"Le Quai Des Brumes" is one of the great masterpieces of French cinema; as deeply romantic in its way as "Casablanca" but much more melancholic. Jean Gabin is the army deserter waiting in a fog-bound Le Havre for a ship to take him to South America who falls for Michele Morgan's Nelly, living in fear of her guardian and potential seducer Zabel, (the great Michel Simon). You know its all bound to end in tears and it does, mostly the audience's; only the hardest of hearts will fail to be moved by the plight of these doomed lovers. The director was Marcel Carne, working at the very height of his powers. The writer was Jacques Prevert, the superb cinematography was by Eugen Schufftan and Alexandre Trauner conjured up Le Havre on mostly studio sets. The great score was by Maurice Jaubert.
Review of Port of Shadows
