Human Desire (1954)

Human Desire really hits all the noir bases and hits them well. The story, which concerns murder and a femme fatale, is pretty much the epitome of the genre, while Fritz Lang's use of shadow gives a film a real sense of dark brooding, which blends nicely with the nature of…

Slig001

Everything significant here is summed up by, and contained between, two key bits of dialogue: the prostitute’s ‘all women are the same, they just have different faces’ speech and Vicki’s plea for mercy at the end. Within this sliver we get a stifling portrait of narrow…

JesseCataldo

Human Desire is the B-side to The Big Heat. It’s Lang’s follow-up noir with the same two leads but doesn’t reach the heights or plumb the depths of its predecessor. It’s still a great movie on it’s own, particularly due to the complexity of Gloria Grahame’s character and…

Channing Pomeroy

This might be the first Fritz Lang film I’ve seen where his unsympathetic direction frustrated me. Although it was down to the script writer too, but I’m too lazy to look them up, so to the director my side-eye goes. Or maybe it’s Gloria Grahame’s fault for being so good…

Lexzilla

Fritz Lang knocks another one out of the park! Gloria Graham is one of the most manipulative femmes fatal I''ve seen. Most of the movie takes place on a train or in a train yard. Lang gets some great shots of trains moving, of the industrial wasteland, and of the…

RetroHound

"Human Desire" is a 1954 noir thriller directed by Fritz Lang. Lang who is always interested in deceptive matters by way of the heart, easily found a great narrative in Emile Zola's 1890 book "La Bête humaine". As "La Bête humaine" appears to be far crazier with an…

Blake Bergman "Various Spaghetti"

It’s been a while since I saw the original “La Bête Humaine” from Jean Renoir but I think I liked that version better. This is not to say that “Human Desire” is bad. On the contrary. Judged on its own merits it is a solid Noir Thriller/Drama/Love Story with a strong cast…

Gregor Kreyca

Lang's sense of mood and atmosphere is on point as always. He also elicits incredibly layered performances from everyone, especially Graham who is able to convey conflicting emotions with just her eyes. The screenplay is excellent until the climax which I found…

Neill Shaughness

“Most of the men I know can see much better than they can think.” Annual Dance and Frolic Is that an incriminating letter in your pocket or are you just happy to see me. Never fall for the assistant yardmaster’s wife. And never pimp out your assistant yardmaster’s…

Gentry Austin