Admirable film.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

On the surface, Marcel Carné's "Daybreak" is a heart-pounding claustrophobic thriller based on a then-revolutionary use of non-linear flashback-driven narrative and that was two years before Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane", on the surface, one can see the film and find every reason to love it.Still, one viewing wouldn't do justice to the film. You might watch it once to get the overall picture, then a second time to really appreciate the existential poetry of Jacques Prévert's script, which operates like the raw and penetrating lyrics of a tragicomic symphony speaking the deepest truths about life and rejection, and you can watch it a third time, to appreciate the fiery and haunting performance of Jean Gabin as François, a simple foundry worker becoming despite himself the immediate instrument then the collateral victim of an unexpected killing.And unexpected is the word since its from gunshots that the film opens, a murder just happens off-screen, we only see someone getting off the apartment, his hand on his belly and then tumbling down the stairs until landing on the feet of a blind resident, of all the witnesses. Honest people shout for help, police come but the man inside won't give himself easily, he's armed, he can protect himself and has all the time to figure out what the next step is. The irony is that there's no possible escape, the siege immediately begins, he's literally cornered and the apartment becomes a temporary but fragile shell of safety. He has some cigarettes but like most resources: it is limited in time. Time is all he's got and it works like the countdown of a ticking bomb.Not only Gabin but Arletty and Jules Berry are many reasons to appreciate the film, but it is Gabin who steals every scene, Gabin as the subject and the object, he's the one who starts the plot by killing, and enriches our experience by telling us why he did. The film has always been associated to the poetic realism movement but the notion that immediately emerges is 'fatalism'. There's a sense of impending doom over the shoulders of François and we know it's a matter of time before he'll be lured into the fatal action. But the film isn't interested in the fate of François who's already lost at that time but on the circumstances that lead him to that act, because obviously, he doesn't strike as your "typical" killer, does he? The use of flashback is crucial because what we see proves our doubts right, he's a decent man, a rather friendly one, despite his tough façade, but he's driven into a dark corner because of a rivalry with a man who's everything he's not: an older man, more manipulative, a smooth talker, an upper class erudite dog trainer played with classy sneakiness by Jules Berry. Both are in love with the same delicate woman, and she's too shy to reject them. She wasn't the prettiest or the smartest one but she was gentle, innocent and too much of a beautiful flower to let some manipulative smooth talking pervert corrupt her.There's a subplot involving an affair between Berry's mistress played by Arletty and Françoise but it never distracts us from the core of the film, which is the uprising tension between two men and two different versions of humanity. Meanwhile we're taken back to the apartment, which gets smaller as the plot advances, and the situation gets similar to these media circuses showcased in movies like "Dog Day Afternoon", one of the emotional climaxes of the film involve an angry monologue of Gabin toward the crowd, he can't stand the hypocrisy of a system that will label him as a criminal while men accomplish more cruel things than plain killing, this is Gabin at his finest, the sign that he's a tragic figure to be and won't really accomplish himself until the last act.There's something so premonitory in a film featuring a French men caught in a lonely place and force to commit suicide because he just can't face the ugly reality. The film is from 1939 before the War would put thousands of citizens in similar situations, the dawn that was ready to break was one of an ugly nature, forcing men to transcend their nature and ethics and do things they wouldn't be proud. The question that Gabin's rant asks is "who are we to judge?" and this question resonate even more powerfully when put in the context of the film's making and the film hasn't lost any of its relevance today, like many classics of Gabin.Here, he's is at his most complex and tortured but somewhat, this is his most decent character, which makes his ending even more tragic or given what was awaiting France, not as tragic as it seems, after a second thought maybe he was lucky to get the hell out of the place, to be the master of his own destiny, instead of surrendering to mediocrity.

