Dans la nuit (1929)
Directed by Charles Vanel

Film Review

One of the very last silent French films to be made, Dans la nuit is captivating tale of love and betrayal with the feel of a Zola novel (and some obvious references to the Phantom of the Opera).  The lightness of the early scenes depicting the wedding and blissful first days of married life provides a distrubing contrast with the blackness of the later scenes, which are loaded with pathos, drama and suspense.

The film is marred slightly by a false ending which was probably added as an after-thought to placate the censors and the paying public.  This unexpected denouement visibly jars with the film's preceding scenes of explicit infidelity and physical violence - shocking realism which was years ahead of its time.

This was the first of two films to be made by Charles Vanel (the other being the 1935 film Le Coup de Minuit).  Vanel is better known as an actor, playing supporting roles in such classics as La Belle équipe (1936) and Le Salaire de la peur (1934).  His acting career spanned a remarkable seventy years, involving appearances in around 200 films.

Film Synopsis

A quarry worker takes a wife, but not long after the wedding he is caught in a rock blast that leaves him horribly disfigured.  His features are completely destroyed, to the extent that he has no choice but to wear a complete face mask.  Unable to bear being seen during daylight hours, he chooses to work at night, which leaves his wife free to find herself a lover.  One day, the wife and her lover are discovered together by the unfortunate quarry man.  At the time, the lover is himself wearing a mask, so when they get into a fight it is hard to tell the two men apart.  In the ensuing tussle one of the men kills the other.  The wife helps the survivor to dispose of the dead body but then discovers that the killer is not the one she had thought...