Human Desire

Story of passion and murder. Great use of train tracks as a metaphor for determinism, and a superb performance by Gloria Graham.

A psychologically dense tale of lust, rage, jealousy, domestic abuse, sexual violence... and murder. Crawford and Grahame expertly weave a relationship fraught with misery. Grahame is especially wonderful, bringing a rich emotional complexity to a character that could easily be played as one-note. The film packs a number of surprises and subverts some noir conventions. Add on a good score and some stark photography, and you've got a thoughtful, bleak portrait of frustration and desperation.

While Glen Ford is ostensibly the lead, it's Grahame and Crawford who take center stage in a dark story about a stormy jealous marriage. I would have liked a little more fleshing out of some parts, but it's a very nice noir story.

I don't find Gloria Grahame attractive in the least. So, clearly, human desires are diverse indeed. 'The Big Heat' is my favorite noir from Lang but this is a pretty great late entry to the canon.

Glenn Ford is good and the photography is mostly great but everything else is average.

Overall, it's better than Renoir's 'La Bête Humaine', except for the ending.

Another fine Fritz Lang production brought down by some lousy casting [Gloria Grahame is no Stanwyck] and a botched ending.

Viewed June 22, 2020.

Crawford and Grahame are the clear stars here. Crawford in particular. One of the better Lang "noir" movies. Nothing but doomed characters with no escape because of class and social issues. Great stuff.

"Human Desire" has good visuals and a great script, but its two female leads are miscast. The femme fatale played by Gloria Grahame and the ending both hold this film back.

It warrants comparisons to Renoir's version. The French tendency is to find romanticism and poetry in the most carnal desires, but this is classic Lang: doomed characters trapped by the cold machinations of a fatalistic industrial landscape. The railroad setting is exploited appropriately, with compartmentalized spaces and predetermined tracks. A sexually charged Gloria Grahame is channeling Barbara Stanwyck. There are a few details watered down by censorship, but generally it's extremely bleak.

great soundtrack

watched: 2012, 2019

Lang show in some scenes how much of a mise-en-scène master he was (there are a handful of greatly directed scenes); with time Ellen becomes a character that is kinda lost in the story; the second half of the movie isn't able to keep the high level of the first part.

"That's the end of every biography online, 'He was in Contempt, and then he died.'" http://illusionpodcast.blogspot.com/2015/07/episode-64-films-noir-of-fritz-lang.html

Feels quite flat, especially the acting.

Roll that beautiful train footage!