La Bete Humaine Reviews

Locomotive engineer Jacques Lantier (Jean Gabin) is infatuated with Severin (Simone Simon), the beautiful but dangerous young wife of assistant stationmaster Roubaud (Fernand Ledoux). When Roubaud learns that Severin secured his job by sleeping with his superior, he goes mad with jealousy. With the aid of Severin, he kills his superior, an act blamed on an innocent poacher but witnessed by Lantier. Roubaud then sends his wife to Lantier as a means of ensuring the engineer's silence. Again Severin's bedroom prowess secures a lover's loyalty, resulting in a romance between the pair, whereupon Severin tries to persuade Lantier to kill Roubaud. Based on the novel by Emile Zola (whose Nana was also adapted by Jean Renoir in 1926), LA BETE HUMAINE features one of Jean Gabin's greatest performances--one with even more force than the locomotive he powers. The catlike Simon is perfect as the persuasive beauty who drives both of the men in her life to their destructive deeds, her unattainable love their tragic downfall. This picture was remade by Fritz Lang as HUMAN DESIRE, Lang's second remake of a Renoir film. The first was SCARLET STREET, a remake of LA CHIENNE.