Human Desire

Lang's version of Zola's La Bête Humaine is, like all his best '50s work, as cold, hard and steely grey as the railway tracks which here mark out the action. Glenn Ford, the perfect embodiment of these qualities, returns from Korea, only to be pulled into the murderously destructive marriage between Grahame and Crawford (both superb). The bleak, dark marshalling yards are the perfect backdrop for the playing out of adulterous relationships where 'desire' signifies only fear, jealousy and hatred.