Nightfall (1956) (original) (raw)
Synopsis
THE BLACK BAG... with $350,000 in loot! THE BLACK DRESS... with a beautiful pick-up girl inside! THE BLACK NIGHT... made for lovers... and killers!
An innocent man turns fugitive as he reconstructs events that implicate him for a murder and robbery he did not commit.
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Alternative Titles
Wenn die Nacht anbricht, Poursuites dans la nuit, Al caer la noche, L'alibi sotto la neve, A Maleta Fatídica, 夜幕, Misstänkt för rån
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Theatrical
09 Nov 1956
UK
23 Jan 1957
USANR
24 Nov 1979
Germany12
Popular reviews
Back in the day Hollywood just regularly pumped out great movies seemingly without even trying. I suppose you could say that this Jacques Tourneur-directed noir is "slight" or "minor" but is there actually anything wrong with it? Aldo Ray is a big, beautiful rock of a man.
"Nice place. I'll try not to bleed over everything."
Magnificently staged crime thriller about raspy, un-mannered Aldo Ray as a man on the run from a pair of bank robbers (one of them, naturally, a psycho killer) and the cops. Everyone in the core cast is great, especially Anne Bancroft who always seemed wise beyond her years even when she was a senior citizen but especially so here. More of an atmosphere piece than one heavy on the tension its premise would seem to suggest, but what atmosphere, both on the nighttime streets of LA and the wintry mountain woods of Wyoming - take a guess which of those turns out to be the more dangerous locale.
There's an uneasy feeling that pervades Nightfall, from Vanning's (Aldo Ray) instinctive move to hide his face from the light, to the way every person on the bus taking Vanning and Marie (Anne Bancroft) north could be an enemy. No one can afford to be comfortable because no one, really, is safe.
What makes it all so difficult to bear is that the danger comes not (just) from communists or The Bomb, but from other people, people whose primary flaw is their ruthless desire to survive. And so, as desperately as the people in the film's LA want to connect — no matter how much they ache for closeness — they cannot afford to trust anyone else long enough to…
An ingenious use of flashbacks and misdirection. Every single motive is initially murky as true colors are slowly revealed. The flashbacks fit so effortlessly in this narrative when they could have so easily felt forced. Vanning is such a closed, curious figure that takes almost the entire runtime to figure out. The compacted runtime serves the game of cat and mouse well, but simultaneously strains the romance. For every ounce I was mentally invested in the chase for the loot, I was equally removed emotionally from anything regarding Vanning and Marie. The performances, though, are good enough to almost make up for anything lacking in that area. I need to watch more Aldo Ray movies; he is charmingly magnetic.
Can’t prove it (yet!), but no way this wasn’t an enormous influence on Fargo. _Nightfall_’s flawless noir far as I’m concerned. Foolproof. Perfect duration, fiery chemistry, impeccable flashback usage, which is saying something. Not normally a fan of fill-in-the-blank plot structures, but it’s satisfying here ‘cause it makes narrative sense. Like, we see the past when Jim’s asked to recount it, literally, not ‘cause he tilts up his head and remembers. Memorable supportings, ‘specially Doc, whose gentle gratitude is so sincere, Jim has to get up and walk off a little, kinda like Scorsese moving the cam while Bickle’s on the phone.
This is the real deal, top tier, what I’m talkin’ bout when I say I love the movies.
One of the best films I've seen from Tourneur so far, Nightfall is a late-period noir which distills the genre's usual tropes and motifs down to their essence. This is as economical as filmmaking gets. Thus it's easy to mistake it for something else. The comparisons with Tourneur's earlier Out of the Past only apply to a point; the film has at least as much in common with Hitchcock's films of the period. The plot involves a paranoid man haunted by his past who can't fully comprehend how he got into a predicament where he's being pursued by both the law and criminal types. Burnett Guffey's cinematography is as steely as the film's tone and Aldo Ray's performance. Don't miss it!
somehow anne bancroft says “you’re the most wanted man i know” without making 😏 face right after. aldo ray’s acting style is so modern that it’s almost jarring - ultimately i liked the strangeness. tbh wanted more nighttime scenes cuz the opening was so breathtaking.
When all the world seems dying to crush you with its oppressive, machinistic tools: oil-rigs, buses, snowplows, the leers of strange men at a fashion show. I love how as soon as a type is established among the protagonists (Anne Bancroft, Aldo Ray, James Gregory), the film immediately defuses the type—which makes their struggle against the tools all the more visceral and irresistible to watch. Love the way Tourneur controls time in that Mexican standoff framed in a single, astonishingly naturalistic shot; a masterclass in the art of rhythm and cutting in and of itself. Great L.A. noir, an even better snow noir (see: On Dangerous Ground and the other great Goodis joint in the cold, Shoot the Piano Player). Maybe it's the winter vibes slowing everyone in a 78-minute movie down, but this was just so lovingly paced.
I first watched Jacques Tourneur’s Nightfall with great anticipation because of Tarantino’s fondness for it and was somewhat disappointed. On this second viewing, I was even more disappointed. It’s an OK minor noir, nothing more.
Two hunters, James Vanning (Aldo Ray) and Dr. Edward Gurston (Frank Albertson), have a chance encounter with two bank robbers, John (Brian Keith) and Red (Rudy Bond), in Wyoming, leading to murder. Later, the bad guys track down Vanning to Los Angeles, thinking he has their $350,000 in stolen loot. Why he doesn’t have it is a bothersome part of the narrative. They end up chasing Vanning and Marie Gardner (Anne Bancroft), his accidental model friend, all over the place. The four, along with insurance…
“It’s gonna be pretty cold where we’re going.”
Never drink martinis on an empty purse. A LA-based, winter camping in Jackson Hole flashback noir from Jacques Tourneur feauting a memorable everyman performance by Aldo Ray, a fantastic fashion show set piece with Anne Bancroft, and an ending with a snowplow slowly inching toward a shack containing two innocent people tied up inside. Plenty has been written about the influence on Fargo and Pulp Fiction, but you can also see traces of the cosmopolitan 60s/70s thriller in the sun-lit terror and location jumping. A cool gem.
“You’re the most wanted man I know.”
Nightfall is a nice little B-Noir with an interesting cast. Aldo Ray is a bit of an unusual leading man. With his huge physic he looks more like a heavy but he kinda fits very well into the Noir genre. I haven’t seen many movie with him, especially in a starring role, but I really liked him here. Anne Bancroft is also interesting because she feels very modern for a Noir. She even appears to be wearing no make-up in some scenes which was very unusual for that time in Hollywood. The two villains, played by Brian Keith and Rudy Bond are also great. They are ruthless and represent a real threat. Altogether, great cast.
The film is short (under…
9th Jacques Tourneur (after Out of the Past, Cat People, The Leopard Man, I Walked With a Zombie, Night of the Demon, Canyon Passage, Circle of Danger and The Comedy of Terrors)
Week 12 of the Cult Movie Challenge: Noir Week
Softspoken noir, a mumbly, stumbly character piece that’s less about what’s being said than how it’s being said. The plot feels like a series of excuses to throw characters together, even more so when you clock that not only was Ray in the wrong place at the wrong time, so was Bancroft. Everyone seems incredibly unhurried about the bag of money they’re all circling. Ray is waiting for the roads to clear, James Gregory is quietly tailing Ray even…
Story by The Prince Charles Cinema