Product Details

• Actors: Arletty, Jacques Baumer, René Bergeron, Jules Berry, Mady Berry
• Directors: Marcel Carné
• Format: Black & White, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: French
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Criterion
• DVD Release Date: September 15, 2009
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002E01M9W
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,809 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Essential Art House: Le Jour se Lève" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

LE JOUR SE LEVE - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bruised People, Poetic Realism, Doomed Love, July 29, 2009

By 

Gerard D. Launay (Berkeley, California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Essential Art House: Le Jour se Lève (DVD)

There is always more beneath the surface of a Marcel Carne film. It's all in the details such as the shots of a one-eared teddy bear in the attic reflecting the hurt of the man about to be terrorized by the police. This movie - a precursor of film noir - begins almost at the end when an honest laborer, beaten down by the system, kills another man out of passion and has to hide in an attic until the police finally break down the door..at daybreak. (French law provided that the police could not enter until dawn). The story of the events leading to this dark ending is told in flashback. There is an eerie sense of dread everywhere. For example the hero (or shall I say anti-hero) works as a sandblaster in a factory and when he works, he is sealed in a cold suit of metal...all the while dark, demonic shadows abound or sulfurous fumes escape. In the same scene, a flower girl arrives but loses the freshness of her plants because of the smoke.

Made in 1939, the film is also a warning to France which was on the eve of war with Fascist Germany and itself holed itself up - in isolation - until the inevitable disaster. (The Vichy government which collaborated with the Nazis forbade the showing of the film0.

As in so many of the great Marcel Carne films, the director is obsessed with doomed love. In those dark, edgy days leading up to the war, it must have seemed to Marcel Carne that happiness, while precious, is short lived - always on the verge of being snuffed out callously.

I cannot fault the pitch perfect, sad performance of Jean Gabin. Watch his eyes as he awaits his inevitable doom. Gabin - as Francois - portrays a sympathetic, bruised man. He loves an orphan perhaps because he himself was an orphan.

Of all Marcel Carne films, "Le Jour se Leve" is his most compelling metaphor for the impending disaster awaiting France. Poetic realism indeed.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Le Jour se Leve, April 8, 2000

By 

Michael Todd (Yorkshire, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Le Jour Se Leve [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A very bleak but marvelous film. Jean Gabin is always watchable but this is a fantastic performance, beautiful and tragic. My one problem with this particular copy of the film is that the quality is not great and the subtitles do not translate every line, or even every other line. It has inspired me to brush up on my French, but when you buy a film with subtitles you expect at least most of the dialogue to be subtitled. A real shame.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Groundbreaking movie, October 29, 2006

By 

Randy Keehn (Williston, ND United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Le Jour Se Leve [VHS] (VHS Tape)

In 1952, "Sight and Sound" presented their first Top Ten poll of the best movies of all time. Coming in a tie for 7th place was "Le Jour se Leve". As the 20th Century drew to a close, movie fans were given a treat in the form of the book "The New York Times Guide to the 1000 Best Movies ever Made". The book omitted movies from the silent era but was quite receptive to foreign-language films. Yet the book did not list "Le Jour se Leve" as one of it's top 1000 films. How does a movie go from top 10 to missing inclusion in the top 1000? Perhaps "Le Jour se Leve" cam claim the title of being, simultaneously, the most over-rated and under-rated movie of all time. Personally, I liked the movie when I saw it last night but I debated about giving it a 5 Star rating.

"Le Jour se Leve" is the story of a murder that strips away any semblance of suspense by giving the audience the victim and the murderer in the opening scene. It doesn't take much longer to clarify the motive as well. The movie's greatness is telling a love story within the context of our knowing its' extreme outcome from the start. This approach gives the audience a unique focus on each and every step of the developing romances as the films goes through a number of flashbacks. The main character is an easy-going laborer who stumbles into a relationship with a young woman. There is another man and that leads to another woman all of which we pickup on in successive flashbacks. There are a couple of minor twists that we don't see coming but the movie is very up-front with the plot.

"Le Jour se Leve" emerges into an intense romantic drama that develops the main characters in a method of excellance that was the likely reason for its' "Sight and Sound" Top Ten rating. The characters are of varying complexity and the talented cast, led by Jean Gabin, is outstanding. The direction by Marcel Carne is the key to the whole film. I could not recall a scene that didn't add to the movie's impact. This movie suffers from the key to its' own success; its' predictability. Once I understood that, I was able to appreciate its' excellence but I can't fault anyone who thought otherwise. "Le Jour se Leve" doesn't make my Top Ten but it certainly makes the top 1000 with plenty of room to spare.