French superstar Jean Gabin was often called France’s answer to Humphrey Bogart, but one could make a compelling argument that Gabin was an even bigger star than Bogie, at least where film noir is concerned. Such an opinion might be heresy in America, but it’s a fact that Gabin made more crime-related films than Bogart did, and not only because he lived longer (Bogart died at 57 while Gabin kept ticking — and acting — till his 72nd year). Gabin also had more distinct phases to his career: from early bit parts to masterpieces of French poetic realism to a brief Hollywood phase to military service to a dry period decline to a roaring comeback to becoming the godfather of crime cinema throughout the French New Wave period. Perhaps the highlight of the actor’s dry period, Georges Lacombe’s Martin Roumagnac (US: The Room Upstairs) pairs Gabin with the inimitable Marlene Dietrich in a tragic tale of star-crossed lovers involving greed, spiritual ruination, and murder. Gabin plays the title character, a working stiff in the building trades who falls in love with local femme fatale Blanche Ferrand (Dietrich), who, expecting to live a life of luxury, enjoys dalliances with Roumagnac (they first have sex in a stable) as she waits for her much wealthier target, the diplomat Laubry (Marcel Herrand), who’s waiting for his frail wife to die (“A dog has every right to look at royalty,” he says, referring to Roumagnac’s obsession with Blanche). Blanche’s genuine feelings for Roumagnac battle with her materialist interests (Dietrich enacts this friction brilliantly), while Roumagnac neglects everything else in his pursuit of Blanche, which will culminate in the room upstairs. The final sequence in which Roumagnac is confronted by yet another of Blanche’s suitors (Daniel Gélin) represents the zenith of noir style. Lacombe knows how to craft compelling scenes and settings: when Blanche reaches her limits and frees the birds from their cages, when Roumagnac proposes at lunch (Blanche’s hat is shot as a glowing halo), the hotel room overlooking Montparnasse, the nightclub stage with a city skyline backdrop.