Voyage Without Hope (French: Voyage sans espoir) is a 1943 French crime drama film directed by Christian-Jaque and starring Simone Renant, Jean Marais and Paul Bernard. It is a remake of the 1931 film The Lovers of Midnight. It was shot at the Saint-Maurice Studios in Paris. The film's sets were designed by the art director Robert Gys. It has been classified as a film noir with an opening that recalls the pre-war poetic realist film The Human Beast.
Synopsis
A bank clerk steals money and plans to run off to Argentina on a freighter. On the train to the port he encounters a criminal just released from prison who takes him for a naïve, wealthy young man and persuades his old girlfriend, nightclub singer Marie-Ange, to seduce him. However, she falls in love with the essentially honest boy and as the net closes in against him from both the criminals and the law she ultimately sacrifices herself for him.
Cast
Simone Renant as Marie-Ange
Jean Marais as Alain Ginestier
Paul Bernard as Pierre Gohelle
Jean Brochard as Inspector Chapelin
Louis Salou as Inspector Sorbier
Ky Duyen as Li-Fang
Lucien Coëdel as Philippe Dejanin
Marcel Maupi as Le barman
Clary Monthal as Laura - l'habilleuse
References
Bibliography
Walker-Morrison, Deborah. Classic French Noir: Gender and the Cinema of Fatal Desire. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020.