Product Details

• Actors: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Crawford, Edgar Buchanan, Kathleen Case
• Directors: Fritz Lang
• Producers: Lewis J. Rachmil
• Format: NTSC, Black & White
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Goodtimes Home Video
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000KRK7WE
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,827 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Tagline: A man-hungry wife plots to murder her husband.... Based on a novel by Emile Zola.... The suspicions of former railroader Carl Buckley (Broderick Crawford) are confirmed when he beats his seductive, young wife Vicki (Gloria Grahame) into admitting that the time she passed with a railroad official was not entirely about his recent dismissal. Carl forces Vicki to set up a meeting on a train, and knifes his rival. Railroad engineer Jeff Warren (Glenn Ford) sees Vicki emerge from the murder compartment but, because of mutual attractions, refrains from testifying. Vicki uses her blandishments on Jeff in an effort to have him kill Carl; when Jeff refuses, she flees. Carl follows and strangles the girl. Freed of his infatuation for Vicki, Jeff is able to resume his romance with the pretty daughter of his co-worker (Edgar Buchanan).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Adultery, Jealousy, Murdur, & the Perils of Train Travel !, August 16, 2009

By	Timothy F. Holland "Noir Fan" (Boston Burb) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

ATTENTION film purists: Please don't tell me this is not as good as Jean Renoir's 1938 La Bete Humaine starring Jean Gabin and Simone Simon. Let's agree to accept that as a given.

However, looking at Fritz Lang's Human Desire from 1954 on its own merits, I think the film is well directed, perfectly cast, well paced and entertaining. It stands up even in the jaded 21st century.

Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford deliver the goods with strong although admittedly one dimensional performances. However, Gloria Grahame [Hollywood's queen of the tramps]steals the show with a carefully nuanced depiction of the bad girl trapped in a bad marriage with an abusive and menacing guy. She needs to be strong yet vulnerable; repellingly slutty yet attractively sensitive; despicable yet sympathetic. She is walking a dramtic tightrope for 90 minutes and she pulls it off!

I enjoyed the ride and the film improves with repeated viewings. I recommend it as a must see for film noir aficionados.

Noir Fan

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF FRITZ LANG'S BEST, October 17, 2007

By	harry salzberg "de-composer" (milford delaware) - See all my reviews

most movie critics dismiss HUMAN DESIRE as a lesser effort from fritz lang, inferior to THE BIG HEAT...I disagree mainly because the interaction between gloria graham and glenn ford here is more intense and permeating...instead of a gangster plot with lee marvin, you have real adult situations triangled with broderick crawford as the heavy green eyed monster...gloria grahame like Lady Macbeth methodically draws you in so that you can't help but want to see HUMAN DESIRE many times, unlike THE BIG HEAT, whose two severely shocking scenes lose their edge after awhile....this full screen goodtimes vhs is recorded in LP mode without subtitles...it's about all there is available unless you happened to tape it from TCM in a widescreen format...as one of fritz lang's best, HUMAN DESIRE deserves a dvd release..