Nightfall
Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Written by Stirling Silliphant from a novel by David Goodis
1957/USA
Copa Productions
First viewing/Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics III
[box] Marie Gardner: Yesterday, my biggest problem was how I was going to break a date with a fellow I know for tonight. Of course I could call him up and tell him I can’t make it. I’m on my way to Wyoming in a pair of field boots, with a man that’s wanted for murder.[/box]
This is a suspense drama highlighted by the beautiful young Anne Bancroft and some equally beautiful cinematography by Academy Award winner Burnett Guffey.
Commercial artist Jim Vanning (Aldo Ray) is a man with a mysterious past who is clearly being trailed by that man at the bus stop. He starts talking to model Marie Gardner (Bancroft) in a bar, buys her dinner, and gets her phone number and address. Immediately upon exiting the bar, two thugs strong arm him into a car and take him to an isolated spot where they threaten to torture him until he tells him where the $350,000 is.
He gets away and, thinking he has been double-crossed, shows up at her apartment to confront her. Marie thought the men were police. Now they have her address, having obtained Jim’s wallet. So Jim feels he must take her with him on his long trip to Wyoming to search for the cash. He begins telling her his sad story … With Brian Keith as one of the thugs, James Gregory as an insurance detective, and Frank Albertson as Jim’s hunting buddy.
The plot doesn’t bear much scrutiny and Aldo Ray is somewhat challenged in the acting department but I enjoyed this anyway. Jim’s story comes out in dribs and drabs and keeps the viewer guessing. This is the earliest film I have seen Bancroft in and she is beyond lovely. Except that our hero has a Past, it’s not too noir. No “nightfall” is involved. Much of the story plays out among beautiful daytime vistas of the snowy Wyoming Rockies.
Trailer – cinematography by Burnett Guffey
