LGM Film Club, Part 431: Human Desire
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The 1954 film Human Desire is hardly Fritz Lang’s top film; in fact, it’s hardly Lang’s top Hollywood film. But it makes for an OK film noir. Glenn Ford is a recently returned vet from Korea who gets his job back as a train engineer. Broderick Crawford plays a co-worker, a big lout who has a bad temper and a tendency to get fired. Gloria Grahame plays Crawford’s abused wife. When Crawford gets fired, he orders Grahame to appeal to his boss who she knows (and really knows). Things go awry. Ford and Grahame meet on the railroad. They fall in love despite her lies. She appeals to Ford to kill her husband. She assumes it’s easy for an ex-soldier. It is not. Some complications arise.
The film does struggle to set much of a mood. Grahame is easily the best of the actors here. Ford is alright, but struggles to bring enough heat to the role. The film isn’t much more than alright, but if you are looking for a pretty easy noir watch one evening, you could do a lot worse. Whole thing seems to be available on YouTube as well, so just turn it on.