Daïnah la métisse (1931) - film review

After three weeks and a long, hot voyage across the Pacific, an ocean liner finally arrives at its destination, Ecuador.  That evening, the event is marked by a masked ball and a magic show.  Dainah, a liberated young woman who does not seem to have much affection for her husband, goes up on deck alone for a breath of fresh air.  Here, she encounters the ship’s engineer, Michaux.  Mistaking Dainah’s intentions, the engineer attempts to kiss her, but the young woman runs away.  The next day, Dainah again finds Michaux on the deck.  In the morning, it is announced that Dainah has disappeared.  Having organised a search party, the ship’s captain soon suspects that Michaux may have thrown the missing woman overboard.   The engineer categorically denies this.  There are other possible explanations.  The young woman may have committed suicide, or she may have been murdered by her husband...

To the best of my knowledge, there is no complete version of Daïnah la métisse in existence, so this review is based on the only available version which I own on DVD.  All I can say is what is here makes you long for the complete version. 

Jean Grémillon belongs firmly in what we in England would call the Second Eleven, i.e. someone who is perhaps not good enough to play for his country but is worthy to be a reserve.  In Daïnah la métisse, he appears to be tackling Othello (métisse translates roughly as of mixed blood or, as we used to be able to say, half-caste).  It may only be coincidence but that same year (1931) Noel Coward enjoyed considerable success with a song entitled Half-Caste Woman.  

I wasn’t around at the time but I would guess that there weren’t too many black performers given star billing plus first-class accommodation on luxury liners, but that is the case here.   Grémillon is meticulous in contrasting the dark skin of the husband (Othello) with the passing-for-white skin of the wife (Desdemona).  The fly in the ointment takes the shape of Charles Vanel, employed in the engine room but anxious to get to know the wife a little better.  It all ends in tears of course but what a film it might have been...

© Leon Nock (London, England) 2010 

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