Lady Killer

Lucien is a non-commissioned officer in a cavalry regiment. In uniform, women turn to look at him, and he is used to it. In Cannes he meets Madeleine, a beautiful woman who lives among the rich. He gives her a large sum, she loses it gambling, and she drops him. But by then Lucien is in love. Demobilised, he goes to Paris to find her. There is no uniform now: he works as a labourer, rents a room, has nothing. In Madeleine's world a man like that is not visible. Jean Grémillon directs the French film; ninety-four minutes, with Jean Gabin as Lucien and Mireille Balin as Madeleine. The two were opposite each other the same year in Pépé le Moko. The film gives Gabin the man he played again and again through the thirties: proud, marked for defeat, and finally exploding.