Human Desire (1954)

"Human Desire" (1954) is technically a remake of Jean Renoir's "La Bete Humaine" (1938), which featured Spencer Tracy look-alike Jean Gabin and Simone Simon; which itself was an adaptation of French Naturalist writer Emile Zola's novel. But director Fritz Lang takes his version in an entirely different direction, turning the story from psychological thriller to film noir masterpiece by focusing on the two-timing woman (Vicki Buckley - played by Gloria Grahame).Renoir's "La Bete Humaine" had instead focused on the exploring the mind of Gabin's protagonist (Lantier); specifically his genetic curse of brutality and rage. His occupation of train engineer and the images of train tracks are used to reinforce the inevitability of his fate.In Lang's version this character (Jeff Warren - played by Glenn Ford) has no dimensionality, the train tracks reinforce his straight and narrow nature, he is not bent and his train engine must be placed in a roundhouse to be given a different direction.There are intersecting tracks in the train yard and Jeff's moral compass is only challenged in that location. The film's two most suspenseful sequences occur in the train yard and Lang amplifies the discordance with disorienting changes of camera angles and at one point an expressionistic jump-cut as Jeff and Vicki suddenly bridge the distance between each other.But this is Grahame's film; her all-time best performance and Lang's best work as an acting for the camera director. She gently teases this role, when others would fill it with overwrought melodrama. Her Vicki Buckley is the most authentic and complex heroine/fatale of the Film Noir genre; perhaps of all cinema. The character is a canvas filled with shades of gray; at once manipulative, vulnerable, self-destructive, and haunting. Much of Grahame's effectiveness is nonverbal and much of it derives from her physical qualities and inherent fragility. All very fitting as Zola was the pioneer of literary naturalism.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

This is Fritz Lang, so one would expect lots of dark emotion, double crossing, and sexual tension. Well, you won't be disappointed. This one has it all. The story is hardly original. In fact, Emile Zola was given story credit. It is a love triangle with Broderick Crawford and Gloria Grahame as an unhappy couple, with Glenn Ford at his somnambulistic best, showing all the emotion of a turnip. Watching him try to generate the emotion required to be the catalyst in a love triangle was almost painful. In fact, he almost sinks this movie into cinematic obscurity. Thankfully, it is resurrected by the performances of his costars. I am always amazed at the on screen sexuality of Gloria Grahame. She is hardly your typical Hollywood beauty. Her features are somehow askew, but she absolutely exudes sex. The other redeeming performance is given by Broderick Crawford. He plays her jealous, out of control husband. He has a natural explosive persona, but in this movie I kept waiting for him to fly off the rails.Speaking of rails. This is a train noir, if there is such a thing. It all takes place around, aboard, and about trains. Glenn Ford is an engineer and Crawford the yard boss. Train buffs will love it. There are numerous scenes of the engineer and passenger compartments, the rail yards, the roundhouse, and plenty of rambling track shots. It is all diesel in the '50's which I think most people would agree was the zenith of train travel in the US.Despite it's predictability and some of it's shortcomings, I still found this movie extremely enjoyable. My only real complaint came at the end, which seemed to leave the viewer at loose ends and feeling somewhat bewildered. Still, if you like trains and dark drama, take a look. It hasn't been around much and the title is fairly generic, so it isn't easy to find, but it is certainly worth the effort.

While this movie is far from perfect, it is very good and very enjoyable mostly due to a dynamite performance by Gloria Graham--a highly underrated femme fatale. Like so many of her films, she plays a bad lady whose motivations are never exactly clear--you just know she is bad news! When the film begins, you are most likely going to be surprised by the bizarre casting (one of the few parts of the film I didn't like). The audience is expected to believe that ugly old Broderick Crawford is married to sexy Gloria Graham! While having the toad-like Crawford married to Judy Holiday in "Born Yesterday", he was a rich man in this film, so his marrying this pretty young woman was believable. But, in "Human Desire", Crawford is an engineer on a train--not the sort of man you'd ever believe would marry Graham (or vice-versa). On top of that, Crawford is an angry brute of a husband--making you wonder why she would stay.Early in the film, Crawford loses his job and wants his young wife to use her sexy wiles on the boss to help him get his old job. Well, this plan works all too well--and then, inexplicably, Crawford is angry at her and the boss and kills the man!! At this point, Crawford and Graham both hide the murder. But, after the killing, Graham is spotted by Glenn Ford--and him seeing her near the corpse could mean she and Crawford could go to prison. But Graham uses all her many charms to weasel her way into Ford's heart--and he's hooked. What happens next is for you to see. However, I did not adore the ending--mostly because it was gritty but not nearly as dark and horrible as I would have liked! While the dialog and style were clearly film noir, other noir films might have gone the extra step and made the ending even more downbeat. Still, it's a very good film--and you have to love Graham's performance. She was terrific.By the way, although not as badly cast as Crawford, Glenn Ford was also cast as a train engineer. Maybe I'm wrong, but this just seemed a bit odd to me.

