No abras nunca esa puerta

Flicker Alley continues their series of Argentinian film noir with NEVER OPEN THAT DOOR, a 1952 film of two stories based on works by Cornell Woolrich, the Arthur Conan Doyle of Noir, under his pen name of William Irish. The two stories 1) SOMEBODY'S ON THE PHONE and 2) THE HUMMINGBIRD COMES HOME were written in the late 1940s. The "door" referenced in the title is a metaphor for separating "good" from "evil". One must never open this "door" without suffering serious "anguish" and "pain"

The first story ("anguish") concerns a well-to-do man and his younger sister. The sister is involved with an individual who treats her very badly. When the brother tries to help her, she commits suicide leaving him bereft and angry. He becomes obsessed with avenging her death. The only clue he has to that person's identity is a signal determined by how many times a telephone rings along with briefly sighting her in a night club accompanied by an older man. He slowly gathers more details then sets out for revenge.

The second story ("pain") involves an impoverished blind mother devoted to a son she hasn't been in contact with in years. She always thinks the best of him without knowing that he's turned to a life of crime. When her son returns home with friends, she's overjoyed until she discovers they're planning a bank heist. She must then find a way to prevent the heist and save her son. How she goes about it makes for a tense unfolding which leads to a final confrontation and truly bittersweet ending.

The movie was originally intended to have a third story, IF I SHOULD DIE BEFORE I WAKE which is about a young schoolboy who feels compelled to keep a classmate's secret even though it resulted in the classmate's brutal death. Making it worse is that his father is a police inspector who is considering resigning because he can't solve the murder. Time passes and another classmate seems headed for the identical fate. Can the boy prevent her from being killed without breaking his vow of silence?

However, the third story would have put the movie at over two hours which was considered too long for an Argentinian feature of the day and so WAKE, being the longest of the three stories, was released as a separate short film, and is included as one of the special features on this Blu-ray release. All three stories have the look of classic film noir with lots of dark lighting, restless camerawork, and crisp editing. NEVER OPEN THAT DOOR has been fully restored while WAKE is taken from the best surviving material.

This is the fourth in Flicker Alley's ongoing series of Argentinian film noir following THE BEAST MUST DIE, THE BITTER STEMS, and THE BLACK VAMPIRE. All have been restored with the help of the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Film Noir Foundation. Not being subject to the American Production Code, the movies are darker in tone and in their subject material. They aptly show that the look and feel of film noir wasn't just confined to the United States. While all are worth seeing, DOOR is the finest of the bunch so far...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

No Abras Nunca Esa Puerta / Don't Ever Open That Door (1952): Brief Review -

Two shocking stories of murders that you can't miss. Though very similar to other stories of this kind, this movie has a unique way of storytelling and captures the essence splendidly. The film is divided into two narratives (based on shorts, Somebody on the Phone and Humming Bird Comes Home), both depicting a murder or murders, followed by a shocking ending that stuns you. The first story revolves around a woman and her brother. The woman is threatened by an unknown assailant due to her gambling debts. Before the man can gather more information, his sister commits suicide. In a quest for revenge, he follows a man and kills him, leading to a twist in the tale at the end, which I won't spoil. The idea of using a ringing phone as the unique selling point is excellent. The second story centers on a blind woman and her niece living together in a house. Two criminals arrive after a bank robbery, one of whom is her son, who left the house years ago. Although the woman cannot see, she is incredibly strong in her senses and realizes that her son has gone astray. How she tackles the situation at night forms the crux of the story, culminating in another shocking climax. Watch out for that; I won't spoil it. You might have seen it in some old hollywood movie. The Argentine thriller effectively utilizes its unique selling point and keeps viewers engaged for 80 minutes. However, I believe the film could have been faster in places. There are many moments and actions that extend for about 2-3 minutes, and the outcome is similar to what it would have been with a 30-second scene. Nevertheless, it remains an engaging flick that deserves to be watched and enjoyed for its brilliant ending scenes. Believe me when I say this; the performances and direction are certainly worth your time.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Eddie Muller, noir novelist (The Distance; Shadow Boxer) and President of the Film Noir Foundation, brought this film to my attention in an interview he gave to Despina Veneti which was republished in Noir City Volume 6, Number 2. He called the film 'a terrific adaptation of two Cornell Woolrich stories'. It's certainly a surprise to see that this kind of noir fare was being made in Argentina in 1952. This film never had a release in the UK, and is not available on DVD here. But it can be seen on YouTube, albeit in Argentinian Spanish without subtitles,(fortunately, I'm bilingual), with terrible sound, and not the best picture. The visuals alone, however, are worth it. This is pure noir cinematography. The second story, in fact, has a blind protagonist who can distinguish night from day because "it's a different kind of shadow". The actors resemble Hollywood players of the era (one of the baddies must have been Argentina's answer to George Raft); the women are beautiful, the men are desperate, and the shadows are waiting...Well-written, well-acted, well-shot, well-paced, well...watch it!

This remarkable film noir from Argentina is directed by Carlos Hugo Christensen, admired by Eddie Muller himself. Based on William Irish, the direction is constantly inventive and should be studied in cinema universities, some faces shots made me think of Dreyer. Each movement by the characters, each camera position or movement serve chirurgically the story, especially with the blind character (William Irish' books were all so visual and inspired many masterpieces, Phantom Lady, Rear Window, the Night Has Thousand Eyes, ... and many B noirs). No movies by Carlos Hugo Christensen are available on dvd, what a shame, but, if you understand spanish, there are around 20 titles directed by him on youtube, among them his version of Steeman's "l'Assassin Habite au 21", "la Muerte Camina en la Lluvia", 10 minutes shorter than Clouzot's version. Enjoy yourselves.

In this two-story movie derived from a couple of Cornell Woolrich stories, director Carlos Hugo Christiansen offers the audience tales of suspense. In "Somebody on the Phone", Ángel Magaña is in charge while his parents are taking a holiday abroad. His sister, Renée Dumas, has been hanging out at unsavory joints with strange men. He discovers she has drawn out all the money in the bank account and is receiving phone calls from an unknown man who signals his calls by hanging up the phone after it rings five times and then calls back. In "Hummingbird Comes Home", blind Ilde Pirovano has her son return after a long absence. He is now a thief who plans to rob the town's bank.

These being Cornell Woolrich stories, they're mordant and quirky. The lighting by Berlin-born cinematographer Pablo Taberno is gloomy and well into the noir territory, with elaborate set designs by Manuel Villar.

Originally this was planned as a three-part movie. However, the production company didn't want to release anything longer than 85 minutes. So the third story was split off into a separate movie called If I Should Die Before Wake.