There's a trivia question in here somewhere albeit one serious buffs will find too easy: what are the similarities and differences between Martin Roumagnac and Les Portes de la nuit. Similarities: Gabin left France in 1940 for Hollywood; his ex co-star and ex-lover Michele Morgan was already there but instead of re-igniting their affair he started another one, with Marlene Dietrich, a somewhat heavier hitter than Morgan. Back in France after the war he commissioned top writer-director team Jacques Prevert and Marcel Carne to come up with a film to co-star himself and Dietrich; ideally it should be a bit special because his last film, L'Imposteur, had been shot in 1942, albeit not released until 1944. He was choosing wisely,Prevert and Carne had supplied him with two of his greatest pre-war hits, Le Quai des brumes and Le Jour se leve. They rose to the challenge in the shape of Les Portes de la nuit, commissioned Sandy Trauneur to replicate the Barbes-Rochechouart Metro in the studio and were ready to go when Gabin pulled the plug leaving them all dressed up and nowhere to go. Gabin turned instead to Georges Lacombe, a journeyman director with a few respectable credits but not really in the same league as Carne. Those are the similarities, but what about the differences: Well, both films were colossal flops both with the critics and at the box office. Today, half a century later Les Portes de la nuit is an acknowledged masterpiece whilst Martin Roumagnac is an acknowledged ... flop. So, what is is about? Well you might ask; in a provincial French town Marlene Dietrich is a hooker turning tricks - and I kid you not - in a room above a shop ostensibly selling birds as pets. An early scene may or may not be subtle in that Dietrich is seen pushing a bicycle in the town square though whether the expression she's the town bicycle (everybody in town has ridden her) was current in 1946 your guess is as good as mine. Gabin is, of course, surprise, surprise, the 'nice' guy who falls for her with no idea of how she pays the rent. It ends in tears, of course, as these things always do and there's a nice 'borrowing' from The Great Gatsby in the way Gabin - who has been tried and exonerated for killing Dietrich - gets his. I doubt very much if I would want to sit through this again but then what do I know.
Review of The Room Upstairs
