Jean Gabin, 1904-1976

Today marks the birth anniversary of French actor Jean Gabin. I've recommended a couple of his movies before, the more notable one being 1942's Moontide, which he made at Fox in 1942. Actually, his most memorable movie might be Grand Illusion, but I haven't done a full-length post on it before. There's also The Sicilian Clan, which is an enjoyable movie if not quite as good as Moontide.

Of course, Gabin spent much of his career in France, so I don't know a lot of his films. Gabin did, however, make any number of films that are recognizable for having been remade in English, or because they're just so good. Gabin was part of Summer Under the Stars in 2011, and I mentioned a couple of those movies then, such as one of the earliest noirs, Le jour se lève and Pépé le Moko. One that I didn't mention then since I hadn't seen the English-langauge remake was La bête humaine, which Fritz Lang did in the 1950s as Human Desire.