Fritz Lang’s ‘Human Desire’

Press, 18 July 1985, Page 14

Fritz Lang’s ‘Human Desire’

Another Fritz Lang classic, “Human Desire,” made in the United States in 1954, will be screened by the Canterbury Film Society next week.

Lang again uses Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame, who were featured in “The Big Heat,” which was screened by the society a couple of weeks ago. “Human Desire” is based on Renoir’s “La Bete Humaine” but has been adapted to American sensibilities.

With the railroad as its background, Ford plays an engine driver who is attracted to a healthy allAmerican teenager, but is more deeply, carnally fascinated by the sluttish young wife of a fellow railwayman.

This is Graham performing with the same virtuosity she displayed in “The Big Heat”jyith a frank, animal

sexuality, and a pervasive suggestion of viciousness.

Andrew Sarris’s comment in “The American Cinema” was: “What we remember in Renoir are the faces of Gabin, Simon and Ledoux. What we remember in Lang are the geometrical patterns of trains, tracks and fateful camera angles. If Renoir is humanism, Lang is determinism. If Renoir is concerned with the plight of his characters, Lang is obsessed with .the structure of the trap.” Society subscriptions for the> last half of the year are amazingly good value at $l5, and $l2 for students and beneficiaries. The screening is also open to the public at an admission-donation charge. The screenings will be held at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday at Room Al, University, Ham, and on Wednesday at the Museum Theatrette, Rolleston Avenue. ™..