Ondata d'amore

After a three-year gap ,this was Gabin's return.It is hard to gauge it accurately cause in the 1937-1939 years ,an era when French cinema was arguably the best in the world ,he starred in at least five masterpieces ("la Grande Illusion" and "la Bête Humaine" by Jean Renoir,"Quai des Brumes" and (my favorite) "Le Jour se lève " by Marcel Carné ,and finally Jean Gremillon's "remorques") .All that he would do afterward would necessarily be a let-down.

"Moontide" is not in the same league as his previous French performances but it is nevertheless an interesting work for any Gabin fan.The actor integrates well in an American cast (and the cast includes earnest thespians such as Ida Lupino,Claude Rains and Thomas Mitchell)and his English is quite good (don't forget that Gabin was essentially an autodidact ,which is much to his credit;His contemporary equivalent for that matter is Gerard Depardieu) The screenplay may not be very exciting -and it's full of holes at that- but the atmosphere -which recalls sometimes "quai des brumes" - and Gabin's character -who,like Lantier in "la Bete Humaine" ,has an ominous past:wasn't his father a criminal brute?- are all that matters .

For his second (and last) American movie,Gabin was directed by his compatriot (who put him on the map with "la Bandera" ) Julien Duvivier .

Wow! Poetic realism, Hollywood style. MOONTIDE was originally assigned to Fritz Lang as director, but he was replaced by Archie Mayo and we may never know how much difference this made in the final film. Whatever its production history may be, this is a magnificent example of artistic use of black-and-white cinematography and set design. There is a palpable atmosphere, a sense of place (though it's never specified by name. We just know it's set on the California coast) that's downright captivating. So strong is the visual style--with its constructed sets, artfully lit, often cast in semi-darkness-- that it very often overwhelms the drama, though never throwing the balance off altogether. This is poetic realism, in what is usually termed the French style of the 1930s-40s, in a Hollywood context. The generally European feeling remains strong with the presence of Jean Gabin in the lead role. His committed performance dominates the film, only partly due to his strong French accent. It's probably a shame that the actor chose to discontinue work in American films after this and one more film, because he is so strong here. The other actors--all very good ones, Ida Lupino, Thomas Mitchell, Claude Rains,Jerome Cowan all seem under the spell of the film's style and they work perfectly with, or against, Gabin's character. Watching MOONTIDE (a poetic title if there ever was one), one might wonder if it misses greatness only by its origin. Had Lang stayed with it, would we have something comparable to the masterworks of Carné or Renoir? As it is, the film comes close enough to be ranked only slightly lower. In the case of this movie, "underrated" is an understatement.

10 Stars- I found no errors in this film. Memorable, plot is typical noir: mystery, a little suspense (not enough to raise your blood pressure) and of course a romantic interest.

Women will love Bobo, the mysterious manly man with an accent, who can punch down bullying malefactors with no effort to save the dignity of any woman. Bobo is ever accompanied with his trusty and also-brave bulldog, who fights with him- the dog's doing so plays an important part in the mystery, which I will not divulge here so as not to spoil the ending. "Bobo" is a Gypsy, at least he calls himself one, with a tag-along leech by the name of Tiny. Tiny and Bobo are a couple of laborer types that take jobs here and there, Bobo is a strong and honest good natured fellow, both he and Tiny drink to excess and sometimes fight (with Bobo it's usually to defend a woman or a beaten man) Bobo is ever the quiet do-gooder, always happy to lend a hand or help the helpless. Tiny has a hold on Bobo, a scheme which unfortunately is a hold that Tiny uses to blackmail and control, up to demanding Bobo keep on moving along from town to town, never attaching to anyone or thing. But- Bobo falls in love with Anna, the gorgeous and smart Lupino (who wouldn't? She is as tiny as a wasp and so pretty) whom he rescues from a possible suicide by drowning (reason for this attempt is not really given in the film) Bobo and Anna become fast friends. Anna is a wayward girl with a history of taking low jobs like slinging hash, which Tiny warns Bobo that "she is a no-good hash-slinger!". I think there are aspects of the characters that are in the book "Moon Tide" that are not addressed in the film, but that's OK because the film stands on its own. I thoroughly enjoyed Moontide and I know that viewers won't turn away when watching it because it is one of those movies that come on late late at night but you dare not sleep because you don't want to miss ONE second out of it. Just a fun, memorable and romantic feel-good kind of thing, not schmaltzy- that embraces real noir and real romance in a fine way.

A film that uses every bit of it's scenery even though it isn't much (you won't notice the spartan sets, only if you take the film apart, because the film 'takes you there')every craft in the film making was used to great advantage. In lesser hands this would not have been so good. The direction is expert: Fritz Lang uncredited, not sure why. Jean Gabin as Bobo was well cast, I'd never heard of him myself before, he is believable as Bobo the gypsy very well. He met Anna mere days ago but is well in love with her enough to marry her and she him and there is a degree of believe-ability here Both of them- Anna and Bobo I cheered for, wished well, and was in love with both of their characters so much, I wanted all of it to be true, in fact so much that it is as if one is watching a slice of life in a 1940s-era San Pedro dock, with the salty but good as gold characters who keep their mouths shut for the right reasons to protect their life long friends.

Moontide (1942)

What a surprise, and with some well known actors in little known roles. And one little known actor in the U.S., the great French star Jean Gabin. All put together in an elegant, fast, and sympathetic way.

The story is rather sweet, a love story between two unlikely loners, the charming and volatile hard drinking Bobo, played by Gabin, and the young and troubled Anna, played by Ida Lupino. Each of their pasts looms and interferes in the romance, mainly through the maliciousness of Bobo's old friend, another violent man played by Thomas Mitchell. And then there is the incomparable Claude Rains (you won't recognize him in the first scenes with his beard), who plays a truly good friend. All of this takes place in a little fishing shack at a big stone breakwater on the California Coast somewhere, and most of it takes place at night.

Archie Mayo, who made a lot of really good films and few if any masterpieces ("Petrified Forest" is his most famous, from 1936), really does show mastery of storytelling here. And with cinematography by Charles Clarke good enough to get an Oscar nomination (with some help by the more famous Lucien Ballard), you can see why this is better than most. Fritz Lang is shown as a co-director behind the scenes, and you get suspicious that the visual strength of all this is partly his doing.

But it is the story itself that might be the achilles heel here--it progresses with some twists that are suggested in the first few minutes, and that don't turn and surprise us later. The end is the end you expect, all neatly packaged.

Not that you don't mind so much--the leading characters are, if nothing else, very likable. But along those same lines, I think every scene is filmed by-the-book. Very likable, and competent, and rather beautiful all along, but lacking the edges of uncertainty, of emotional depths you would expect from these kinds of characters, even of drama in the few scenes of violence. "Moontide," with its poetic title, insists somehow that it is a just a performance and an entertainment, a light romance, even though it's just an inch from tipping into something much bigger.

and a good one at that. Gabin plays a rough drifter along California's fishery coast who rescues a girl (Ida Lupino) from a suicide attempt. He takes her to his floating bait shack and the two fall in love. Unlikely storyline takes a back seat to the acting of Gabin and Lupino as well as Claude Rains as the local "failed intellectual." Great waterfront sets certainly help this moody tale. Only Thomas Mitchell seems to overplay his hand as the treacherous friend. Jean Gabin was a European favorite for 45 years, and it's easy to see why in this film. Too bad he didn't stay in Hollywood a little longer, but the war was on. Also in the film as Jerome Cowan (in a subplot that seems to have been trimmed), Tully Marshall, Vera Lewis, Helene Reynolds, and Victor Sen Yung.