Moontide

Here we have the 28 year-old Ida Lupino, looking more like 19 or 20, and already the veteran of more than thirty films, being a frail, charming, and vulnerable waif. She is thoroughly convincing, and we would all like to take her in and look after her. This duty falls to the gruff Jean Gabin, a hard-drinking waterfront drifter from port to port, who has at some point arrived in the States from France. In fact, Gabin in real life had fled the Nazi Occupation and this was one of two American films which he made in exile. The film was supposed to be directed by Fritz Lang, who would have made it a moodier and darker piece. However, he was replaced by the more cheerful Archie Mayo, so we get a film whose real value is not as cinema but as encounter between Lupino and Gabin. That keeps us watching. Claude Rains gives bemused support as a California waterfront bum (hardly his usual type of role!) and Thomas Mitchell is an unctuous, scheming villain who has conned Gabin into thinking he has 'something on him'. The film is rather sinister, and in many ways pointless. If it weren't for Lupino and Gabin being so fascinating, nobody would bother to watch this movie, as it falls between many stools. But Lupino is so entrancing in this role, that presumably no one really cares about the story anyway. And listening to Jean Gabin speak heavily accented English in California is so extraordinary that one wants to watch that too. Who gives a damn about the film, we've got Lupino and Gabin, and that's all that matters. They could read the telephone directory as far as I am concerned, and I would still watch.

One of two American made films that Jean Gabin did in Hollywood while in exile from his beloved France is this item Moontide. It's not anywhere in the class of The Grand Illusion, Pepe LeMoko, or La Bete Humaine in fact it goes over into melodrama. Still it's a good showcase for his talent and appeal.

Gabin is a happy go lucky sailor who is beached with his pal Thomas Mitchell in the small coast town of San Pablo in California. He's a nasty drunk however who can be provoked to violence and has been. Another waterfront denizen Arthur Aylesworth is killed and Gabin is tormented by the fact that he was on one big bender the night of the homicide and it could be him.

But that doesn't stop him from saving the life of Ida Lupino who tries to drown herself because of her own relationship problems. These two fall for each other and they plan to settle in San Pablo and marry. And of course there's no room for Mitchell in the new setup.

Which doesn't please Mitchell at all. He's basically a leech who's attached himself to Gabin and he doesn't want to give up his meal ticket. Claude Rains who is a droll waterfront philosopher calls him a pilot fish which is a fish that hangs around sharks and lives off the scraps they leave. Time for Mitchell to find another shark.

Given that this is the Code era and that a major studio 20th Century Fox produced Moontide the rather obvious homosexual attachment of Mitchell to Gabin is hard to miss. Perhaps that is something that the original director Fritz Lang might have explored a bit more. In fact the film could have been a classic had Lang stayed with it.

Still the cast acquit themselves well in Moontide and a film with Jean Gabin is always something special.

The lonely dock worker Bobo (Jean Gabin) is a strong man that likes to drink a lot. One night, after a binge, he awakes without recollections at a barge hired to sell bait. He befriends the night watchman Nutsy (Claude Rains); rescues the suicidal Anna (Ida Lupino) from the sea and brings her to the barge to recover. Meanwhile he learns that his acquaintance Pop Kelly (Arthur Aylesworth) was found murdered strangled. Bobo and Anna fall in love with each other and decide to get married. But Bobo´s former friend Tiny (Thomas Mitchell) has always lived supported by Bobo and intends to get rid of Anna.

