The Silver Screen Oasis

Sunday night Foreign Film. Also known as Daybreak, this was one of the last great French works before WW2. It also had a heavy influence on American Noir.

A killer sits locked in his apartment awaiting dawn when the police will come for him (French police are not allowed to enter and arrest him at night). He lies back on his bed and reflects on all that brought him to this point. Stunningly told in flashback, this film stars legend Jean Gabin (The Grand Illusion (1937) The Human Beast (1938) in one of his best roles and is well worth the late night view.

Thanks for the reminder: have never seen it and have long wanted to!

I have it on the dvr and I dare my kids to erase it before I get a chance to watch it!

Watched this movie yeaterday and liked it a lot. You don't see a lot of psychological dramas in old movies until film noir--was this style a precurser to it? Anyone know?

Hi TraceyK -
Those beautifully moody French films of the late 1930s were definitely precursors to the American noir style. After all, it was the French who identified the 1940s American films as "film noir" (despite the fact that there were equal measures of German Expressionism influencing the visual style of these films as well). But in terms of establishing tone and sensibility, the French can easily lay claim to that aspect of European influence.
Incidentally, make a note to catch LE QUAI DES BRUMES, Marcel Carne's 1938 film which airs on TCM July 1. It's a wonderfully melancholy film that, for me at least, comes closest to the heart of what American film noir would later become.

Dewey1960 wrote:Hi TraceyK -
Those beautifully moody French films of the late 1930s were definitely precursors to the American noir style. After all, it was the French who identified the 1940s American films as "film noir" (despite the fact that there were equal measures of German Expressionism influencing the visual style of these films as well). But in terms of establishing tone and sensibility, the French can easily lay claim to that aspect of European influence.
Incidentally, make a note to catch LE QUAI DES BRUMES, Marcel Carne's 1938 film which airs on TCM July 1. It's a wonderfully melancholy film that, for me at least, comes closest to the heart of what American film noir would later become.

Thanks! I'll watch for it.
Tracey