Le Jour Se Leve (1939), remade as The Long Night (1947)

[drinkanddestroy]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039581/

The Long Night (1947) 7.5/10


Cast, courtesy of imdb

Henry Fonda    ...   Joe Adams
    Barbara Bel Geddes    ...   Jo Ann
    Vincent Price    ...   Maximilian the Great
    Ann Dvorak    ...   Charlene
    Howard Freeman    ...   Sheriff Ned Meade
    Moroni Olsen    ...   Chief of Police Bob McManus
    Elisha Cook Jr.    ...   Frank Dunlap
    Queenie Smith    ...   Mrs. Tully
    David Clarke    ...   Bill Pulanski
    Charles McGraw    ...   Policeman Stevens
    Patty King    ...   Peggy
    Davis Roberts    ...   Freddie (as Robert A. Davis)

PLOT SYNOPSIS: In a rough steel town on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, police surround the apartment of suspected murderer Joe Adams, who refuses to surrender, as a huge crowd gathers outside the building. During the siege, Joe reflects on the circumstances that led him to this situation, which involve a triangle with Adams's girlfriend, the sweet girl-next door Jo Ann, and a sleazy magician named Maximilain the Great.


The siege occurs as  a big crowd gathers outside the building, making for a nice set-piece. During the siege scenes inside Adams's apartment -- much of which are narrated with Adams's thoughts -- the movie is scored with Beethoven's 7th, Second Movement (the same music that played during The King's Speech)  


Wow, Henry Fonda playing a noir character, certainly not the typical good-guy role you'd expect from him! But he does a terrific job, as always. Barabara Bel Geddes is real good as the sweet girl Jo Ann, as is Vincent Price as the sleazy (what else!) magician, and Ann Dvorak as Charlene, the trashy girl with a heart of gold.

This may not be the most interesting story in the world, but the acting is so good, it is such a joy to watch Fonda and Bel Geddes, it keeps you interested throughout.

SPOILER ALERT until end of post

As the story unfolds, things turn out very differently than you'd expect. Though you are sympathetic to the main character -- Jesus Christ, it's Henry Fonda!; and the guy who was killed is a real asshole who came up there with a gun -- the bottom line is that it was a murder, straight up. There's a damn good chance that he will get away with the killing cuz the victim busted into his house with a gun (and may just get away with a smaller charge, for firing at the police officers). But this was nothing other than murder, and therefore, by the end of the flashbacks, you realize that things are very different than what you first assumed. It would have been so easy to make this a simple case of self-defense, and I really like how this one turns out: if you are going to sympathize with the noir character here, you are not gonna be able to justify your feelings by telling yourself something like, "Oh, he got into a situation beyond his control, he really didn't mean it, etc."; you have to level with yourself and say, "I am sympathizing with a murderer, plain and simple." I really like that twist on the usual sympathetic noir character.

[dave jenkins]

Although I'll probably get an argument from titoli for saying it, this is a remake of Le Jour se leve. I haven't seen the American film, and Fonda is no doubt good in it, but even on his best day Fonda can't compare to Gabin.

[cigar joe]

Watched this last night, agree with d&d it's worth a look-see, though I haven't seen the original either but I have "Le Jour se leve" now on my Netflix que. It's very satisfying seeing Vincent Price get..... well you have to watch it 7/10 

[drinkanddestroy]

I expanded the title of this post to include Le Jour Se Leve (1939), cuz The Long Night was a remake of the French original.

I give both movies about the same rating of 7.5/10 (although for me, the American one had the advantage that I saw it first, and therefore didn't know the story when I saw it. By the time I saw the French one, I knew the whole story - and as I recall, it is a very, very close remake; I can't think of any major, or even minor, differences.)

I disagree with DJ's opinion that Gabin can't compare to Fonda as an actor; I love both Fonda and Gabin, and I don't have a clear preference for one's performance over the other's.

cast of Le Jour Se Leve (courtesy of wikipedia)


    Jean Gabin as François
    Jacqueline Laurent as Françoise
    Jules Berry as M. Valentin
    Arletty as Clara
    Arthur Devère as Mr. Gerbois
    Bernard Blier as Gaston
    Marcel Pérès as Paulo
    Germaine Lix as La chanteuse
    Georges Douking as blind man

[drinkanddestroy]

Film Forum will be showing Le Jour Se Leve Nov. 14-Nov. 27 http://filmforum.org/film/le-jour-se-leve-film-page

From Film Forum's notes:

MOST COMPLETE VERSION SINCE 1939 • NEW 4K RESTORATION

...

Brutally censored by the Vichy puppet government that soon came to power, with cuts including Arletty’s nude emergence from the shower and references to the police as “fascists,” then the removal from the credits of director of photography Curt Kourant and legendary production designer (Children of Paradise, The Apartment, etc.) Alexandre Trauner (both were Jewish) — and then an outright ban as “too demoralizing.” This new 4K restoration puts back the cut scenes and original credits for the first time in 75 years. All-new subtitles by Lenny Borger and Charlotte Trench capture the poetry of Prévert’s dialogue. Approx. 93 min.  DCP.


waddaya say, DJ? Wanna see this?

[dave jenkins]

I expanded the title of this post to include Le Jour Se Leve (1939), cuz The Long Night was a remake of the French original.

I give both movies about the same rating of 7.5/10

But now there is a new restoration and transfer of the French original, and Blu-ray.com is giving it perfect marks for its image.
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Le-Jour-se-Leve-Blu-ray/100973/#Review
Baring a restoration of The Long Night (unlikely), all other things being equal (as your score and comments indicate), the current Blu-ray of Le Jour Se Leve is better (by definition) than The Long Night in any current form.

[dave jenkins]

waddaya say, DJ? Wanna see this?

Yeah, I guess I do (who knows when the BD will arrive here).

[drinkanddestroy]

But now there is a new restoration and transfer of the French original, and Blu-ray.com is giving it perfect marks for its image.
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Le-Jour-se-Leve-Blu-ray/100973/#Review
Baring a restoration of The Long Night (unlikely), all other things being equal (as your score and comments indicate), the current Blu-ray of Le Jour Se Leve is better (by definition) than The Long Night in any current form.

I assume this means that the uncut movie will eventually come out on Region A BRD as well?

Either way, yeah, I am down for seeing this. I mean, not just for the cut sequences. From Film Forum's description, it doesn't seem like the cut sequences affect the film that much; they only mention cutting the emergence from the shower and the mention of "fascists," - they don't mention if there are other cut scenes, but it doesn't seem like this is GBU having 16 minutes restored in 2003. Nevertheless, I'd probably be happy to go out and see this if we can work out a date/time

Wed. Nov. 26 is the day before Thanksgiving; maybe we can see it before you go to your jazz show  

[dave jenkins]

Wed. Nov. 26 is the day before Thanksgiving; maybe we can see it before you go to your jazz show  

A real possibility. I'll PM you as we get closer to the date.

[Jill]

I have only seen the original, and, reading that they chickened out on the downer ending in the remake, no thanks. The whole point of the story was that the protagonist is doomed (being played by Jean Gabin, this is only natural, that man was Sean Bean before Sean Bean was Sean Bean).