"Moontide" is an original film noir with a different storyline, great cast and director. Jean Gabin, Ida Lupino, Claude Rains and the uncredited Fritz Lang together are feast for any movie lover. The gloomy story and atmosphere have a melancholic happy ending and is worthwhile watching. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Brumas" ("Sea Mist")

As a not often seen curiosity, Moontide is as close as it gets to 'Hollywood come Parisian'. Perhaps it could even be hailed as one of 20th Century Fox's earliest entries into 'Noir' drama. During the time exiled French leading man Jean Gabin was taking refuge in the USA (escaping the Nazis) he made two movies, this, and 'The Imposter' 44 ~ both relatively undistinguished at the time. Gabin, known for his difficult, gruff nature may well have been playing himself with his role as Bobo, a sailor with self destructive drinking habits. Bobo has a change of heart when he saves the life of a depressed young woman, played by a 20 something Ida Lupino. Lupino is the whole show, proving she was not simply a pretty face but a sterling dramatist of the highest degree. She steals every scene with strong, heart felt professionalism, a pure joy to watch! Other cast members are also of a special class, Claude Rains gives a great out of character performance as the warm hearted Nutsy, with Thomas Mitchell memorable as the nasty big lunk known as Tiny. Another odd character played by Jerome Cowan as a Dr having marital problems, has the feel of a part that may have been reduced in post production editing (could be interesting to know...?).

Equally striking is the first class moody black and white (award nominated) cinematography of veteran Charles G. Clark, whose fluid camera weaves in and out of eerie fog bound waterfront settings. The interesting screenplay by talented, self opinionated, and somewhat self destructive, John O'Hara was adapted from the novel by writer/actor Willard Robinson. Some may know Robinson from his roles in: Deep Valley '47 and The Oxbow Incident '43, among many others. Portions of the screen play were penned (un-credited) by award nominated writer Nunnally Johnson, the multi-talented producer/screenplay writer of "The Grapes of Wrath" '40. Johnson was also hailed for his classic work as the writer/director of "The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit" in '56.

Direction is fully credited (wrongly) to veteran all rounder, Archie Mayo but the project was started under the call of Fritz Lang. Lang was sacked after disputes with the difficult Jean Gabin. It's easy to see why many attribute much of the films atmospheric feel as being due to Lang's involvement. The sets, while visually interesting, are somewhat claustrophobic due to budget constraints. The off-the-wall montage dreamed up by unhinged 'artist' Salvador Dali during one of Gabin's binges is eye popping. The only other I've seen this good (if not better) was in Carol Reed's unforgettable classic, "Odd Man Out" '47. Producer Mark Hellinger of "The Killers" '46 and "Naked City fame" '48 ~ gives us yet another compelling watch, for those who like to trace early offbeat ventures into American 'noir' dramas.

KenR.....

Jean Gabin didn't star in many American films, and Moontide was the only one I could find from my local library. Maybe it was for the best; his presence on screen is very (and I mean this as a compliment) French in tone and inflection and even in style of speak. In English he fares reasonably well, and gives a solid performance as the "gypsy turned peasant" Bobo who saddles up with ex-suicide-attemptee Ida Lupino on a tiny bay community. This being said it's a kind of character that works for Gabin's limitations in the language. Because Bobo is a Gypsy it works that Gabin's English is only so fluent and has the kind of facial expressions that reflect that (as opposed to say Grand Illusion where he was so natural that it was staggering). Lupino, thankfully, is a great match, and the two have some very nice scenes together as a married couple who face trouble when one of Bobo's prior troubles comes back to haunt him, even as it wasn't his fault.

The direction is competent and the writing has some moments of cleverness or tenderness or even insight. And as the drama ratchets up one gets involved if only on a perfunctory, conventional level. But the director Archie Mayo (replacing, of all directors, Fritz Lang) some moments that really stand out for me. One that I might never forget, and should stand up among some of the quintessential early 40s noir films, is when Bobo has his drunken binge the first night at port and after causing a ruckus in the bar with punching out the guy and making the girl upset goes from bar to bar. In a montage that provides a drunken angle to the camera and editing tricks, we see Bobo going further and further, hearing characters repeat things like "drink, drink" or whatever and it is purely intoxicating to see this. It's the kind of sequence, which lasts a good long 5 minutes, that almost promises this to be a great film.

It isn't, but it was worth a shot, and for those who are curious or just big Gabin or Lupino (or Claude Rains) fans, it's worth a shot.