After having seen Human Desire which was an American version of this film based on a novel by Emile Zola, I knew full well that the French version would be a lot closer to what Zola was writing about. What he was writing about was sex and how it can really put men in a jackpot. It puts two of them there in this film.
The actual Zola novel is set in the 19th century and the climax takes place on a train carrying munitions to the front during the Franco- Prussian War. La Bete Humaine is moved up and it takes place in 1938 France and it opens with Jean Gabin driving a train on the run from Paris to Le Havre. The supervisor of the station is Fernand Ledoux and he's got one young minx of a wife in Simone Simon.
Ledoux gets himself in a situation with a rich man who can make trouble for him on his job. But Simon's got some influence with an even richer dude. But that's not the way Ledoux wants to keep his job. She's a no good woman Simon, but Ledoux is obsessed with her.
So much so that he wants to kill Jacques Berlioz the rich man who Simon bopped. And he conceives of a plan to kill him on the train and forces Simon to go with him. The crime comes off, but Gabin is a passenger on the train who just happened to be out in the corridor and can place at least Simon at the crime scene.
He keeps his mouth shut because he too becomes obsessed with her. American film fans will remember her from Val Lewton's Cat People and from The Devil And Daniel Webster where she's the temptress sent from hell to seduce James Craig. She's Mary Poppins in those roles next to the one she plays in La Bete Humaine. Then again the French did not have the omnipresent American Code to deal with.
Emile Zola when he wasn't defending Alfred Dreyfus as the American film of his life concentrated on, wrote novels just like this, dealing with realistic human weaknesses. I have to wonder who were the real life models for the characters he created. Of course it all ends rather badly for everyone, all around.
Jean Renoir's whole ambiance in this film was gray and rainy, so rainy you would think it was London instead of Paris. The scenes in the railroad yards were realistically depicted. I think they served as a blueprint for what John Frankenheimer did in The Train.
As for Gabin's character, he's a man with issues of his own and plays it quite different than Glenn Ford did in Human Desire. Fritz Lang who directed Human Desire had to deal with Code parameters. I think he'd have preferred to do the same film Renoir did.
Best to see La Bete Humaine back to back with Human Desire. I have no doubt which one you'll rate better.
The actual Zola novel is set in the 19th century and the climax takes place on a train carrying munitions to the front during the Franco- Prussian War. La Bete Humaine is moved up and it takes place in 1938 France and it opens with Jean Gabin driving a train on the run from Paris to Le Havre. The supervisor of the station is Fernand Ledoux and he's got one young minx of a wife in Simone Simon.
Ledoux gets himself in a situation with a rich man who can make trouble for him on his job. But Simon's got some influence with an even richer dude. But that's not the way Ledoux wants to keep his job. She's a no good woman Simon, but Ledoux is obsessed with her.
So much so that he wants to kill Jacques Berlioz the rich man who Simon bopped. And he conceives of a plan to kill him on the train and forces Simon to go with him. The crime comes off, but Gabin is a passenger on the train who just happened to be out in the corridor and can place at least Simon at the crime scene.
He keeps his mouth shut because he too becomes obsessed with her. American film fans will remember her from Val Lewton's Cat People and from The Devil And Daniel Webster where she's the temptress sent from hell to seduce James Craig. She's Mary Poppins in those roles next to the one she plays in La Bete Humaine. Then again the French did not have the omnipresent American Code to deal with.
Emile Zola when he wasn't defending Alfred Dreyfus as the American film of his life concentrated on, wrote novels just like this, dealing with realistic human weaknesses. I have to wonder who were the real life models for the characters he created. Of course it all ends rather badly for everyone, all around.
Jean Renoir's whole ambiance in this film was gray and rainy, so rainy you would think it was London instead of Paris. The scenes in the railroad yards were realistically depicted. I think they served as a blueprint for what John Frankenheimer did in The Train.
As for Gabin's character, he's a man with issues of his own and plays it quite different than Glenn Ford did in Human Desire. Fritz Lang who directed Human Desire had to deal with Code parameters. I think he'd have preferred to do the same film Renoir did.
Best to see La Bete Humaine back to back with Human Desire. I have no doubt which one you'll rate better.