Nightfall (1957)

Director:

Jacques Tourneur

Writers:

David Goodis (story)
Stirling Silliphant (writer)

Release Date:

23 January 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drama

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Fashion Show | Noir | Bank Robbery | False Accusation | Murder

US TV Schedule:

Wed. Aug. 6

9:30 AM

TCM

Cast

Aldo Ray	...	James Vanning aka Art Rayburn
Brian Keith	...	John
Anne Bancroft	...	Marie Gardner
Jocelyn Brando	...	Laura Fraser
James Gregory	...	Ben Fraser
Frank Albertson	...	Dr. Edward Gurston
Rudy Bond	...	Red

Runtime:

78 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Copa Productions

Soundtrack:

Nightfall

Chance and coincidence in one terrific film noir

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".