Daybreak (1939)
"Le jour se lève" (original title)

After committing a murder, a man locks himself in his apartment and recollects the events the led him to the killing.

Director:

Marcel Carné

Writers:

Jacques Viot (original scenario), Jacques Prévert (dialogue)

Stars:

Jean Gabin, Jules Berry, Arletty

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jean Gabin	...	François
Jules Berry	...	M. Valentin
Arletty	...	Clara
Mady Berry	...	La concierge
René Génin	...	Le concierge (as Genin)
Arthur Devère	...	Mr. Gerbois (as Arthur Devere)
René Bergeron	...	Le patron du café (as Bergeron)
Bernard Blier	...	Gaston
Marcel Pérès	...	Paulo (as Peres)
Germaine Lix	...	La chanteuse
Gabrielle Fontan	...	La vieille dame dans l'escalier
Jacques Baumer	...	Le commissaire
Jacqueline Laurent	...	Françoise

Storyline

Francois, a sympathetic factory worker, kills Valentin with a gun. He locked himself in his furnished room and starts remembering how he was led to murder. He met once Francoise, a young fleurist, and they fell in love. But Francoise was gotten round by Valentin, a dog trainer, a machiavellian guy...

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Plot Keywords:

murder | gun | dog | factory | factory worker | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

29 July 1940 (USA)

Also Known As:

Daybreak

Filming Locations:

Paris-Studio-Cinéma, Paris, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Productions Sigma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min 88 min (Janus print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Wide Range Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

While not the first film to use dissolves to represent flashbacks, it was considered too new a method in the language of cinema that the films producers' insisted on pretitle cards to avoid any confusion.

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Quotes

M. Valentin: You're the type women fall in love with . . . I'm the type that interests them.

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Connections

Featured in Fejezetek a film történetéböl: A francia lírai realizmus (1989)

User Reviews

Twilight At Dawn

Carne and Prevert on a roll; hot on the heels of 'Quai des Brumes' comes this, next up will be Les Visiteurs du Soir' and THAT will be followed by 'Les Enfants du Paradis'. Get out of that, John Ford/Dudley Nichols. Where do you start with something like this, someone send a Runner for a new set of superlatives. Start with the heavy? Jules Berry, they don't come any oilier, he'd already scored in a previous Prevert script, 'Le Crime du Monsieur Lange' with Renoir on bullhorn and he used this as a warm-up for his Satan in 'Visiteurs'. Arletty? Garance-in-Waiting, 'Hotel du Nord' behind her, 'Visiteurs/Enfants' to follow. Gabin? What can I say. Even Nat Cole didn't have a trio like this. To quote the title of an earlier (1935) Gabin vehicle this was truly La Belle Equipe. How Hollywood could cast Hank Fonda in the Gabin role is beyond me. Hank, 'aw shucks' Fonda, niceness personified as decent but RUGGED Gabin? Come on, already. Vincent Price plays Jules Berry? Get real! Sandy Trauner's brilliant apartment building sets the tone here from frame #1. What an opening, Jules Berry exiting Gabin's room and running out of breath. Crowd assembling. Nowhere-To-Go Gabin holed up in his 10 by 6 reminiscing in Gitane time. Never had a chance, life's a bitch and then you die. Basically that's all there is to it. But, as someone once said, it's the way you tell them. Brilliant in spades.