A Maleta Fatídica

There were a few reasons for wanting to see 'Nightfall'. The premise did intrigue, and film noir-type films are right up my street. That it was directed by Jacques Tourneur was also a plus, being one of many people who loves 'Out of the Past'. Have always loved Anne Bancroft ever since 'The Miracle Worker', the film and her performance in that are still powerful. Was really hoping that it would live up to its potential rather than being another potential waste.

Seeing it, 'Nightfall' doesn't live up to full potential and could have been better. It though is not a waste, despite the story being wanting and the lead performance being uneven 'Nightfall' is compensated hugely by the production values, atmosphere and the rest of the cast. It is fun and atmospheric, though falls short of greatness. So another one of those recommended films, while not raving about it or rating it an absolute essential.

'Nightfall' has a lot of good things. It looks great for one thing, it is really amazing that it is low budget when it looks better than a lot of films made on a higher budget. Especially striking is the photography, which is at its best pretty exquisite and creates a truly haunting atmosphere. The locations are beautifully used too, especially the snow-covered Wyoming. Tourneur's direction impresses in a lot of areas, he always had a keen eye for creating atmosphere that was evident throughout 'Out of the Past' and evident here too. He succeeds too in allowing the film to move quickly in general. The score is suitably ominous.

Enough of the script is thought provoking and taut and the story engrosses more often than not and has some nice suspense. The climax is very memorable and tensely staged, while the murder scene absolutely chills. Most of the cast are strong, especially alluring Bancroft as the film's most interesting character and Brian Keith is a good unsettling presence too. She and Aldo Ray have a good sensual yet uneasy chemistry together that really worked with the film.

Did think however that 'Nightfall' could have been better. While there is definitely atmosphere and while it didn't bore me, the story (as well as not being a particularly unique one on the whole) is on the implausible side at points and is too unlikely coincidence heavy. It is especially not too easy to swallow towards the end. The script generally could have been tighter, early on is a little talky.

Opinions on Ray's performance here are rather mixed, my feelings on him personally are pretty mixed too. He is effective enough later on but he starts wooden and it takes a while for him to get properly comfortable in a role that could have been better fleshed out.

Concluding, not great but worth watching. 7/10.

Nightfall is directed by Jacques Tourneur and adapted to screenplay by Stirling Silliphant from David Goodis' novel. It stars Aldo Ray, Brian Keith, Rudy Bond, James Gregory and Anne Bancroft. Music is by George Duning and cinematography by Burnett Guffey.

A pretty model, an insurance investigator, two thugs, an innocent man on the run and a bag of stolen money buried out in the Wyoming snow. Destiny awaits with devilish glee.

It resembles the earlier Tourneur classic Out of the Past, so loses a bit of freshness, it hinges on a major contrivance involving the bag of money and it's more blanc-noir than film noir, but Nightfall rounds out as being a well executed paranoid thriller. Pulling it into the film noir universe is the protagonist played by Aldo Ray (a mighty physical presence), he's the victim of mischances and coincidences, his situation worsening because of paranoia and the inability to comprehend how the vagaries of fate have put him into a life and death predicament. With Tourneur using a flashback structure to dizzy up the story and Guffey operating on high contrast for imagery, film doesn't lack for atmospheric fret, but having held the audience in a grip, the makers fail to deliver a satisfactory ending worthy of the build up. Though it's noted that a pretty gruesome death does precede the outcome.

As has been noted by many observers, the interesting trick here is that Ray's man on the run is exposed and in real harms way when in the brightly lit wilderness, his safety net comes via the dark shadowy streets and bars. This two-fold setting allows Tourneur and Guffey to craft some terrific compositions to frame the characters. These characters are always interesting, the thugs played by Keith & Bond are unusual because they need the help of Ray's protagonist, thus having to rein in murderous tendencies, Gregory's investigator is like an impartial observer on the periphery and Bancroft's babe starts out cold but becomes a woman prepared to go on the lam with a guy who clearly has issues to be resolved! All are well delineated. Ultimately, and rightly so, it's Ray's movie, his Vanning character is a haunted figure, the world weighing heavily on his huge gait, with gravel in voice and bemusement in eyes, it's a true film noir character that is excellently portrayed.

