Nightfall (1956)

Directed by Jacques Tourneur; produced by Ted Richmond

Jim Vanning (Aldo Ray) keeps low while living in Los Angeles, his eyes watching for police, and staying away from bright lights that could show him up to others. He is being watched by an amiable but persistent man (James Gregory), but the two (Brian Keith, Rudy Bond) who eventually make contact with him are not so friendly. They are bank robbers, after money they think Vanning took from them, and despite his insistence that he doesn’t know where it is, they don’t believe him, and are determined to find it, no matter what the cost to Vanning.

A decent crime story, Nightfall benefits from some tense situations despite being low-key over all. Both the quiet approach and the tension come from the direction. Tourneur was at the helm of Cat People and Night of the Demon, two supernatural thrillers, and the highly acclaimed Out of the Past, so he knew his work. Nightfall makes much less of a splash than these others. It is not a dark movie - literally or metaphorically. Tourneur does make a mistake in using camera filters, popular at the time, to film night-scenes during the day. The results are not convincing, and take away from what should be lonelier, more claustrophobic moments.

Ray, a muscular leading man, is rather contemplative here, and he does a good job of creating the isolation of a man on the run. He lives in a tiny apartment and does little with his time. Though built for contact-sports or hard labour, Vanning is a commercial artist, and Ray gives the impression that his character likes his work in the quiet, thoughtful way he reacts to everything else. Anne Bancroft plays a woman initially used by the villains for their ends, but who comes to help Vanning.

Gregory, perhaps most familiar to audiences now from either his smugly compliant The Manchurian Candidate politician, or Inspector Luger, from tv’s Barney Miller, plays a nice guy, a sympathetic and clever investigator, with a pleasant and pleasing home life. Bond as the sadistic half of the villainous pair, does a good job, but doesn’t create anything special, while Keith is his usual sensible and convincing tough guy, though here, he turns those qualities to crime.

The script is adequate. There are inconsistencies, such as Keith initially having no problem with murder, then later preferring to have a witness merely tied up. While neither of the bad guys likes the other, no reason is given for how they came to be partners or why they remained together for so long. The climax is good but no more than that. Even Tourneur can’t wring much excitement from it.

Not really memorable, Nightfall is a mildly entertaining crime story, benefitting most from the confident direction and the likeable and persuasive performance of the leading man.