Au-delà des grilles

Jean Gabin in a typical role of his, is a stowaway on a ship arriving in Genoa, a Frenchman on the run from what appears to have been a terrible crime, but in old Genoa he meets Isa Miranda who works in a trattoria and takes care of him out of pity, but gradually she falls in love with him. She has a daughter, and they are persecuted by her former husband. There is a typical noir love drama in the bombed ruins of Genoa with only one possible outcome, but at least there are some dreams allowed on the way. Her daughter plays an important part through the whole film and at times appears as the lead indeed, but Isa Miranda is the one you will remember for her beauty and excellent acting. You can always rely on Jean Gabin, he is always the same, but most striking of all are the sets among the old harbour quarters of Genoa with its ruins. It reminds you of "The Third Man" and other post war films like that with very emotional moods throughout, and this film could hardly have been made more beautiful in its neorealistic strictness. You will love it from beginning to end, and when the end comes it will not be a surprise, but like Isa Miranda and her daughter and Jean Gabin himself you will just accept it as something of a naturally fallen curtain.

A criminal, played by Jean Gabin is on the run, and no spoilers but he gets stranded in Italy, in Genoa which is still coming to terms with the aftermath of the war. Rene Clement who had not yet directed ' Les Jeux Interdit ' arguably his masterpiece, with ' Le Mura di Malapaga ' which uses both the Italian language and the French language. Visually it is stunning and full of people coming to terms with the inevitable desolation around them. He meets Isa Miranda, an abused wife, and a relationship begins. Their struggle to attain happiness in the ruins around them is the core of the film, and although I do not count this as particularly Neo-Realist or Film Noir it is ultimately a dark vision of life set in dark times. Isa Miranda stands out as being one of Italy's finest actors and gives a performance which will linger in my mind for a long while. There is one superlative scene where she is bought a glamorous dress that is deeply moving, because probably this is one of the few times in her life that she looks and feels literally transformed by happiness. I am not so happy about Jean Gabin as I feel he going through the acting motions, having played fairly similar fatalistic parts before, and does not quite inhabit his role as Isa Miranda does. A very good film, and well worth seeking out.

It's hard to know how good "The Walls of Malapaga" may or may not be, because the print I saw (which aired on TCM and which I'm assuming therefore is the best one available) is so horrible that it almost makes the film unwatchable. Most of the time the actors' faces are so washed out that you can't see them, and 50% of the subtitles are unreadable because they're in white font against frequently white backgrounds.

But the film is good for a peek at post-WWII Europe and the daily reminders of desperation and devastation from which America was largely spared. I happened to watch a couple of Susan Hayward melodramas that came out on either side of this film around the same time I watched it, and I was struck by the huge difference between what American audiences were being sold in their movies vs. what Europeans were seeing. In American films, it's like the war never happened, and the wealth and privilege is hard to stomach, whereas European films from the same time period seem to be about nothing but the war and the legacy it left behind.

"The Walls of Malapaga" received the annual Honorary Foreign Language Film Oscar that the Academy bestowed for a decade before introducing the competitive Foreign Language Film category that exists today.

Grade: B

Considering it won an honorary Oscar in 1949(before the category of Best Foreign Flm became a competitive affair) and garnered awards for both director René Clément and actress Isa Miranda at Cannes, the subsequent neglect of this film is indeed mystifying.

Its critical success was not reflected in box office returns however, perhaps because the public did not want to be reminded of post-war austerity.

I have revisited this film on a few occasions and it never fails to move me.

Gabin's career seemed to be in free-fall at this time before Jacques Becker came to his rescue with 'Touchez-pas au Grisbi'. His air of world-weariness, no doubt influenced by his war service, suits the role perfectly. Gabin was certainly no stranger to characters pursued by implacable Fate but this is his final appearance in such a role.

The performances that haunt however are those of Isa Miranda and fifteen year old Vera Talchi as mother and daughter. Miranda would never again to my knowledge be gifted such a part and she is absolutely wondrous. Her chemistry with Gabin is palpable. Talchi was a great find but her career thereafter did not alas amount to much apart from playing the love interest in the first of the Don Camillo series. What a pity.

This and his films 'Battle of the Rails', 'Forbidden Games' and 'Gervaise' guarantee Clément a place in the Pantheon of great directors. Roman Vlad has written a powerful score and the images by Louis Page of war-torn Genoa add to the film's neo-realist feel.

Visconti maintained that the most important thing on screen is to portray the burden of being human. Clément's film certainly fulfils that criterion in no uncertain terms.

Although highly regarded at the time, it also has to be one of the most easily forgotten French films of the late 1940Õs.

This gritty, neo-realist tale set in post-war Genoa is a vehicle for the two stars, Isa Miranda and Jean Gabin , but is bereft of compelling dialogue or dramatic content.

The story line is sparse: Gabin, on the run for murdering his lover in France, disembarks at the port of Genoa seeking treatment

for a toothache. He encounters a young girl, Vera Talchi, who helps him find a dentist. After being pick pocketed, he meets, Miranda, the girlÕs mother, who serves him a meal at the trattoria where she works.

Quickly they become attracted to each other, she takes him home and they fall in love. The daughter becomes jealous of the new relationship. Meanwhile, the police began to close in on Gabin.

Rene Clement, better known for Purple Noon and is Paris Burning, scored not only the Best Director award at Cannes in 1949 but also an honorary Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1950. In addition, Isa Miranda was named Best Actress at the Cannes Festival..