No abras nunca esa puerta

(1952) Never Open That Door./ No abras nunca esa puerta.

(In Spanish with English subtitles) THRILLER

Three movies adapted from the stories by Cornell Woolrich under the pseudom name William Irish divided into two different movies. "Never Open That Door" contains two of those stories. The first story is "Somebody on the Phone"/ "Alguien al teléfono" that has adult brother, Raúl Valdez (Ángel Magaña) in charge of the family business. He is with his sister, Luisa Valdez at a celebration/ party and we then see his sister attempting to hock her ring, we later find out belonged to their mother. However, by the time she gets home the brother soon then shows up and as soon as he hears the phone, he answers it but with no answer. Later, the phone rings again but this time she waits until it five times before it stops, and then rings once more before she answers it. The brother then asks her who was on the phone, she convinces him it was nobody before he goes to the bank to withdraw money to pay off the workers. And to his surprise, there is no more money into the family account, and has more than overdrawn it. Motivating him to rush back home and confront his sister about it,, it was soon revealed she has a gambling addiction. One thing leads to another.

I'd give this 2.5 out of four as although this was one of the first films about gambling addiction, it is just a common theme whereas I was a little curious despite their privileged lives, how come being as attractive as the brother and sister are, how come they are still single.

The second movie "Hummingbird Comes Home"/ "El pájaro cantor vuelve al hogar" is a little more involving that opens with a bank robbery and one of the three happened to be shot while attempting to escape on their getaway car. Meanwhile, we are then introduced to a mother, Rosa (Ilde Pirovano) who happens to be blind living with her niece, Maria (Norma Giménez). And during her wondering around the household, she often gripes how her son is going to show up one of these days on her doorstep and make her proud. And then some time later we hear a knock on the door, with the niece opening the door, two men barge through the door carrying with them the injured third person, making viewers to realize that they are the same people who had just held up a bank. And that the son, Daniel (Roberto Escalada) may also be the ringleader. The movie ends with a small twist.

This one is a little more resonating with the twist at the end makes viewers asking questions later. I'd give this a slight edge over the first movie even though more could have done with it. 3 out of 4.

These two good Argentinian noirs from director Carlos Hugo Christensen, based on Cornell Woolrich tales (hard to go wrong there), were paradoxically made during the extremely repressive Peronist era. Well, maybe not so paradoxically when you realize that Hollywood noir flourished in the same period, in the shadow of the equallly authoritarian HUAC era. Unlike Noir Alley host Eddie Muller, I prefer the first installment with its crisp, perfectly paced story of an incestuous sibling relationship that leads a good man to do evil. That second phonecall is like the judgement of God upon the obsessed brother who has erroneously murdered the man he thought was blackmailing his sister. The second episode, by contrast, deals with a bad man who has, as his saintly mother puts it, finally "found the right path." And when you deal with saintly moms and redemption you run the risk of sentimentality which is never a good look for noir and which the first film avoids and the second does not, in my opinion. Give it an overall B plus and I look forward to seeing this very talented director's "If I Die Before I Wake" which is in the Noir Alley on deck circle.

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.

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.

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.