February 2016:Opening a parcel of DVDs on my birthday,I was pleased to find that as a gift,the DVD seller had included a copy of Marcel Carné's Port of Shadows (in a plain white sleeve.) Going out to meet pals,I put the disc to the side,and made plans to watch it later that night.Returning home,it soon hit me that I had forgotten where I put it,with the white sleeve blending into other DVD cases (who says you can have a "watch list" that is to big!)September 2016:Searching for the 1950 Yves Allégret/Simone Signoret Film Noir Manèges,I was thrilled to stumble on Port of Shadows,which led to me rushing to the port.The plot:Desperate to leave his life in the army behind, deserter Jean sails into the port city of Le Havre,in order to catch a ship where he can start a new life. Planning to stay hidden in the shadows,Jean steps out when he catches a glimpse of 17 year old (police!) Nelly. Running away from her godfather Zabel's place after he makes aggressive advances,Nelly (whose boyfriend Maurice has "disappeared") starts to spend time with Jean. As Jean and Nelly get closer,Zabel and local gangster Lucien start making plans on sending Jean off to the port of shadows.View on the film:Called "immoral, depressing and distressing for young people" and being too negative on the country when it hit the screens,the movie has had a tough fight for survival,with the master print having scenes (sadly still missing) ripped out,and the Criterion version (which I saw) having a clean picture and sound,but lacking the extended first scene,but poorer image quality of the Studio Canal edition. Despite these challenges,director Marcel Carné is still able to cast Film Noir mist over the high seas.Sailing in, Jean Gabin gives an excellent performance as Jean. Restraining Jean's anger,Gabin hatches open the shell of a Film Noir loner,hanging his shoulders low and shuffling across the floor,who crosses Nelly's personal space with an exquisite delicacy, haunted by an avalanche of death. Repulsed at Zabel's advances,the gorgeous Michèle Morgan gives a magnetic performance as 17 year old Femme Fatale Nelly,whose age allows Morgan to retain a hint of innocence criss-crossed with a fatal firmness on standing her ground.Appearing to choke on his own beard, Michel Simon gives a dazzling, monstrous performance as Zabel,while future Eyes Without A Face Pierre Brasseur gives a simmering performance as Lucien.Arriving to Le Havre on a foggy night,director Marcel Carné and cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan bathe the title in a brittle Film Noir atmosphere,covering the streets in cobbles shattered by sleet,whilst Jean's search for the harbour of escape/hope,is clouded by the rich fog Carné blocks any shots of light entering Jean's life. Wrapping an atmosphere of Film Noir doom round Nelly and Jean, Carné & Schüfftan dip the couple into an extraordinary elegance,Jean and Nelly's low- lit faces against a stark backdrop gives the Noir romance a poetic quality.Bringing Pierre Dumarchais's book into shore,the screenplay by Jacques Prévert pounds the Film Noir with cracking,hard-nosed dialogue,which along with uncovering the tough skin loner Jean has developed,also captures the tense air of menace that Lucien and Zabel have shot into the bleak sky. Cleverly commenting on events gathering pace (with Prime Minister Édouard Daladier in 1938 telling the British that Hitler's goal was "A domination of the Continent in comparison with which the ambitions of Napoleon were feeble.") Prévert brilliantly makes Jean's heart-wrenching fight for Nelly a battle for "freedom" in the merciless Film Noir terror of Zabel and Lucien,as the port of shadows sinks into darkness.

Together with Jean Renoir's "The Beast", Marcel Carne's "Port of Shadows" is one of the first films to push French poetic realism into what would later be dubbed "film noir" (John Huston's hardboiled "The Maltese Falcon" would appear 3 years later). Both genres were indebted to German Expressionism (Lang, Josef Von Sternberg etc).Moody, tough, and with an undercurrent of melancholia, "Port of Shadows" stars Jean Gabin as an army deserter who gets mixed up with gangsters, low-lives and cute gals. The film's praised by historians for being "daring" and "violent for its time", but Warner Bros gangster flicks were doing this stuff almost a full decade earlier. The backhanded slap which Jean Gabin shockingly launches at a small-time hoodlum (Pierre Brasseur), for example, was inspired by the smacks James Cagney's many villains routinely dished out toward unsuspecting dames. Still, fatalistic, thick with atmosphere and pessimistic to the point of parody, "Port of Shadows" remains a minor classic.7.9/10 – See "Elevator to the Gallows", "Rififi" and "The Beast".

Le quai des brumes Port of Shadows This is a dark and moody movie set in the late thirties. The foggy atmosphere adds to the ambiance of the movie and was appropriate for the time considering what was going on in the world at that time. This slightly sad and depressing movie contrasted with the continually upbeat Hollywood movie productions at that time. The main character Jean, has dissented from the French army, which is not explicitly stated, but is apparent. He has seen violence in the army and finds more when he arrives in this port town and meets a beautiful girl. The only trustworthy friend that he can find is a dog. . It is sad that some men reach a point when the only person that they can trust is a dog. He falls in love with this girl, Nelly, and figures out a way to get them on a ship to Venezuela, but the men who lust over Nelly do not want to see her go. This creates more violence for the two. The dark atmosphere of the movie displays troubled times and desperation of men and the violence in the world. This movie takes a very dark look at the issues of the world that are not normally discussed or portrayed in movies. In the end, this is just a gloomy movie. I did not enjoy it very much because I found it boring and dull. The fog and mood that it invoked did nothing to encourage me to care about the characters or the challenges that they faced. This movie had a constant sense of dismay and was appropriate for the thirties, but the appreciative aspects of it are lost on most people of the current generation. I would not recommend this movie to a depressed person.

I saw Port of Shadows for my film history class and was pleased with it. The movie surprised me from the start with Jean saving the dog by swerving the truck. The whole scene with him being confronted by the driver leading to an anti-climatic ending between the two of them was just too comedic for me to take seriously. The whole scene is dark and gloomy, and the situation is pretty serious, yet they shrug it off as if it is nothing to be bothered about. Had I been the driver of that truck I would have knocked Jean out. For the film being so dark and gloomy, most of the characters were very comedic in their actions and ideas. When Jean slaps and beats up the "gangsters" that was just too funny and by slapping them he just insulted them even more. When Jean steals the identity of the artist and tells the captain what he sees when he paints, it is just too funny to see the reaction of the captain and his thoughts of Jean the artist. The random artist who commits suicide, the want to be gangsters, the perverted uncle, the war torn veteran, they all come together and act upon each other, and that just leads to a comedic outcome every time. The movie is deep in the meaning and sense of it all. The lonely characters finding comfort in each other, helping one another find meaning in their lives once again. That was a good part of the movie. I was very surprised with the ending and Jean being killed in the end by the gangster he humiliated. I was expecting a happy ending with the lovers sailing away together on the boat to a new life. But that's just the way life is, dark, lonely, gloomy, and disappointing. All in all, a good film to watch at least once and get its gloomy reality.