Synopsis
Down a foggy, desolate road to the port city of Le Havre travels Jean (Jean Gabin), an army deserter looking for another chance to make good on life. Fate, however, has a different plan for him, as acts of both revenge and kindness render him front-page news. Also starring the blue-eyed phenomenon Michèle Morgan in her first major role, and the menacing Michel Simon, Port of Shadows (Le Quai des brumes) starkly portrays an underworld of lonely souls wrestling with their own destinies. Based on the novel by Pierre Mac Orlan, the inimitable team of director Marcel Carné and writer Jacques Prévert deliver a quintessential example of poetic realism and a classic film from the golden age of French cinema.
Cast
| Jean | Jean Gabin |
| Nelly | Michèle Morgan |
| Zabel | Michel Simon |
| Lucien | Pierre Brasseur |
| Panama | Edouard Delmont |
| Half-Pint | Raymond Aimos |
| Michel Krauss | Robert Le Vigan |
| The doctor | René Génin |
| Lucien's girlfriend | Jenny Burnay |
| Lucien's cohort | Claude Walter |
| The truck driver | Marcel Perez |
| Hotel waiter | Roger Legris |
| The dog | Kiki |
Credits
| Director | Marcel Carné |
| Screenplay | Jacques Prévert |
| Based on the novel Le Quai des brumes (1927) by | Pierre Mac Orlan |
| Producer | Grégor Rabinovitch |
| Editing | René Le Henaff |
| Cinematography | Eugen Schüfftan |
| Assistant camera | Philippe Agostini, Henri Alekan, Marc Froissard and Louis Page |
| Production manager | Simon Schiffrin |
| Original music | Maurice Jaubert |
| Sound | Antoine Archimbaud |
| Set design | Alexandre Trauner |
| Costumes | Coco Chanel |
Disc Features
- New high-definition digital transfer, with restored image and sound
- Gallery of production stills and promotional posters
- French theatrical trailer
- New and improved subtitle translation
- Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
- Plus: A 32-page booklet featuring a new essay by cultural historian Luc Sante and a new translation of excerpts from Marcel Carné’s autobiography Ma vie à belles dents (My Life with Gusto)
From the Current
Port of Shadows
by Jul 19, 2004As epochal as any film made in France in the 1930s, Port of Shadows (Le Quai des brumes, 1938) is a definitive example of the style known as “poetic realism.” The ragged outlines, the lowdown settings, the romantic fatalism of the protagonists . . .
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