IncaWelCar In truth, any opportunity to see the film on the big screen is welcome.

Usamah Harvey The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Celia A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Scott44 ****Some excellent reviews have been submitted that I am borrowing from. I recommend ("Play Misty for Me", writers_reign from London, England, 14 August 2003).Also, ("hauntingly sad French masterpiece", ingemann2000, 13 December 2004). And, ("A barrel of laughs (not)", Gary170459 from Derby, UK, 18 September 2004).And, ("Like Being Punched Really Hard in the Gut", zetes from Saint Paul, MN, 9 February 2001).And, ("Entertaining but overrated noir predecessor", William J. Fickling from Columbia, South Carolina, USA, 23 January 2005).Finally, ("Doomed Romance In A Port Of Shadows....", Nin Chan from Canada, 30 September 2007).*****Port of Shadows (aka, "Le quai des brumes", 1938, Marcel Carné), where poetic realism collides with film noir, is the second of Marcel Carné's legendary first six films. Every frame of it conveys suffocating gloom. It was censored by the Vichy government for its pessimism. French film director Jean Renoir famously dismissed "Shadows" for being Fascist. (Renoir goes too far with this label, in my opinion.) "Shadows" was filmed during a bleak time for French intellectuals. The Nazis are in charge in Germany. Fascism is spreading throughout Europe. Middle-aged Francophiles observe with horror French youth willingly joining this ideology. Carné's world-weary film reflects this period and connects with the present time. (Water surrounds in abundance. Desperate people retain unbelievable secrets. Young men who might have pursued a career in the arts become hoodlums instead. Yes, this sounds like various ports in the US today.) The cast is superb, led by Jean Gabin. Gabin is one of this viewer's all-time favorite screen actors. In his top-tier career he frequently portrays the criminal element very convincingly and likeably. Gabin's trademark insouciance separates him from his acting peers in the 1930s.Jean Gabin is an Army Deserter (named Jean) who winds up in Le Havre to catch a boat to freedom. He falls in love with beautiful Nelly (Michèle Morgan), still a teenager (17) and an occasional prostitute. (To appease the censors, neither the words "deserter" nor "prostitute" are used in "Shadows".) Young Michèle Morgan has amazing eyes. Still, other reviewers have suggested she appears androgynous here, which is a Carné trademark.The pivotal role is Zabel (Michel Simon), Nelly's Godfather. Zabel is very memorable as the badly-aging shopkeeper. Zabel initially appears to be a voice of civilization in the face of three young thugs that are terrorizing him. Eventually, Zabel's repulsive nature is revealed. The young goons threaten Zabel because he has some knowledge of the missing Maurice, Nelly's never-seen former boyfriend. Lucien (Pierre Brasseur), the leader of the gang of three, has been known to Zabel when the former was a boy. Still, Lucien feels no attachment to the older man and has no qualms about getting rid of him if it brings Maurice nearer. (Lucien is later revealed to be pathetic, which undermines Renoir's "Fascist" label for "Shadows".) I enjoy Panama (Édouard Delmont) and the sanctuary he offers desperate people after hours at his bar on the outskirts of town. (BTW, who patronizes that joint?) Another important role is the painter (Robert Le Vigan). Despite Jean's gruff manner towards him, the artist makes it possible for Jean to obtain a life-saving passport and civilian clothing. The painter is very passionate, and expresses a grand artistic sensibility. This is quite unlike Le Vigan in real life. (Le Vigan became a Nazi supporter and anti-Semite. After the war, he was stripped of his citizenship and sentenced to ten years of hard labor. He died penniless in Argentina.)Perhaps the film's most endearing character is the dog that befriends the out-of-luck Jean. In the film's opening minutes, the mutt and Jean are both nearly run over by the same truck. However, the dog and the painter also have similarities. Both are initially rejected by Jean only to become a source of comfort to him. Also, the heart wrenching final image when the dog returns to the road where it was nearly killed suggests the possibility it intends to commit canine suicide."Port of Shadows," is not a bundle of cheer. However, it feels very real, like the last sucker-punch you received that left you cursing your existence at the sky. Those who know this feeling should see it, looking for the answers in Michèle Morgan's eyes.

kurosawakira There are films that should be seen together. Wong's "Fa yeung nin wa" (2000) is one, the other quite obviously is Kaurismäki's "Le Havre" (2011). I can't help but see lots of Carné's influence in both their work. I've found it difficult to connect with Carné's work, and this is the closest I've gotten so far, despite great admiration for the man. I haven't fallen in love with his films, but perhaps this one will grow on me in due time.I have rarely seen water and fog photographed with such frankness it borders on mysticism. A character on its own, it becomes the central visual motif for the film from very early on: fog conceals, you can't see afar, people are mere silhouettes, dark shapes. Similarly it's impossible to know who is who, and who merely pretends. Look closely enough and you'll be hit with a knife or get your ears boxed. Our soldier-turned-man-on-the-run pretends to be an artist and knows nothing about watercolour, and our gangster is merely a petty and foolhardy boy looking for attention, trying to prove himself. Everyone is taking on appearances, since in the fog no one can see who you are.

eyevacation My favourite line in this lovely, lyrical film is when the creepy Zabel says to our handsome and virile hero "I know why you came here (i.e. to the port). You came here for the ships" thus exposing the hero's secret. And I thought: "Of course, that's why we all come here (i.e. to the cinema), for those ships that are preparing to sail to Venezuela" We never get to Venezuela and neither does our doomed hero but that's not why we're here. Our hero, at first, is wrapped in the worsted wool of an army uniform and when he meets the beautiful heroine she is enclosed in a shiny, weather repellent coat. They both loose these carapaces in favour of more roomy, more approachable outfits that allow them to display themselves and slowly, as the film progresses, become vulnerable and aware of their tragic fates.We never see the beautiful Nelly's murdered lover, the only indication of his appearance is a cuff link, found under the stairs in the wine cellar. And the kindest and wisest man in the film has a hat that he got in Panama, somewhere we'll probably never get to either. It makes me think that the people who made the film are the Panama hat, lying in the foggy shadows somewhere out there on the edge of the quay.

blanche-2 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.