Top 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsMost Popular Video GamesMost Popular Music VideosMost Popular Podcasts
    Release CalendarBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Human Desire

  • 19541954
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h 31m
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
5.7K
YOUR RATING
Human Desire (1954)
Watch Official Trailer
Play trailer1:59
1 Video
31 Photos
DramaFilm-NoirRomance
A Korean War vet returns to his job as a railroad engineer and becomes involved in an affair with a co-worker's wife following a murder on a train where they meet.A Korean War vet returns to his job as a railroad engineer and becomes involved in an affair with a co-worker's wife following a murder on a train where they meet.A Korean War vet returns to his job as a railroad engineer and becomes involved in an affair with a co-worker's wife following a murder on a train where they meet.
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
5.7K
YOUR RATING
    • Fritz Lang
    • Alfred Hayes(screen play by)
    • Émile Zola(based on a novel by)
  • Stars
    • Glenn Ford
    • Gloria Grahame
    • Broderick Crawford
    • Fritz Lang
    • Alfred Hayes(screen play by)
    • Émile Zola(based on a novel by)
  • Stars
    • Glenn Ford
    • Gloria Grahame
    • Broderick Crawford
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 70User reviews
    • 54Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:59
    Watch Official Trailer

    Photos31

    "Human Desire" Fritz Lang 1954 Columbia  **I.V.
    Human Desire (1954)
    Human Desire (1954)
    Human Desire (1954)
    Human Desire (1954)
    Human Desire (1954)
    Human Desire (1954)
    Human Desire (1954)
    Human Desire (1954)
    Human Desire (1954)
    Human Desire (1954)
    Human Desire (1954)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Glenn Ford
    Glenn Ford
    • Jeff Warren
    Gloria Grahame
    Gloria Grahame
    • Vicki Buckley
    Broderick Crawford
    Broderick Crawford
    • Carl Buckley
    Edgar Buchanan
    Edgar Buchanan
    • Alec Simmons
    Kathleen Case
    Kathleen Case
    • Ellen Simmons
    Peggy Maley
    Peggy Maley
    • Jean
    Diane DeLaire
    • Vera Simmons
    Grandon Rhodes
    Grandon Rhodes
    • John Owens
    Benjie Bancroft
    • Inquest Spectator
    • (uncredited)
    Paul Brinegar
    Paul Brinegar
    • Brakeman
    • (uncredited)
    Minta Durfee
    Minta Durfee
    • Inquest Spectator
    • (uncredited)
    Jean Engstrom
    • Mr. Owen's secretary
    • (uncredited)
    Victor Hugo Greene
    • Davidson
    • (uncredited)
    Don C. Harvey
    Don C. Harvey
    • Yard Dispatcher
    • (uncredited)
    Carl Lee
    • John Thurston
    • (uncredited)
    John Maxwell
    John Maxwell
    • Chief of Police
    • (uncredited)
    John Pickard
    John Pickard
    • Matt Henley
    • (uncredited)
    Dan Riss
    Dan Riss
    • Prosecutor Gruber
    • (uncredited)
      • Fritz Lang
      • Alfred Hayes(screen play by)
      • Émile Zola(based on a novel by)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    More like this

    Drive a Crooked Road
    6.9
    Drive a Crooked Road
    The Big Heat
    7.9
    The Big Heat
    The Blue Gardenia
    6.9
    The Blue Gardenia
    Hell Bound
    6.3
    Hell Bound
    The Glass Wall
    6.8
    The Glass Wall
    While the City Sleeps
    6.9
    While the City Sleeps
    Rancho Notorious
    6.9
    Rancho Notorious
    House by the River
    7.1
    House by the River
    Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
    6.9
    Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
    Clash by Night
    7.0
    Clash by Night
    Cloudburst
    6.6
    Cloudburst
    Secret Beyond the Door...
    6.7
    Secret Beyond the Door...

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Director Fritz Lang had desperately wanted Peter Lorre to play Jeff Warren, but Lang had treated Lorre so abusively during the making of M (1931) that the actor refused. Marlon Brando also rejected the role of Jeff Warren, saying "I cannot believe that the man who gave us the über dark Mabuse, the pathetic child murderer in M (1931) and the futuristic look at society, Metropolis (1927), would stoop to hustling such crap."
    • Goofs
      (at around 1hr 29 mins) While the film is set in California, the train passes over the Lower Trenton Bridge. The bridge with its distinctive "Trenton makes, the world takes" sign crosses the Delaware River between Morrisville, Pennsylvania and Trenton, New Jersey.
    • Quotes

      Jean: [Dressing for a date] Zip me up will you, Carl?

      Carl Buckley: [Impatiently] You dames, you spend more time gettin' dressed...

      Jean: Have to! It's much better to have good looks than brains because most of the men I know can see much better than they can think.

    • Connections
      Referenced in Thèmes et variations du cinéma (1967)

    User reviews70

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    Lang's gloomy remake of Renoir's "La bete humaine"
    "Human Desire" is NOT one of Fritz Lang's masterpieces. Though it has its moments, it ultimately comes off as a second-rate work. A remake of Jean Renoir's 1938 "La bete Humaine" starring Jean Gabin, "Human Desire" is less successful than Renoir's adaptation of the Zola novel, but when all things considered, it is not bad, and is filled with some interesting geometric images & visuals. The film turns out to be gloomy, often bleak melodrama that has a striking affinity with Billy Wilder's "Double Indemnity" in its plot, dealing with a married woman (Gloria Grahame) trying to get rid of her bland husband (Broderick Crawford) through the help of a train engineer (Glenn Ford). If you stop concentrating on the melodramatic plot and focus on Lang's lovely architectural compositions, "Human Desire" becomes quite engrossing picture, on par with "The Big Heat", Lang's previous film noir with Grahame & Ford. From the first image to the last, the scenes of railroad tracks are masterfully handled: we see a series of precise lines and converging tracks moving forward. Moreover, Grahame and Crawford's rooms in their working class house are characterized by a series of squares, boxes, rectangles to conjure up a nightmarish vision of fate and destiny.

    Also, it is worth noting that in the same house we see the appearance of television for the first time in Lang's films. Lang will later explore the dangers of media manipulation in his last two American films: "While the City Sleeps" and "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt".
    helpful•55
    15
    • Kalaman
    • May 4, 2003

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 3, 1954 (West Germany)
      • United States
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, USA
    • Production company
      • Columbia Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 1 hour 31 minutes
      • Black and White

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    Human Desire (1954)
    Top Gap
    By what name was Human Desire (1954) officially released in India in English?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.