Fritz Lang's "Human Desire" is based on Emile Zola's novel "La Bete Humaine" which had previously been made into a movie directed by Jean Renoir in 1938. For Lang's version, the time frame was changed to the 1950s, the action was relocated to the United States and some modifications were made to satisfy the requirements of studio bosses and the production code. What remains however, is still a very powerful and grim tale about a couple who are driven by their most base instincts into acts of deceit, blackmail, adultery and murder. These people are not only unencumbered by any type of moral code but also, by their actions, have a corrupting effect on a more passive character who is also a mutual acquaintance.Railroad official Carl Buckley (Broderick Crawford) is fired from his job for insubordination and begs his wife Vicki (Gloria Grahame) to approach her mother's former employer, the influential John Owens (Grandon Rhodes), to get him to persuade Carl's ex-employer to change his mind and re-employ him. After Vicki completes her mission quickly and successfully, Carl becomes suspicious about the method she'd used to induce Owens to cooperate so readily and in a fit of jealousy and rage beats her and forces her to write a letter to Owens. The letter is an invitation for Owens to meet Vicki on a train at an arranged time on the following day.Owens and Vicki meet as arranged but Carl who'd accompanied Vicki uses his knife to kill Owens and removes Vicki's letter from his victim's pocket and steals his money to make it appear that the murder was connected with a robbery. Railroad engineer Jeff Warren (Glenn Ford) is standing in the train corridor when the couple want to leave Owens' compartment and so Carl tells Vicki to encourage Jeff away from the area which she duly does. Jeff and Vicki go into another compartment and talk but when he kisses her, she runs away.At the inquest into Owens' death, Jeff doesn't admit that he'd seen Vicki near the crime scene and when he sees her next, she tells him a fabricated version of what happened on the train and also about her husband's abusive behaviour towards her. She shows Jeff some of her bruises and shortly after they embark on an affair.Some time later, Vicki tells Jeff the truth about the murder, the incriminating content of her letter to Owens and the fact that Carl had kept the letter to ensure her future cooperation. However, when Carl gets fired from his job for the second time, Vicki says that she's terrified about his reaction if he discovers the truth about her affair and tries to persuade Jeff to murder her husband. What Jeff ultimately does has a critical effect on both their futures.Carl's volatile nature had been the original cause of him losing his job and his subsequent irrational outbursts of violence and jealousy then led him into wife beating, blackmail and murder and his drunkenness and apparent lack of remorse made his relationship with Vicki even more toxic. Broderick Crawford is impressively powerful and menacing as the brutish Carl whose actions are determined by the destructive force of his unbridled passions.Vicki is a victim of Carl's behaviour but is also manipulative, mendacious and totally unscrupulous. Gloria Grahame captures perfectly her character's devious nature and changing moods as well as her unashamed willingness to be involved in a plan to murder her husband.Jeff had returned from military service in Korea and in the movie's earliest scenes shows the natural type of contentment he enjoys as a passive man whose aspirations are modest. Glenn Ford then shows as the action continues, how Jeff's demeanour alters as he becomes morally compromised enough to withhold information from the murder inquest before getting involved in an affair with the untrustworthy Vicki and then taking part in a plot to kill her husband."Human Desire" is ultimately an engaging and sordid story about people who act without reason, logic or compassion and in the process, corrupt or inflict misery on, those with whom they come into contact.