Moontide (1942)

An aimless drifter (Jean Gabin) with a violent temper and an emotionally lost wharf waif (Ida Lupino), both "damaged" people, find each other and attempt to make a life together despite the malevolent intentions of a rat (Thomas Mitchell) trying to break them up. Based on the novel by Willard Robertson and directed by Archie Mayo (THE PETRIFIED FOREST), who took over when Fritz Lang left the project. This moody atmospheric film noir  with a screenplay by John O'Hara (BUTTERFIELD 8) is one of the rare Hollywood films of the great French actor Jean Gabin so it can't help but be reminiscent of 30s French cinema. Not just Gabin's presence which brings up images of PORT OF SHADOWS (there's even a stray dog who accompanies Gabin) and PEPE LE MOKO but since almost the entire film takes place on the waterfront and on a large barge L'ATALANTE also comes to mind. There's a subtle suggestion that Mitchell's character may have sexual designs on Gabin (there's a bizarre sequence of Mitchell whipping a naked Claude Rains with a towel!). Gabin and Lupino play off each other wonderfully and the exquisite B&W shadow laden cinematography is by Charles Clarke who received an Oscar nomination for his work here. With Robin Raymond and Jerome Cowan.