proprietor of a portside dive bar who recounts every great moment in his life to a trip to Panama 30 years previous, and a few tense, even terrifying, screen moments make this film stand the test of time, while similar others of the era might be dismissed and forgotten as pulp pot boilers.

Rating:
Summary: The first masterpiece of this sublime poet film maker
Review: Marcel Carne made Le quai de brumes in 1939. And you know what I mean with it.
In fact the film turns around a dock and an expected voyage ; the last detail for get the happiness between two lovers, but the long arm of the fate will avoid the deserved happy ending.
Carne and Prevert made a succesful couple and even a weird agreement in the whole structure of several films.
And this poetic gaze will originate works of undeniable beauty as this one.
It's fundamental for you , if you're really interested as me about the Carne films watch the first of greatful movies abou this film maker, because you'll find out in this one some vital clues that will feed the following works.
Jean Cocteau was emerging also but with a clear difference , the approach of this poet is filled by the mythological rapture translated to the modern times.
Back to Carne , I have in my personal collections the most remarkable films of Carne.
If you watch Le jour se leve , by instance , isolatedly from the whole poetic context , you may easily to make a mistake about the meaning of this.
All the great authors and artists develop a solid structure thta grows progressively with his grow up process. Beethoven, Michelangelo , Shakespeare or William Blake are consistent examples who define the significance of this issue.
Obviously , Carne is an universe in himself . You'll watch Paris as a background who will permeate your soul , due the evident contrast between the beauty locations of this city light and the clouds of fate that surround the characters , the love is expressed to such high poetic levels , that the world who wants avoid the deserved triumph is an unconscious part of the dark fate.
Marcel Carne will show you why the cinema is art.

Rating:
Summary: Prime example of poetic realism
Review: Very much akin to Visconti's Ossessione made a few years later, Le Quai Des Brumes is a typically French noirish portrayal of the underbelly of society, with superb Jean Gabin in the role of a disillusioned Foreign Legion deserter torn apart between fleeing the country for good and defending his romantic interest from a host of seedy underworld characters. Irresistibly fatalistic.

Rating:
Summary: Sad, sad, sad... mesmerizing
Review: When I first saw this movie I thought it was one of the saddest and most beautiful films I'd ever seen, which I still think today. The fugitive, the melancholic painter, the abused girl, the ship, and the dog, oh yes, the dog will break your heart and duly so. This was the kind of movie Marcel Carné used to make, sad and beautiful, effortless, peerless, unforgettable. He later made Children of Paradise, which is far more ambitious than Port of Shadows in narrative and production terms and although Children of Paradise is usually considered his greatest film, I'd be hard pressed to tell which of the two is more ravishing. Children is a luxurious opera; Port is a mesmerizing chamber piece.