The note at the beginning of The Lower Depths states that before the film was made, Maxim Gorki approved approved the adaptation. Unfortunately for Gorki he praiseworthy aspects of the picture are not 3 result of his lines, but of Jean Renoir's direction and the acting of Louis Jouvet and Jean Gabin.

Gorki's sordid portrayal of life in a tenement basement is heavy with platitudes and cumbersome dialogue, and during the central part of the film when the adaptation follows the play most closely, interest falls to a dangerous low. Only by some humorous scenes added at the beginning of the picture, by good camera work in the beer-garden scene, and by the killing of the landlord towards the end, does Renoir rescue his material from itself.

Jouvet as the ruined Baron and Gabin as Pepel, the reformed their, give the only non-stereotyped portrayals, although Vladimir Sokoloff makes the landlord a suitably despicable individual.

Sunday By the Sea, a prize-winner at the Venice Film festival, is a fascinating montage sequence of the British seaside holiday with piano music and cockney songs for background.