Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Human Desire Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 17, 2019

Fritz Lang's "Human Desire" (1954) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include a vintage trailer for the film and exclusive new program featuring critic Tony Rayns. The release also arrives with a 40-page collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by film historian Travis Crawford, critic and author Richard Combs, and writer Adam Batty, alongside rare archival imagery. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

On the train

The two films that Emile Zola’s famous novel inspired are quite different, but what is more interesting is that both actually take plenty of liberties with the original material and its tone. Jean’s Renoir’s La Bête Humaine is the darker, more cynical and pessimistic film, but carries the identity of an early European social drama. Fritz Lang’s film noir, Human Desire, which came out sixteen years later, retains very little of the cynicism that defines Zola’s novel and at the end actually completely discards the pessimism. So, it does seem like Renoir and Lang made very unconventional compromises while crafting the stylistic identities of their films. What is truly odd, however, is that virtually all of the obvious compromises that one could easily identify to make a very strong case that there isn’t a perfect cinematic adaptation of Zola’s novel are precisely what make both films so good.

The narrative is broken into three uneven parts that shift the balance of powers between the main characters. In the first a war veteran named Jeff Warren (Glenn Ford) returns home from Japan and in a matter of days resumes his predictable civilian life – working long shifts as a railroad engineer with his landlord and occasionally stopping by at the local bar to see friends. Then one day, while on the train as a passenger, Jeff bumps into Vicki Buckley (Gloria Grahame), the wife of Carl Buckley (Broderick Crawford), a co-worker with a serious drinking problem, and after she accidentally falls in his arms the two begin seeing each other. Soon after, Jeff discovers that Vickey and Carl’s marriage is so broken that she would immediately walk away from her husband if he encourages her to do so.

In the second part Jeff realizes that his encounter with Vicki was not accidental, and that it is almost certainly related to the murder that occurred on the train at the same time. Then Vicki confirms to him that it is in fact so, and insists that the only way the two can have a future together is if Carl is gone -- permanently.

The third part is where small details and nuances begin changing minds and hearts. The abusive Carl repeatedly confronts Vicki and even threatens to kill her, and Jeff, who already knows too much about the murder, is forced to make a decision -- remain silent and go away to start a new life with a woman that he loves, or end the complicated affair and look for love somewhere else.

While still in development, this project apparently looked very different. For example, initially Lang and producer Lewis Rachmil were convinced that Rita Hayworth was the right actress to play Vicki, but when it became obvious that there were legal obstacles that would prevent her from traveling to Canada to shoot the film, they hired Grahame. Peter Lorre was also considered for the part of the vet, but the great actor did not even entertain the idea because he was so disappointed with Lang’s working methods during the shooting of M. Alfred Hayes’ script also had numerous corrections, and the film’s current finale was actually not part of the original draft.

All of the compromises and corrections, however, almost certainly made the film much stronger. Grahame’s nuanced performance, in particular, is so convincing that it is hard to imagine how a glamorous actress like Hayworth would have managed to appear casual, brittle, and desperate, but at the same time emerge strong enough to deceive and change minds. Similarly, instead of trying to imitate Jean Gabin’s performance, Ford heads in a completely new direction with his character and in the process alters the nature of the drama. For this very reason, the ‘human beast’ that emerges at the end of the film is actually a chameleon with multiple identities. (One of the best things about the film is that it takes a seemingly straightforward story that makes it quite a challenge to identify the real villain).

There is plenty of the typical noir stylization that gives the film a proper for the genre appearance, but there is also a lot of borderline documentary footage that produces some very unique contrasts.

Human Desire Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Fritz Lang's Human Desire arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.

The release is sourced from an older remaster that was prepared by Sony Pictures. (As far as I could tell, it is the same remaster that Sony Pictures utilized when it prepared the Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics II DVD set). Despite some obvious limitations, I like it quite a lot. One area where it is pretty easy to see that there is room for improvement is the density, and the reason for this is that the grain does not have that solid and 'tight' appearance that new 2K/4K remaster deliver. Also, there are traces of some light digital work that was likely done to rebalance the visuals as best as possible, but even on a larger screen the film retains an overall very pleasing organic appearance. I also like the grading. While a superior remaster will undoubtedly expand some nuances, I am not seeing any serious crushing issues on the current remaster. In fact, it appears that it was very carefully graded and as a result the nighttime/dark footage from the railway yard looks very nice. Finally, the remaster is very healthy. There are no distracting cuts, scratches, debris, marks, or even tiny flecks. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Human Desire Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio has been remastered and it is very easy to tell because clarity and depth are as good as they can be for a period film of this nature. Balance is also also very good. The most revealing sign that the audio was remastered are the very healthy high-frequencies. Indeed, on an older audio track there would have been various distortions, especially during the raw footage with the trains.

Human Desire Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a vintage trailer for Human Desire. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Interview with Tony Rayns - in this new video interview, critic and filmmaker Tony Rayns discusses the production history of Human Desire, Emile Zola's novel and Jean Renoir's film, the key similarities and differences between the characters that Glenn Ford and Jean Gabin play, some of Fritz Lang's stylistic choices, etc. The interview was conducted exclusively for Eureka Entertainment. In English, not subtitled. (30 min).

• Booklet - a 40-page collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by film historian Travis Crawford, critic and author Richard Combs, and writer Adam Batty, alongside rare archival imagery.

Human Desire Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It is true that at least a casual comparison with Jean Renoir's La Bête Humaine is unavoidable, but if you convince yourself that Fritz Lang's Human Desire is some sort of an American remake of it you are making a huge mistake. Even though both films were inspired by Emile Zola's popular novel, they treat the original material very differently and produce contrasts that ultimately send them in opposite directions. (And for the record, I don't mean only in terms of style). I find the characterizations in Lang's film very convincing, and I would not hesitate to place Gloria Grahame's performance amongst her very best. With Rita Hayworth playing the same character, which apparently was the original plan, I don't think that the film would have turned out as nicely as it did. Eureka Entertainment's new release of Human Desire has a very good exclusive new program with critic Tony Rayns. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.