Les Bas-Fonds (aka The Lower Depths) (1936)

A thief (Jean Gabin) resides in a one room slum that is shared by several others. When he attempts to rob an aristocratic Baron (Louis Jouvet), he discovers the Baron is impoverished and about to be kicked out of his dwelling. They become friends and the Baron moves to the slum. Loosely based on the 1902 play by Maxim Gorky and directed by Jean Renoir. Whereas Gorky's play was more of an ensemble piece and took place entirely in the slum dwelling, Renoir switches the focus to Gabin's thief and opens up the play. Renoir also gives us a more hopeful ending than the pessimistic ending of the Gorky play. I quite liked it although it's not one of Renoir's more admired works. It could have been an ultra depressing film but Renoir keeps the dreamers' hope alive that they can escape the squalor of a dead end existence and he plays several scenes for comedic effect. Gabin is excellent, of course, but there's a marvelous turn by Louis Jouvet as the resigned Baron. Jouvet isn't as well known as Gabin (at least in the States) but the more I see of his work, my admiration grows. Akira Kurosawa filmed his own version of the Gorky play in 1957. With Suzy Prim, Junie Astor, Vladimir Sokoloff, Robert Le Vigan and Jany Holt.