Hmmm…. Didn’t like this as much as the other Marvel Carne films I’ve seen - Les Enfants du Paradis, Daybreak, Hotel du Nord, but it’s watchable. It’s a bit slow and the plot takes a long time to get going. 5/10

The original title of the film is Le quai des brumes

Gabin was fantastic in La Grande Illusion and he cuts an even more striking figure in this dark movie by Marcel Carné. Maybe it’s the general atmosphere of the film, but Gabin’s face here is craggier than it was a year ago–he exudes a sense of weariness, of solidity that I found really gripping. That said, I found the overall picture to be a little so-so. The poetic realists see the world in a way I can’t quite relate to, and the dialogue is stilted and foreign. Throw in some plot points that don’t quite cohere (a murder mystery, some gangster emasculation) and I just didn’t love it. The love story began to come together in the second half once the flirtation evolved beyond abstraction and the cinematography was really beautiful-port of shadows, indeed.