In spite of the title (harbor of desire) this is not really an erotic movie,although sequences take place in a brothel,with saucy lines for the time;and which is even bolder,the two young leads sleep together the night when they meet.
These are the only daring touches of a conventional work:the screenplay involves elements of melodrama -the young orphan maid searching her sister in the low dives ,the old seadog whose wife left and whose daughter became a whore,etc-,and film noir( smuggling,a dead body in a wreck).But the movie loses on both counts,because of the poor directing.
Cast includes Jean Gabin in a routine part,Andrée Debar and her almost "male" face -which was successfully used by Jacqueline Audry in "la garçonne" and "le secret du chevalier d'Eon" and Henri Vidal who sadly,was to die of a heart attack four years later.