Daybreak
1939
I had a really crappy day today that involved some really bad news. I have been trying to get my mind off it, though, which is when I popped this film in. Surprise! Another French film that features Jean Gabin. These guys are obsessed with him and James Cagney.
Anyway, this film is a series of flashbacks about a murder. This, of course, has been done a million times after this but it was very fresh at the time. It felt very film noir-esque which is a sure sign that we are moving into the 40s. Yay!
The acting is really spectacular but that is pretty much guaranteed if Gabin is in the film. This movie took a little while to get started; I think I was actually at 20 minutes when I started to care about what happened. Once it got going, though, it was quite enjoyable even though it was very predictable. Let's just say it is not gripping enough to get your mind off of your woes. Entertaining under different circumstances.
RATING: ***--
Interesting Facts:
RKO tried to have all records of this film destroyed so that their remake, The Long Night, would seem new.
Studios insisted on having pretitle cards because the flashback concept seemed like it would be too confusing for audiences.
A random scene:
