''Human Desire'' is a 1954 American
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
film directed by
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...
and starring
Glenn Ford
Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford was most prominent during Classical Hollywood cinema, Hollywood's Golden Age as ...
,
Gloria Grahame
Gloria Grahame Hallward (November 28, 1923 – October 5, 1981) was an Academy Award-winning American actress and singer. She began her acting career in theatre, and in 1944 made her first film for MGM.
Despite a featured role in ''It's a Wond ...
and
Broderick Crawford
William Broderick Crawford (December 9, 1911 – April 26, 1986) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actor, often cast in tough-guy roles and best known for his Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning portrayal of Willie Stark in ''All t ...
. It is loosely based on
Émile Zola
Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...
's 1890 novel ''
La Bête humaine
''La Bête humaine'' (English: ''The Beast Within'' or ''The Beast in Man'') is an 1890 novel by Émile Zola. The story has been adapted for the cinema on several occasions. The seventeenth book in Zola's ''Les Rougon-Macquart'' series, it is ba ...
''. The story had been filmed twice before: ''
La Bête humaine
''La Bête humaine'' (English: ''The Beast Within'' or ''The Beast in Man'') is an 1890 novel by Émile Zola. The story has been adapted for the cinema on several occasions. The seventeenth book in Zola's ''Les Rougon-Macquart'' series, it is ba ...
'' (1938), directed by
Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent film, silent era to the end of the 1960s. ...
, and ''Die Bestie im Menschen'', starring
Ilka Grüning
Ilka Grüning (born Ilka Henriette Grunzweig; 4 September 1876 – 11 November 1964) was an Austrian-Hungarian actress. Born in Vienna in the old Austrian-Hungarian Empire, she was one of many Jewish actors and actresses that were forced to fle ...
(1920).
Plot
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
veteran Jeff Warren returns to his town and duties as a train engineer, driving
streamliners hauling passenger trains for the fictional Central National railroad. Warren worked alongside Alec Simmons and was a boarder in his home before going off to war. Alec's daughter Ellen is smitten with Jeff.
Carl Buckley is a gruff, hard-drinking psychopath. He is an assistant yard supervisor married to the younger Vicki. After Carl is fired for talking back to his boss, Carl begs Vicki to visit John Owens, a man from her past and an important customer of the railroad. Carl hopes Owens' influence could help him reclaim his job, but when Vicki is gone for hours, Carl surmises that she has been unfaithful. After a violent argument during which he elicits the truth from her, Carl forces Vicki to write a short letter to Owens, setting up a meeting with him later that night in his
sleeping car drawing room. Owens is taking the train to Chicago and Carl and Vicki are returning home. Carl and Vicki barge into Owens' room and Carl kills Owen off-screen with a knife that he had used for
whittling
Whittling may refer either to the art of carving shapes out of raw wood using a knife or a time-occupying, non-artistic (contrast wood carving for artistic process) process of repeatedly shaving slivers from a piece of wood. It is used by many as ...
. Carl takes Owens' wallet and pocket watch to make the murder appear to be the result of a robbery, also taking the letter that Vicki had written. Carl tells Vicki that he is keeping the letter to prevent her from going to the police. After the murder, Carl sees Jeff on the train and persuades Vicki to distract him seductively so that Carl can pass unnoticed.
At the murder inquest, Jeff and other train passengers are called as witnesses. Jeff denies having seen anyone suspicious. Vicki and Jeff soon resume their relationship. She lies about the night of the murder, saying that she had visited Owens' compartment for a liaison but found him dead. Jeff questions why she did not seem distressed when they met on the train. Vicki explains that she is frightened of Carl's temper and shows Jeff marks on her body where Carl had hit her.
Ellen sells Jeff a ticket to an upcoming dance, and hopes that he will invite her, but she knows that he is involved with Vicki. Jeff tells Vicki that he wants to marry her and that she should leave Carl. She tells Jeff the truth about Owens' murder and the letter, but Jeff remains determined to keep Vicki.
Carl has become a drunk and has again lost his job. Vicki tells Jeff that Carl is selling the house and forcing her to leave town with him. She cannot find the letter and suspects that Carl must keep it with him. She suggests that she and Jeff will have to part forever but hints that things would be easier with Carl out of the way.
Jeff, clutching a large monkey wrench, follows a drunk Carl in a railyard before a passing train blocks the view of the characters. Later, Jeff tells Vicki that he could not murder Carl and accuses her of setting him up so that he would kill Carl. She tells Jeff that she loves him and that if he loved her he would have killed for her. Jeff hands her the letter, which he has taken from Carl's pocket and leaves.