After talking to a number of fellow IMDbers about French cinema during The Occupation of France in WWII,I decided to watch 5 films which would show the effect that the beginning of the invasion in France,the Occupation itself, and the ending of the Occupation had on French cinema.Whilst struggling to find a title that could act as a starting point,I picked up an old dusty copy of a UK film mag called Empire,and I spotted a DVD review for a 1939 French Film Noir which had been banned by the Vichy gov, (which also cut some scenes from the film,that thankfully survive)due to it being "demoralizing" which led to me getting ready to see the sun go up.The plot:Walking up the stairs of a 5-story guest-house,a blind man stumbles upon the dead body of M. Valentin laying at the bottom of the stairs,with bullets buried deep inside him. Surrounding the guest-house,the police attempt to interview all of the residence of the building,but find that one room is locked.Hearing the cops knock, François starts shooting at the door,and telling the police to leave him alone.As the police start making plans to arrest the killer, François begins to think about the events that led him here.A few weeks earlier:Whilst working at a foundry factory, François meets a floral shop worker called Françoise.Spending time with Françoise, François finds himself falling for her,but feels that Françoise is holding something back from him.Secretly following Françoise one night, François discovers her attending a magic show being performed by Clara & M. Valentin.Talking to Clara, François finds out that Valentin is an old charmer who has had every girl who he has set his eyes on become his mistress,which includes Françoise & Clara.Talking to François,Clara finds herself taken by him being nothing like Valentin.Furious over Françoise and Clara pushing his charms aside for François,Valentin decides that he must turn François's bright life into black magic.View on the film:Surviving the censorship of the Vichy gov and an attempt by RKO to destroy every known copy, Studiocanal delivers an elegant transfer,with the 2 minutes of cut footage being seamlessly re- instated,and the audio/picture quality being crystal clear. Rumbaing behind the stark background of the opening credits,the score by Maurice Jaubert creates a superb undercurrent mood for the title,as Jaubert keeps the score light & breezy during François's blossoming romance,which transforms into a bellowing shriek,as François sinks into a Film Noir dead end.Made just before the country fell to Hitler,the screenplay by Jacques Viot and Jacques Prévert brilliantly displays the impending darkness that France was about to enter,as the writers show the police to be faceless figures who attempt to "gas" François out of the building,and stop anyone from criticising the government.Along with the ruthless shots at the police and government,the writers smartly take a Film Noir route to reveal the unease that France was experiencing,as François and Valentin spy/listen in on those nearest to them,whilst the Film Noir loner François becomes a hero to the crowds standing outside the guest-house,as François yells that he wants to be left alone in his flat,where he can lock his door to the despair taking place outside.Showing Valentin's stairway to death with a hard stare which makes the viewer feel every thud that his dying body makes on the steps,director Marcel Carné unleashes a chilling Film Noir atmosphere,as long,winding shots around the guest-house,and tightly coiled whip-pans in François flat show the doom-laden mind-set that François has entered. Delicately using flashbacks, Carné creates a contrasting feel to the bleak Film Noir world that François is now locked in,by giving the scenes with Clara & Françoise a stark,shining lightness which represents the relax mood that François feels around them,which slowly transforms into a brittle darkness,as Valentin starts attempting to wipe François from his two dream girls.Sharing a mutual desire for François's love,the gorgeous Arletty (who destroyed her career by having an affair with a high-ranking Nazi,and spending most of the Occupation going to fancy dinners held by the Nazis) and Jacqueline Laurent (who in a banned scene appears topless!) each give beautiful performances as Françoise and Clara,with Laurent showing a genuine sweetness in Françoise's desire for her past with Valentin to be left in the dark mists of time,whilst Arletty lights up the screen as striking Femme Fatale Clara,whose mask of acceptance over François fight for his "true love" Françoise breaks,as Clara finds herself being pushed to the wilderness by Valentin & François.With Carné sealing his fate by filling him with bullets in the tense opening, Jules Berry gives a wonderful performance as Valentin,thanks to Berry turning Valentin's charm into sharp manipulation ,as Valentin finds François trying to take all that is his.Sealed in his prison cell/flat, Jean Gabin gives an explosive performance as François,with Gabin hitting a light touch with an expert eye in François's blossoming romance with Françoise,which is haunted by the bleak, burning rage that François's fate is now trapped in,as François looks out of the window in his flat,for hope that daybreak will appear from the darkness.

