This film has been issued recently on DVD with supposed remastering of sound and picture. We must say the quality of the original was so very abysmal that even with remastering, the quality is just about passable, certainly nowhere near as good as "Boudu Sauvé des Eaux" made several years earlier.
In fact some of the shots are very well done, clear and sharp and others absolutely frightful. I am a lover of old films and generally put up with a fair few defects in picture quality but in this case the bad shots are bad to the point of frustration ! This film seems to have acquired a reputation which really doesn't seem justified and in my view it is definitely much less emotional than "Le Jour se Lève" which really grips the spectator !
A deserter hitch hikes a lift to Le Havre, picks up a wondering mutt on the way, goes and stays in the Panama Bar on the quayside whilst waiting for a ship to take him out of the country, the film relates what happens and the people he meets. The principal interest of the film resides not in its plot but in some of the close-up photography of Gabin and Michèle Morgan who was very beautiful ( and remains so to this day ! )
OK, so Jean Gabin says to Michèle Morgan "T'as de beaux yeux, tu sais" and she replies "Embrasse-moi" ... these few words seem to be the principal reason for most people remembering the film but apart from that the plot is not really that developed and interesting. The set is supposed to be "Le Havre" in the Seine-Maritime department of Upper Normandy on the Channel coast. Port quays, cranes and cargo ships do not necessarily make for the most romantic settings.
There are some good "bits", I like the little pooch that tacks on to Gabin from early on in the film and there are weird characters composed by Michel Simon in the guise of Zabel, Morgan's tutor and Pierre Brasseur but I didn't really dig Brasseur's character - he came over as false and artificial, not really a tough guy. I cannot describe the feeling I had when Gabin slapped his face on several occasions.
Some of the shots and lighting effects are excellent but the film lacks consistency in this domain so one gets the impression of "some good, some bad" for this reason my opinion is "mitigée" or mixed. Of course every appreciation is subjective and whilst I felt strong emotions watching "Le Jour se Lève", I could not manage the same with "Quai des Brûmes". So be it !
In fact some of the shots are very well done, clear and sharp and others absolutely frightful. I am a lover of old films and generally put up with a fair few defects in picture quality but in this case the bad shots are bad to the point of frustration ! This film seems to have acquired a reputation which really doesn't seem justified and in my view it is definitely much less emotional than "Le Jour se Lève" which really grips the spectator !
A deserter hitch hikes a lift to Le Havre, picks up a wondering mutt on the way, goes and stays in the Panama Bar on the quayside whilst waiting for a ship to take him out of the country, the film relates what happens and the people he meets. The principal interest of the film resides not in its plot but in some of the close-up photography of Gabin and Michèle Morgan who was very beautiful ( and remains so to this day ! )
OK, so Jean Gabin says to Michèle Morgan "T'as de beaux yeux, tu sais" and she replies "Embrasse-moi" ... these few words seem to be the principal reason for most people remembering the film but apart from that the plot is not really that developed and interesting. The set is supposed to be "Le Havre" in the Seine-Maritime department of Upper Normandy on the Channel coast. Port quays, cranes and cargo ships do not necessarily make for the most romantic settings.
There are some good "bits", I like the little pooch that tacks on to Gabin from early on in the film and there are weird characters composed by Michel Simon in the guise of Zabel, Morgan's tutor and Pierre Brasseur but I didn't really dig Brasseur's character - he came over as false and artificial, not really a tough guy. I cannot describe the feeling I had when Gabin slapped his face on several occasions.
Some of the shots and lighting effects are excellent but the film lacks consistency in this domain so one gets the impression of "some good, some bad" for this reason my opinion is "mitigée" or mixed. Of course every appreciation is subjective and whilst I felt strong emotions watching "Le Jour se Lève", I could not manage the same with "Quai des Brûmes". So be it !