Interesting if a mixed bag, Nightfall is however comfortably recommended to those interested in noir cinema. 7/10

A terrific B-movie with A-list credentials, (Jacques Tourneur directed, Stirling Silliphant did the screenplay from a David Goodis novel, Burnett Guffey was the cinematographer and the cast included Aldo Ray, Anne Bancroft, Brian Keith, James Gregory and Jocelyn Brando though it is Rudy Bond's psycho-killer who steals the movie). It's a tale of robbery and murder and of an innocent dupe, (Ray), who gets caught up in both. It's economical almost to a fault; there certainly isn't a wasted moment in all of its 78 minutes and you can see how it might have influenced the Coen Brothers yet for some reason it's almost totally unknown. Seek it out immediately.

The wonderful Jacques Tourneur directed this 1957 noir, "Nightfall," starring Aldo Ray, Anne Bancroft, Brian Keith, James Gregory, and Frank Albertson.

James Vanning (Aldo Ray) is on the run from some vicious criminals who have stolen a fortune from a bank. He and his doctor friend (Frank Albertson) had the misfortune to meet these men, who took the doctor bag instead of the $350 grand they stole! They believe that Ray, an innocent party, knows where in the Wyoming mountains the money is.

Back in the city, Vanning meets a model (Bancroft) and this is picked up by two of the crooks. He manages to get away and goes to Bancroft's place; since the thugs know who she is, the two of them have to go on the run.

Tourneur's themes here are similar to his other films, such as "Cat People," "Out of the Past," "Experiment Perilous" as three examples: Chance meetings and coincidence dominate a story where Tourneur uses flashbacks expertly. Here, two innocent people are drawn into a situation and being pursued.

Very absorbing story -- in her early films, beautiful Anne Bancroft, a powerful actress, was cast in these young leading lady or ingenue roles, like Bette Davis when she first came to Warners. Bancroft brings an interesting, smoky quality to the role of a woman who has an unhappy past with men. Aldo Ray has never been a favorite of mine, but he is effective here. He looks like a character actor, though he played leads, and though he has a husky voice and appearance, there's a gentle quality in his manner. James Gregory has always been good, and he's good here as a detective who wants to get down to the truth.

The black and white photography is very striking and really adds to the film. Jacques Tourneur made some excellent films; though he obviously didn't have a huge budget for this one and his star had descended somewhat, he still had what it took to make a strong film.

Although it is far from a masterpiece, "Nightfall", a low-budget film noir (stunningly photographed by Burnett Guffey), is one of Jacques Tourneur's finest films. What amazed me about "Nightfall" was the way it resembles Tourneur's previous films in its depiction of chance and coincidence. The similarity to "Out of the Past" (the duality between past and present, city and country, the use of flashbacks) is somewhat obvious. But consider the opening chance encounter between Vanning (Aldo Ray) and Marie (Anne Bancroft). It recalls the similar (though different) chance meetings between Irena and Oliver at the zoo in Tourneur's "Cat People"(1942), and Dr. Bailey and Cissie on the train at the beginning of "Experiment Perilous"(1944). If you watch it closely at the opening scenes, Marie's seat beside Vanning at the bar is empty BEFORE she appears. So, we expect the seat to be filled. I didn't notice it when I first saw the film, but critic Chris Fujiwara's observations in his splendid book, JACQUES TOURNEUR:THE CINEMA OF NIGHTFALL, were immensely helpful. Fujiwara adroitly notes, "Throughout Nightfall, chance and unconscious processes determine key events. Tourneur's standard procedure of showing the effect before the cause underlies the inexplicability of these events, their fantastic nature".