PORT OF SHADOWS (1938)

On a foggy night, Jean, an army deserter, hitches a ride to the port city of Le Havre; he talks of the fog of battlefields and of killing a man face to face, and hopes to start a new life by getting out of France altogether. When he grabs the steering wheel to stop the driver from hitting a stray dog in the road, Jean is forced to get out, with the dog following him, and eventually winds up in a shadowy bar, not much more than a shack, near the docks. Assuming that the military police are after him, Jean seeks a change of clothing. In the meantime he spends the night there, chatting with young Nelly; her boyfriend Maurice has recently vanished and she is on the run from her guardian Zabel, who himself is being hunted by the thuggish Lucien—and later we learn that Zabel has killed Maurice out of jealousy. An artist talks about painting "things hidden behind other things," and leaves Jean his civilian clothes before he commits suicide by walking into the ocean. As Jean makes plans to hop a ship to Venezuela, life keeps getting in his way. Zabel offers him money to kill Lucien, but Jean keeps getting on Lucien's bad side by slapping him in public, and soon Lucien may be planning to kill Jean. Jean and Nelly become lovers, and just as he is about to sail, he saves Nelly from the brutal Zabel by killing him. And then Lucien shows up…

Often called a work of poetic realism (and a forerunner of film noir), this is a beautiful movie to look at, and has a gloomily fatalistic feel. From the moment we see Jean (Jean Gabin, pictured on a noir style street), we know he is doomed, as are most of the other characters we meet. That doesn’t stop us from getting caught up in their stories; in some movies, these people might just be symbols, but here they are fleshed out enough for us to develop some feelings for them. We even worry about the dog, who Jean takes on the ship with him. He ties him up in his room before he gets off the ship to save Nelly, and the dog makes an effective appearance in the final scene. Michele Morgan, who became very popular, is perfect as the abused Nelly, and the great character actor Michel Simon brings to life the slimy Zabel. Frankly, it feels like the suicidal artist is the only one who gets an easy way out of this foggy, shadowy life we often feel stuck in. In French and available in a great print from Criterion. French title: LE QUAI DES BRUMES. [DVD]