The Worst Film Ever

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Le Jour Se Leve is directed by Marcel Carne, has a screenplay by Jacques Prevert. The film stars Jean Gabin, Arletty, Jules Berry and Jacqueline Laurent.It's not difficult to see why the Vichy government during World War Two hated this film and had it censored. The film shows the police using force to stop someone who didn't pose a threat to them at all. The film also shows that if one person and their beliefs gains support from others, then the minority may become the majority(as shown in the scene where the crowd in the street yell their support for Francois).I also think the film shows that you can destroy a persons reputation and life but you can't destroy their minds and feelings. Francois has no escape from his building when he is surrounded but he can escape into his mind and as we see at the end he can decide his own fate.The film begins inside a French apartment building. A man is shot inside an apartment, he falls down the stairs where a blind man stumbles upon him and yells for help. The man who has shot him is factory worker Francois (Jean Gabin), he locks himself in his apartment armed with a single pistol. He shoots at some police who come to talk to him and a large crowd gathers outside the building.As the Police try and use excessive force to get him out and then try and kill him, Francois recalls the events that led him to be in this situation. This film was one of the first to use flashbacks and the film explains this at the beginning, this was done so audiences at the time would understand what was going on.Francois falls in love with the beautiful and gentle Francoise (Jacqueline Laurent). The scenes between these two characters are some of the most beautiful and tender as they fall in love and seem to be living an idyllic life. All that changes when Francoise falls in love with charming dog trainer Valentin(Jules Berry). Valentin's assistant and lover Clara (Arletty)begins a relationship with Francois to get back at Valentin but soon realises that she is nothing to either man.Gabin gives a strong lead performance, he makes Francois tough and vulnerable at the same time. Jules Berry is superb as the manipulative and charming Valentin. Jacquleine Laurent conveys innocence and purity as Francoise. Arletty is excellent as the frank and sexy woman who finds she is not wanted by either of the men she loves.The relationship between Francois, Francoise and Clara is interesting because both women represent (in my opinion)the two different types of love. Clara is the physical, a woman who lives in the moment and who is fun. Francoise represents emotional and romantic love.The entire cast are superb, the photography and sets are unforgettable, as is the mood this film conveys. Gabin's powerful speech from the window shows what a talented actor he was and that is a scene you don't forget in a hurry.

I found this French film in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, it was rated very well and the plot sounded good, so I was looking forward to what would hopefully be a good foreign language film, directed by Marcel Carné (Les Enfants du Paradis). Basically factory worker François (Jean Gabin) has shot and killed M. Valentin (Jules Berry), and following this he has locked himself in his guest house room on the top floor of the building with many flights of stairs, the police soon arrive to arrest him, they fail to shoot their way into the room as François has barricaded the door. In a series of flashbacks, occasionally returning to the present to see his attempts to avoid being caught, it is revealed François had been having a relationship with both naive floral shop worker Françoise (Jacqueline Laurent) and more experienced performing assistant Clara (Arletty), who until meeting him was working with Valentin for his performing dog act. Valentin is manipulative and had also become involved with both women, and becoming jealous of François, as a constant liar he even tries to convince his foe that he was Françoise's father, but in fact both she and François were raised in orphanages. The rivalry between the two men eventually leads them to the guest house, Valentin confronts him with a gun, and in the tussle between them François grabs the weapon and fires, this is what has lead to the events of the present. As he continues to protect himself in the room François continually chain smokes with nerves, he has become delirious having learnt of his plight, before two police officers throw tear gas grenades into the room François consumed by despair shoots himself in the heart, the film ends with his lifeless body on the floor and gas filling the room, and the alarm sounds to announce it is morning. Also starring René Génin as Concierge, Mady Berry as Concierge's wife, Bernard Blier as Gaston and Marcel Pérès as Paulo. Gabin certainly exudes existential despair as the man who has unintentionally and sympathetically got himself into trouble, Berry is a terrific villain as the deceptive entertainment performer who tries to get one over his rival and treat his women like possessions, while Arletty is as loathsome as the showgirl, and Laurent is fine as the innocent woman stuck in between. It has moments of suitable claustrophobia, it works well as a tragic story filled with false love and a man breaking down into complete sorrow, it is written well and it has many interesting moments, a worthwhile crime melodrama. Vey good!

Le Jour Se Leve (1939)This French movie is oddly famous as the original, almost lost (destroyed) version of the American, The Long Night (1947), and it almost demands comparison. In all, the American version with Henry Fonda in the lead is more beautifully made, and perhaps more compelling for a lot of very small reasons. But this French one, which is not only first, has a couple key qualities that make it worth getting absorbed into. For one, it is more seriously realistic, with both a sexual frankness (implied, but not ignored) and a lack of a "Hollywood ending," naturally enough. It is filmed beautifully, and acted really well (the "bad" man in this one is more convincing and lifelike than the Vincent Price incarnation in the later one). But it is also a slow film, with far too much of the man, played by Jean Gabin, who was also in the 1937 Grand Illusion) staring and pacing. Here is where the photography and editing of the later film sustain us through the solitary moments much better. This version almost feels low budget, at least by American standards, without making the uncomplicated production always a virtue (it doesn't cost more to move the camera closer, or cut out sections of staring into space). I know this is all an aesthetic decision, and the slow, sad realizing of the character summing up his life is really at the center of it all, but see both films and see what you think.Two things are really astonishing. First, the almost scene by scene similarity of the second film to the first. Camera angles, dialog, flashbacks (many), even the dog trainer's show, and the teddy bear missing an ear, all of this is just copied and reproduced in the later movie, to an almost ridiculous extreme. (No wonder RKO tried to destroy every single copy of Le Jour Se Leve before making The Long Night. Sad and weird.) That's certainly a bowing down to this first one for good reason.Second, the dilemma the men face in the two movies is actually a little different at the core, and this is a product of the times they were made. In The Long Night, the man is an ex-soldier suffering from having been through the horrors of World War II, and so the standard American film noir themes are distilled and honed down to this one man (Fonda) in his room. The earlier French film was made just as the war was about to start, and the man (Gabin) is suffering from a more universal problem of being a working class man putting in long hours, cheerfully, with little hope for a future for himself. The dandy-ish counterpart that is his nemesis is unattractive in nature, but has charm and education and abilities beyond this man's noble simplicity, and it seems that society, and women, favor this more false kind of man.It's because of these themes the French version has a growing reputation. It's really well acted, and a classic dilemma played out with beauty and pathos. That it isn't perfect is something we have to adjust to, remembering it was forward looking for its time.

This French film is a great film from 1939 starring Jean Gabin, (Francois) the French Humphrey Bogart who is a factory worker and meets up with a sweet innocent young girl named also Francoise,(Jacqueline Laurent) who sees Francois working in the factory and has a hand full of flowers to deliver. He politely shows her where the flowers are suppose to be delivered and gets involved with her, it is almost like love at first sight. These two lovers go on dates together for three weeks and Francois has desires to make love to her, but she makes excuses and runs off to a theater house and watches M. Valentin,(Jules Berry) who appears on the stage with dogs who do all kinds of tricks. The story gets quite involved with Arletty,(Clara) another gal and there are many flashbacks which was rather new for film goers in 1939. There is plenty of suspense and a great story with great actors. Don't miss this film, you will not regret it.