That was one of the last French masterpieces of the thirties just before the war.Marcel Carné was accused of pessimism and the movie was quickly forbidden by the military censorship that used to say in 1940:"if we've lost the war,blame it on "Quai des Brumes""(Carné's precedent movie.The director answered:"you do not blame a barometer for the storm"). "Le jour se lève " is,if it's possible,darker than its predecessor. From the very beginning,the hero,a good guy (Gabin) is doomed,his fate is already sealed,because the tragedy has already happened .That's why the movie is a long flashback.The memories are brought back on the screen with an astounding virtuosity by some elements of the set (the teddy bear for instance).Only three main characters outside that of Gabin,the evil one (Berry who was to play the devil in "les visiteurs du soir "1942),the lucid one (Arletty) and the ambiguous one (Jacqueline Laurent).The latter provides

the only flaw of the movie:Laurent acts Françoise as the innocent pure girl,however Carné leaves no doubt about her relations with Berry. A remake was made by Anatole Litvak with Henry Fonda ,Barbara Bel Geddes and Ann Dvorak (who must have been studying Arletty's acting for a long while),called "the long night" with an absurd happy end. Needless to say,it's the French Carné movie that you've got to see!

This is an excellent French film that deserves to be discovered by modern audiences. Although many "Film Noir" fans might consider the gangster films of Warner Brothers from the 1930s to be true examples of the genre, I look at them more as "Noir-Lite"--as they are more formulaic and more upbeat than the Noir films of the 40s and 50s. So although the thug that Cagney or Raft or Bogart plays in the film is tough and often uses the lingo of true Noir, you KNOW that by the end of the film the bad guy MUST lose and this is all an object lesson to us all about good and evil. But, with later Noir (as well as this film),it rose to a new level because things were often not so "cut and dry"--sometimes evil DID win or the line between good and evil was blurred. It's because of this that for a 1939 film that Le Jour Se Lève excels as a film--unlike the traditional Warner "baddies", the lead, Jean Gabin is neither good nor bad--and his story of how a normal guy can feel forced to kill that makes this film stand out from the crowd.

The film begins with a murder and within moments you know that Gabin shot the victim--there is no mystery about this at all. You see how Gabin meets a nice girl and falls for her but this also ultimately leads to the murder. In many ways, this is reminiscent of the great Noir classic DOA, as the film begins you KNOW that Edmund O'Brien will die but the story leading up to it is what the focus will be.

I could talk about this story further, but I don't want to spoil the suspense. Instead, let's briefly talk about the technical merit of the film. Jean Gabin was an amazing actor and while I didn't always like all of his films, I definitely admire his casual acting style. In many ways, he looks and acts like a slightly more rugged version of Spencer Tracy. This "everyman" quality make him a good choice for Noir--he's not just some "pretty boy". The supporting cast is very good as well. But the real stars, apart from Gabin, are the writers, director and cinematographer. The story works as does the dialog, the pacing and composition is great and the camera angles and lighting are superb. A fine film with little to complain about--and for me THAT'S unusual!

The story is almost rudimentary. An honest plain-speaking working man, Francois, is in love with a fresh-faced young Francoise, but she begins hanging around with an older man burdened with a diabolically sinister face, Valentin. The older man travels around with a trained dog act and a pretty but worn assistant, Clara, who falls in lust with Francois, much to the annoyance of Valentin.

Actually neither man cares much about Clara. They both have their eyes on Francoise. There is a big argument between the two men in Francois' room and Francois shoots and kills Valentin.

The police surround the room in which Francois has hunkered down. He broods about the events in flashbacks, then shoots himself. Fin.

Maybe I was expecting too much because the movie is generally regarded as a classic of its kind. "Poetic realism"? The subtitles are sometimes far enough off to be amusing. The acting is nothing to write home about, but the direction is functional and the success of the movie -- and it IS successful -- hangs on the characterizations.

Absolutely nobody is entirely sound morally. Take Francois (Gabin). Yes, he's honest, plain-spoken, ordinary looking, and honest -- he hates people who lie. But, well, there's the business of that rather nasty murder. Valentin has just insulted the beautiful Francoise but he's also suggested that Francois is a pedophile for wanting her. It's at that point that Francois picks up the pistol and plugs the other guy. Is he responding with such fury to the insult aimed at Francoise -- or the one aimed at himself? In either case, the insult is delivered casually, almost jokingly, and hardly an excuse for such an explosion of rage. And we can't overlook the fact that -- insult or no insult -- Francois is shooting and killing a rival for his girl friend's affections. All through the movie, Francois has shown himself to be ill tempered and the murder seems not much more than a logical expression of that character flaw.

Valentin is evil looking alright. His eyes seem pasted onto the sides of his head. He wears a loud phony checked overcoat, as opposed to Francois' working kit. He waves his hands dramatically. He lies fluently -- at one point claiming to be Francoise' father. A roguish fellow, the sort, as he explains to the slightly dull Francois, that interests women, while Francois is the sort that women fall in love with. He's probably more perceptive than anyone else in the movie, even about himself. "People loathe me. I am a figure of ridicule," he tells himself in the mirror. He's obviously meant to be some kind of bad guy. Why doesn't he leave Francois and Francoise alone to live happily ever after. Why does he keep NUDGING them? Okay, but that's hardly enough justification for his murder.

Anyway, his possessiveness towards Francoise does raise an interesting question. Not about Valentin but about Francoise. What is her game anyway? She seems to like Francois well enough and kisses him warmly once in a while, and she keeps his photo on her mirror, although when he proposes marriage to her (more than once) she guides the conversation in a different direction. She turns down Francois' offer of a soirée to watch Valentin perform in the café, but although she applauds enthusiastically and allows him to shepherd her around, she never seems to care that much for him. All in all, she's a blank.

The complexity of the characters adds a layer of meaning to the movie that the plot simply can't supply. I was glad I watched it, in the same way I'd be happy to take another peek at the Mona Lisa, because everybody says its so good. But I don't think I'd watch it again.