In 1920 ,the first "barge movie" ,"l'hirondelle et la mésange" (André Antoine) was made but never theatrically released ,because the producers thought it was not commercial enough ;but the true reason might be that the ending was immoral.It was salvaged by Henri Colpi in 1982!
"La Belle Marinière" ,two years before Vigo's classic "l'Atalante ",as the precedent user points out , had also a risqué ending :is it the reason why half of the movie is (forever) lost?
But the three long segments which remain are splendid indeed,and had the film been thoroughly preserved, it could have compared favorably with the above-mentioned works.
The subject is as old as the hills: a love triangle on a barge , a sexy girl (Madeleine Renaud ,cast against type) joins the crew (Gabin,Pierre Blanchar , Rosine Déréan) of a barge and sows discord among men who were the best friends in the world after the owner marries her .But the treatment is excellent , and ,as Happytrigger wrote, the best scenes are to be found in the beginning and in the end :
-the wedding,when an intruder, a private from Pont-A -Mousson, invites himself and behaves like a crude glutton who overstays his welcome .
-the very last pictures , depicting the betrayed confidence ,are dazzling.
Two great names collaborated : cinematography is by Rudolph Maté (later , director of such film noir classics as "D.O.A.),and editing by Jean Delannoy ,who had been ignored and despised for a long time,but whose best works were restored to favor by Bertrand Tavernier and Jacques Lourcelles.