When Vicki gets on the next train, Carl confronts her, imploring her not to leave him. He offers her the letter but she tells him that he does not have it. Carl accuses her of running away with Jeff, which she denies. She admits that she is in love with Jeff, and had asked him to kill Carl, but reveals that Jeff rejected her. Carl strangles Vicki (presumably) to death.
Meanwhile, as Jeff operates the train alongside Alec, he reflects on the dance ticket that he bought from Ellen.
Cast
*
Glenn Ford
Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford was most prominent during Classical Hollywood cinema, Hollywood's Golden Age as ...
as Jeff Warren
*
Gloria Grahame
Gloria Grahame Hallward (November 28, 1923 – October 5, 1981) was an Academy Award-winning American actress and singer. She began her acting career in theatre, and in 1944 made her first film for MGM.
Despite a featured role in ''It's a Wond ...
as Vicki Buckley
*
Broderick Crawford
William Broderick Crawford (December 9, 1911 – April 26, 1986) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actor, often cast in tough-guy roles and best known for his Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning portrayal of Willie Stark in ''All t ...
as Carl Buckley
*
Edgar Buchanan
William Edgar Buchanan II (March 20, 1903 – April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the ''Petticoat Junction'', ''Green Acres'', and ''The ...
as Alec Simmons
*
Kathleen Case as Ellen Simmons
*
Peggy Maley
Margaret June "Peggy" Maley (June 8, 1923 – October 1, 2007) was an American actress who appeared in film and television. In 1942, aged 18 or 19, she was crowned Miss Atlantic City.
Career Film
Maley delivered the feeder line to Marlon ...
as Jean
* Diane DeLaire as Vera Simmons
*
Grandon Rhodes
Grandon Rhodes (born Grandon Neviers Augustine Rolker; August 7, 1904 – June 9, 1987) was an American actor.
Early years
Rhodes was born in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Career
Early in his career, Rhodes acted in repertory theatre with troupe ...
as John Owens
Production
This film was largely shot in the vicinity of
El Reno, Oklahoma
El Reno is a city in and county seat of Canadian County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 16,989, marking a change of 1.55% from 16,729, recorded in the 2010 census. The city was begun shortly after the 1 ...
. It used the facilities of what was at the time the
Rock Island Railroad
The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad
In the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly k ...
(now
Union Pacific
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
), though some of the moving background shots show East Coast scenes such as the
Pulaski Skyway
The Pulaski Skyway is a four-lane bridge-causeway in the Gateway Region, northeastern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey, carrying an freeway, expressway designated U.S. Route 1/9 (US 1/9) for most of its length. The structure has a ...
and the famous
Lower Trenton Bridge
The Lower Trenton Toll Supported Bridge, commonly called the Lower Free Bridge, Warren Street Bridge or Trenton Makes Bridge, is a two-lane Pennsylvania (Petit) through truss bridge over the Delaware River between Trenton, New Jersey and Mor ...
("Trenton Makes — The World Takes") over the
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...
.
The production utilizes other stock railroad footage. A major number of scenes take place around
CRI&P Alco FA
The ALCO FA was a family of B-B diesel locomotives designed to haul freight trains. The locomotives were built by a partnership of ALCO and General Electric in Schenectady, New York, between January 1946 and May 1959. Designed by General Electr ...
unit No. 153 painted as the fictitious Central National, however the interiors were filmed using a Hollywood mock-up of an
EMD F-unit
EMD F-units are a line of diesel-electric locomotives produced between November 1939 and November 1960 by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors-Diesel Division. Final assembly for all F-units was at the GM-EMD plant at La Grang ...
according to the Obscure Train Movies website.
Reception
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
rates this film noire at 59% positive based on 17 reviews.
Critic Dave Kehr wrote of the film, "Gloria Grahame, at her brassiest, pleads with Glenn Ford to do away with her slob of a husband, Broderick Crawford. ... A gripping melodrama, marred only by Ford's inability to register an appropriate sense of doom." ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' wrote that Lang "... goes overboard in his effort to create mood."
Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...
of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote, "
ere isn't a single character in it for whom it builds up the slightest sympathy—and there isn't a great deal else in it for which you're likely to have the least regard."
Preservation
The
Academy Film Archive
The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of m ...
preserved ''Human Desire'' in 1997.
Home media
''Human Desire'' was released in 2019 on dual-format
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
Region B by Eureka!, U.K. and on world-wide Region A/B/C compatible Blu-ray in 2020 from Blackfire Productions, Spain.
References
External links
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{{Fritz Lang
1954 films
1954 crime drama films
American crime drama films
American black-and-white films
Adultery in films
Film noir
Rail transport films
Columbia Pictures films
Films based on French novels
Films based on works by Émile Zola
Films directed by Fritz Lang
Films shot in Oklahoma
Films scored by Daniele Amfitheatrof
1950s English-language films
1950s American films