Noche trágica

Without a vacation in eleven years, eminent police detective Henri Cassin (Steven Geray) welcomes the opportunity for a well earned rest in the village of St. Margot, staying at Le Cherval Noir guest house. He quickly draws the attention of the owner's attractive daughter, Nanette (Micheline Cheirel). Apart from a significant difference in their ages, another slight problem exists.....she is engaged to imposingly handsome agricultural worker, Leon (Paul Marion). Having been childhood sweethearts their relationship is well entrenched, to the extent that the small community is eagerly anticipating the big day.

As Cheiriel and Geray grow ever more passionate and Marion is pushed to the margins of her life, he makes no secret of his jealousy, anger and an explosive temper, like a cork off a champagne bottle....not that he could afford a bottle of champagne. Aah, there's the rub, he is poor in stark contrast to the wealthy, dapper detective. Quizzically, Cheiriel and Marion promptly disappear for several days, amidst rumours that they have eloped. When a local yokel has a hunch that Cheiriel's corpse is floating in the river, a horrified Geray confirms that she has been murdered prior to her body being dumped in the water. The volatile Marion immediately becomes the main suspect, but on arrival at his farm, he is found dead too. An apparent suicide, the perceptive detective concludes that this is another murder. Soon, disconcerting, anonymous notes begin appearing, penned in unidentifiable handwriting, threatening further murders.

At length, with no more insight into the mystifying case than any of the hicks from the sticks, the defeated, deflated detective decides to return to Paris by train, (via Bristol apparently), compelled to question both his ability and state of mind.

Not a mega, must see movie, but a curiously off beat entry in an unusual setting. Seldom seen and worthy of further investigation for noir junkies. Bonne chance !

Remarkable film which it is almost impossible to rate or review, unless I guess, you hate it and think that it is irredeemable rubbish of the 1-3/10 kind. I can definitely sympathise with anyone deciding that this film is unlikable.

But it is probably an even more exaggerated example of Joseph H. Lewis' overly crafted, utterly fake, and fantasy infused interpretations of an inane, insipid and indolent b-movie script mounted on a 12 day day b-movie production cycle, than his 'My Name is Julia Ross' from the proceeding year.

This film is therefore an even greater display of all style and no substance than that somewhat more widely known offering.

Indeed, for a long time I thought that this European set semi noir Gothic psychological crime thriller actually was a deliberate fantasy Film in the vein of a folk story or fairy tale: my opinion to this effect was at it's hight when a hunchback villager makes a vivid appearance around the half way mark!

Gradually though I changed my mind and I concluded that this is a film where the interpretation of the material it is founded upon is so wide that almost the only thing reaching the screen is the directors vision and the photographers cinematography.

I'm effect the sense of fantasy and fairy tale is because the director has filmed a second film directly over the top of the bare scripts bare story and bare characters so that it's almost a bifocal film.

If you are a fan of this director, or of film experimentation, or of b-movie "magic" then this MIGHT be for you and I would recommend accordingly.

Personally I had to watch it twice to make sure that it wasn't just a load of rubbish inventively photographed.

At this stage I was still only minded to rate a 6/10 but in reflection I realised how nicely played the lead role is for a film where clearly the script must have been nearly pointless for the actors: for them it was the director and the cinematographer and the art director who mattered and not their character is written.

Secondly, after checking that this was indeed shot on a back lot of Columbia's in a matter of days; the conjuring up of the material impression of a French village (complete with bizarre characters.) is staggeringly efficiently and efficaciously done.

So I upped my rating to a 7/10. My qualified recommendation stands.

"So Dark the Night" is a frustrating film to watch. That's because it's such a high quality film and yet the finale is amazingly unsatisfying. In fact, up until near the end of the movie I might have give the film an 8 (a great score for a low-budget B-movie)--but because of the ridiculously improbable ending, I think it earns a 6.

As I mentioned above, this film is a low-budget B-movie. None of the stars of the film have household names, though if you adore old films, you will at least recognize the face of the leading man, Steven Geray. Geray has a very rare chance to star here--usually he's a supporting actor and is hardly the leading man type. However, he's wonderful in this role and shows he really was a fine actor. The other star of the film is the director--Joseph H. Lewis. He was able to make the movie look great--a lot better than a normal B-movie. And, you'd swear the project took more than just 16 to complete.

The story is about a famous French detective. He's highly respected but also a workaholic who desperately needs a vacation. So, he goes to a quite rural town where he is warmly welcomed. However, soon there are a pair of murders--and the detective's vacation is brought to an end. However, this killer is no ordinary murderer--this one has the detective totally stumped. At this point in the film, I was pretty impressed. What did NOT impress me was the weird psychological twist at the end of the film--it seemed a bit silly and just didn't work for me. It's a shame, as up until then it really was a pretty good film. Still, despite this silly twist, it's not a bad movie. See it yourself and let me know what you think about the ending.

What starts as a particularly crass representation of French life complete with 'American Franglais' accents becomes curiously appealing after about half an hour.

Once the melodramatic chestnut of 'the old man and younger women' is dispensed with and we are thrust into the meaty matter of multiple homicide, the drama draws us in. It is here that the two-dimensional characters actually work for the film; is it the jealous widower, the protective father or the ambitious mother? Could be!

The acting is fairly average, the budget is non-existent and this movie is by no means a classic. So what saves it then? Well, its main point of interest is its conclusion.

The film's ending, although rather clumsily handled is genuinely surprising, mainly because of the film's date and that Hollywood convention rarely allows the generic rules to be broken in such a way. It's one of those movies that you watch in the afternoon when you're doling it or are off sick - I gave it six just for the ending alone.

The famous French detective Henri Cassin takes his first vacation in 11 years in St. Margot where he meets Nanette, the daughter of the vacation spot proprietors. Despite Nanette being promised to childhood sweetheart Leon, Henri and Nanette fall in love and decide to marry, despite Nanette's father objecting due to Henri's age. On the day of their wedding, Leon returns and Nanette runs after him. Nothing is heard of the two until both are found dead, and Henri swears he won't rest until he can find the killer. The only clue Henri has to work with is a footprint found by Leon, but he is also getting written warnings that others will die soon. Soon Nanette's mother is found dead and Henri has no idea as to the identity of the killer. Thinking himself a failure he returns to Paris, then he realizes (and fears) that the killer can be only one person, even though none of his colleagues can believe his explanation. Out of the ordinary murder mystery that doesn't really follow the formula in other of the genre by Columbia or other B studios. Credit to that certainly goes to director Lewis who does manage to turn this into a noirish film despite the setting of the film, also aided by the use of good camera-work and lighting. Geray turns in a very good performance in probably his only lead and the rest of the cast is able to carry their performance. Rating, 8.