Le Jour se Leve [Daybreak] ***** (1939, Jean Gabin, Arletty, Jacqueline Laurent, Jules Berry) – Classic Movie Review 354

French maestro Marcel Carné’s 1939 masterwork is a moody, atmospheric, haunting romantic thriller. Jean Gabin stars as a nice ordinary factory worker Francois, who is holed up and barricaded in the furnished room of his garret, cornered by police gathered below ready to arrest him and with crowds gathering below.

As the long night passes, he reflects on the events, centring on his tormented love affair with young florist Clara (Arletty), which drove him in desperation to murder her Machiavellian lover Valentin (Jules Berry).

This quintessential tragic story of love, passion and jealousy, beautifully written by Jacques Prévert (dialogue) and Jacques Viot (original scenario), is indisputably a great French classic. It’s directed by Carné with a swell of poetic feeling for the menacing mood of terrible doom and grungy, down-at-heel French urban atmosphere.

Inspired by memorable performances from its iconic cast, with the great Gabin and Arletty at their most alluring, charismatic and mesmeric, this picture turned out to be a defining moment in French cinema. It was one of the last great movies released in France before WW2 broke out.

This is one of a handful of classics in which director Marcel Carné and writer Jacques Prévert perfectly captured the mood of romantic pessimism in France in the late 30s. Carné, Gabin and Prévert had worked together the previous year on another classic, Le quai des brumes.

The Vichy regime in France in 1939 demanded that scenes were cut and that the names of two Jewish crew members (cinematographer Curt Courant and set designer Alexandre Trauner) were removed from the credits. They later banned the film altogether. To celebrate its 75th birthday, it is re-released in UK cinemas in a never-seen-before uncut 4K restored version on 3 October 2014.

Arletty (real name Léonie Marie Julie Bathiat) died aged 94 in 1992. She made her last film in 1963.

Gabin (real name Jean-Alexis Moncorgé) died aged 72 in 1976. He made his last film in 1976.

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 354

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