Human Desire

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Human Desire

Directed by	Fritz Lang
Produced by	Lewis J. Rachmil
Written by	Émile Zola (novel La Bête Humaine) Alfred Hayes
Starring	Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Crawford
Music by	Daniele Amfitheatrof
Cinematography	Burnett Guffey
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	August 15, 1954 (U.S. release)
Running time	91 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Human Desire is a black-and-white drama film, shot in film noir style, directed by Fritz Lang. The movie, based on the novel La Bête humaine by Émile Zola, was released in 1954. The story was made twice before in film: The Human Beast (1938) directed by Jean Renoir and Die Bestie im Menschen (1920).

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Hard-drinking Carl Buckley is a railroad worker fired from his job. His seductive wife pays a visit to a railroad official to try to get his job back. When Buckley suspects that his sexy, younger wife Vicki (Grahame) has done more than just talk with a railroad official, he first brutally beats her then he tracks down the railroad man and eventually stabs him to death in a jealous rage. Train conductor, and Korean War vet, Jeff Warren (Ford) knows that Vicki was a witness at the murder scene, but because of mutual attraction, refuses to testify against her. The two begin an affair with each other. Vicki then desides Warren should kill her violent husband and comes up with a plan.