***Interesting commentary from Varlaam ("A tragedy of everyday proportions", Varlaam from Toronto, Canada, 3 February 1999), who uses actor math to describe Jean Gabin. Also, writers_reign from London ("Twilight At Dawn", writers_reign from London, England, 8 December 2003) adds context for the principal participants. Finally, nowlang ("A French Masterpiece about the Tragedy of a Simple Man's Life", nowlang (lancelot1953@msn.com) from Small Town, New England, USA, 12 September 2006) adds interesting insight.***"Le jour se lève (Daybreak; 1939, Marcel Carné, France) is another superlative film from Carné. A common laborer is known to have killed a man, and is holed-up awaiting his fate. With the arrival of the Second World War looming, the participants involved in this project still manage to leave behind a story filled with understanding about the human condition.The film is very brave, as it is not hard to argue that "Daybreak" is a veiled protest against the increasingly repressive government. (The Vichy regime, which collaborated with the Nazis, took over a year after this film's release.) In the film's opening, a title card informs us that a murder has been committed and we will see what caused the murderer to act. The message has little purpose but to create the idea of a government proclamation announcing that someone is an enemy of the state. Who threatens the state the most? The French police exacerbate tensions whenever possible. They have François (Jean Gabin) trapped in his third-story apartment. Without a word of dialog, they begin shooting at François. Later, they deny a potentially crisis- ending conversation between François and several of his coworkers. When the laborers in the street begin to show signs of support for François, the police crush the public expression with violence against the helpless crowd. By starting with the title card that clarifies the government's official position and then presenting a story that encourages sympathy for the public enemy, "Daybreak" makes the statement that the present French government is getting out of control.Some viewers have an issue with the central cheat in the story, namely that François completely fails to recognize he has a legitimate case to make to an impartial jury. This is explained in part by the Fascistic police, which offer no sign they intend for him to receive a fair trial. There also seems to be relevance in the deceased having been an animal trainer. His ex-girlfriend and show partner Clara (Arletty) will describe some of Valentine's cruelty to his dogs by mentioning a specific example. So, perhaps François does not take steps to improve his situation because he is identified with the unfortunate puppies who can never escape Valentine's sadism. When weary François hysterically communicates with the crowd below, he might be offering some of the despair of show animals being cruelly trained. (An example of how Valentine torments François is by repeatedly calling him "simple." BTW, "Daybreak" sure has a lot more awareness about the plight of animals than does the "Wizard of Oz," also made in 1939.)It is a trademark of the collaboration between Carné (direction) and Jacques Prévert's (dialog) that a sense of balance is felt with the entire cast. Even the characters with brief moments on screen are perfectly realized. Jean Gabin is excellent in the lead role. He's one of my all-time favorite actors. If you mixed Spencer Tracy's looks with Humphrey Bogart's grit, sprinkling in Robert Mitchum's indifference, while supplying the result with a vast quantity of cigarettes, you might produce an actor similar. Gabin excels at portraying primitives, and is as convincing as a criminal as he is endearing. Gabin is a perfect choice for this despairing role of a laborer who grew up in an orphanage and now endures soul-crushing work to get by."Daybreak" is useful in understanding how Arletty was a successful leading lady despite being in her 40s. As an actress, she brings mystery and cleverness to her roles. While Arletty/Clara is an attractive woman, it is obvious that the younger, sensual Françoise, is intended to be the head-turner. Still, Arletty's Clara is a lot more streetwise than Françoise. Clara does not fall to pieces when situations get tough. Arletty appears to have been successful as a romantic lead during this turbulent era because she seems to offer the French male a partner that can hold up under duress.The sexuality is very advanced for 1939. There are four main characters and each has partnered with two others of the group. The scene where François joins Françoise on her bed is risqué. Françoise is also "ruined" when it is revealed her relationship with Valentine is not platonic. One can imagine the government censors having many internal conversations about just the sexual behavior on display. (I was a little annoyed in the naming similarity between François and Françoise. However, maybe this is to emphasize the similar states of mind the pair have at the finish.)If you are a cinema buff you won't want to miss this.

This is an excellent French film that deserves to be discovered by modern audiences. Although many "Film Noir" fans might consider the gangster films of Warner Brothers from the 1930s to be true examples of the genre, I look at them more as "Noir-Lite"--as they are more formulaic and more upbeat than the Noir films of the 40s and 50s. So although the thug that Cagney or Raft or Bogart plays in the film is tough and often uses the lingo of true Noir, you KNOW that by the end of the film the bad guy MUST lose and this is all an object lesson to us all about good and evil. But, with later Noir (as well as this film), it rose to a new level because things were often not so "cut and dry"--sometimes evil DID win or the line between good and evil was blurred. It's because of this that for a 1939 film that Le Jour Se Lève excels as a film--unlike the traditional Warner "baddies", the lead, Jean Gabin is neither good nor bad--and his story of how a normal guy can feel forced to kill that makes this film stand out from the crowd.The film begins with a murder and within moments you know that Gabin shot the victim--there is no mystery about this at all. You see how Gabin meets a nice girl and falls for her but this also ultimately leads to the murder. In many ways, this is reminiscent of the great Noir classic DOA, as the film begins you KNOW that Edmund O'Brien will die but the story leading up to it is what the focus will be.I could talk about this story further, but I don't want to spoil the suspense. Instead, let's briefly talk about the technical merit of the film. Jean Gabin was an amazing actor and while I didn't always like all of his films, I definitely admire his casual acting style. In many ways, he looks and acts like a slightly more rugged version of Spencer Tracy. This "everyman" quality make him a good choice for Noir--he's not just some "pretty boy". The supporting cast is very good as well. But the real stars, apart from Gabin, are the writers, director and cinematographer. The story works as does the dialog, the pacing and composition is great and the camera angles and lighting are superb. A fine film with little to complain about--and for me THAT'S unusual!