Killing is not a context-free activity.
The old morality of a man defending his honor by killing the man his wife is sleeping with comes under fire in Human Desire (1954). We see it unfold from the viewpoint of a man, Jeff, caught in the outer swirl of the vortex of doom which is pulling down the murderer and his wife. Jeff”s a Korean War vet, fresh home from the war, the romantic fixation of a fresh young lady, and a railroad engineer; the murderer, Carl, assistant to the station master, loses his cool with his boss and is fired for his troubles. Knowing his much younger wife has some influence with a railroad customer, he presses her to ask him for a favor.
The job is won back, but it slowly dawns on him that the price she paid for his job was a trifle high. Knowing the customer’s schedule is putting him on the train, he forces his wife to write a note indicating another opportunity to thank him for the job, and on the train he avenges his honor in the ways of old, and appropriates the incriminating letter to boot.
Through lucky happenstance, she finds an ally in Jeff, and she works her charms on him, looking for a way free from the vortex whirling about her. The fresh young lady, too much of a novice to the ways of warfare, fades from the engineer’s mind, as the carnal desires take over. Meanwhile, the murderer himself is not insensitive to his act, and his drinking worsens, the sprite of guilt riding his hefty shoulder.
The moment comes, she strikes for her freedom – will it work? How much more dark death will be dealt?
This is a plot of shifting glances and lifted chins, of dawning thoughts and insecure egos, of men aware of their limitations – and being pushed past them, relying on the old, outdated instincts which evolution installed in us – and forgot to remove when they became inappropriate. Of fighting against instant gratification – and losing.
This is film noir.
And if you like it, this is Recommended.
