Port of Shadows

Port of Shadows
original poster
Directed by	Marcel Carné
Produced by	Gregor Rabinovitch
Written by	Jacques Prévert (scenario and dialogue) Pierre Mac Orlan (novel)
Starring	Jean Gabin Michel Simon Michèle Morgan Pierre Brasseur
Music by	Maurice Jaubert
Cinematography	Eugen Schüfftan
Edited by	René Le Hénaff
Production company	Franco London Films
Distributed by	Osso Films (France) Film Alliance of the United States Inc. (US)
Release date	18 May 1938 (France) October 29, 1939 (USA)
Running time	91 min
Country	France
Language	French

Port of Shadows (French: Le Quai des brumes) is a 1938 French film directed by Marcel Carné. It stars Jean Gabin, Michel Simon and Michèle Morgan. The screenplay was written by Jacques Prévert based on a novel by Pierre Mac Orlan. The music score was by Maurice Jaubert. It is a notable example of the poetic realism genre. The film was the 1939 winner of France's top cinematic prize, the Prix Louis-Delluc.

A scene from the film is seen projected in the 2007 Oscar-nominated dramatisation of Ian McEwan's wartime tragic drama Atonement.

According to Charles O'Brien, the film would be one of the first to be called "film noir" by critics (1939, France).

On a foggy night, Jean (Jean Gabin), an army deserter, catches a ride to the port city of Le Havre. Hoping to start over, Jean finds himself in a lonely bar at the far edge of town. But, while getting a good meal and civilian clothes, Jean meets Nelly (Michèle Morgan), a 17-year-old who has run away from her godfather, Zabel, with whom she lives. Jean and Nelly spend time together over the following days, but they are often interrupted by Zabel, who is also in love with her, and by Lucien, a gangster who is looking for Nelly's ex-boyfriend, Maurice, who has recently gone missing. Jean resents the intrusions of Lucien and twice humiliates him by slapping him. When Nelly finds out that her godfather killed Maurice out of jealousy, she uses the information to blackmail him and prevent him from telling the police that Jean is a deserter. Though the two are in love, Jean plans to leave on a ship for Venezuela. At the last minute Jean leaves the ship to say goodbye to Nelly; he saves her from the hands of Zabel, whom he kills, but when they go out on to the street he is shot in the back by Lucien and dies in her arms.