Hotel Du Nord (DVD)

Anguished young lovers, fallen women, wanted criminals, and all manner of social castoffs: these are the disreputable denizens of the Htel du Nord, an atmospherically seedy boardinghouse on the bustling banks of the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris, whose lives collide in Marcel Carnes bittersweet rhapsody of romance, betrayal, revelry, and violence. Featuring evocative production design by the famed Alexandre Trauner and a colorful ensemble cast of some of classical French cinemas most illustrious starsincluding Annabella, Louis Jouvet, and a divinely dissolute Arletty in one of her most iconic rolespoetic-realist jewel Htel du Nord is a sublime exemplar of Carnes celebrated poetic realism, imbuing working-class lives and dramas with a touching nobility.