La Bête Humaine

The railroad used to be an extremely popular motif in the first decades of cinema. France, where the Lumière Brothers' famous 1896 short *L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat* began the trend, appeared to be particularly susceptible to this fascination with steam-powered locomotion. More than four decades later, *The Human Beast* (known under its original French title *La Bête Humaine*) became one of the most c…