Les Portes De La Nuit (aka Gates Of The Night) (1946)

Set in post WWII Paris soon after the liberation, during one very long night a disparate group of people have their paths and lives criss cross as Fate in the form of a man (Jean Vilar) attempts to warn them but to no avail. Lovers unite, lovers are parted, the good die while the bad live on and when the cold light of morning arrives, tragedy has left its mark. Directed by Marcel Carne, this was the follow up film to his acclaimed CHILDREN OF PARADISE. It was not the success that CHILDREN was and it didn't even screen in the U.S. until four years after its French release. The film's structure is Altmanesque (think NASHVILLE, SHORT CUTS, PRET A PORTER) long before Altman made his first film. The movie is near plotless but the specter of romantic French fatalism hangs over the film so you're prepared for the worst. Carne crafts a rich mise en scene as his characters march to their inevitable destiny. Among them: a wealthy man (Pierre Brasseur) and his estranged wife (Nathalie Nattier), a selfish miser (Saturnin Fabre) and his collaborator son (Serge Reggiani), two survivors of the Nazi gestapo (Yves Montand, Raymond Bussieres) and a pair of young lovers (Dany Robin, Jean Maxime). Joseph Kosma's underscore is famous for introducing the song Autumn Leaves which became a pop standard.