Looming About the Dock on Every Side

A big man in a soldier's uniform, a deserter, hitches into town and becomes a magnet for trouble but also for the affections of the abused. Jean Gabin stars in 1938's Port of Shadows (Le Quai des brumes), a lovely film noir.

He doesn't want to talk to the people he meets and one senses early on there's something in his past he's running away from, something worse than deserting. He winds up in a ragged little excuse for a tavern run by a guy wearing what he insists is a genuine Panama hat. He takes pity on the taciturn soldier and gives him food and drink, pausing to engage in a shoot-out outside with some local hoodlums. Sheltering in the back room, the soldier, Jean, meets the beautiful Nelly (Michele Morgan).

Over the course of this movie, the two of them share some of the best screen kisses I've ever seen. Something about the way she says "kiss me" is just divine.

There's a slightly meta moment when they first meet in which Jean laughs and explains he likes her immediately, "like in a movie." There's also a pathetic little dog Jean saves from getting run over who also likes him for no rational reason. The dog follows him for the rest of the movie.

Michel Simon plays Zabel, Nelly's jealous boyfriend, though he passes it off with elegance somehow. What an incredible performer Simon was. Even in a villainous role his charisma is undeniable, even with his bad posture. As someone with bad posture myself, the guy's becoming my hero. Posture makes a difference. Notice how carefully the Vulture article chose a picture of Neil Gaiman in profile in their smear piece to show he has bad posture.

It's amazing how different Simon is in this compared to the old man he plays in L'Atalante but he's perfectly believable in both roles.

This movie has all the primary defining features of a noir. It's a crime story, it has stylised dialogue, it has existential tension between fate and free will, and the ending is definitely noir. That tension makes the love between Jean and Nelly all the more painful. Is it tragic or simply doomed? The question keeps the movie alive long after it's finished.

X Sonnet 1927

Confusing buzz of voices won't be cut.
And where do people walk who walk alone?
The absence here is like a novel shut.
A cloud of dust and dusk's as dry as bone.
A kindly candle shows in pixel dots.
The blocks of games remain as fond debris.
A shaken hand commits a row of blots.
Espresso chokes the summoned honey bee.
A drop of cherry syrup changed the joe.
Completing breakfast made the mission start.
A holiday has brought a festive glow.
Untimely though at night the speakers part.
An audience of phones has called the fight.
A lot of little screens composed the light.