Steven Geray is one of my favorite character actors so if I give this film a slightly higher rating it's strictly because of him. Geray plays a workaholic French detective, Henri Cassin, who takes an overdue vacation to the French countryside some distance from Paris where he is employed.
At the inn he's staying at he falls for a younger woman Nanette (Micheline Cheirel), daughter of innkeepers Pierre Michaud (Eugene Borden) and his wife Mama (Ann Codee). Cheirel was almost thirty at the time she was cast as Nanette but it would have been better if Director Joseph H. Lewis had cast a twenty year old!
A red herring is introduced with the character of Leon Archard (Paul Marion), the jealous boyfriend who turns up murdered along with Nanette. It looked for sure that Leon had killed Nanette because he caught her kissing Henri but the veteran detective concludes after going over the crime scene that he was not the perpetrator.
This irks Henri quite a bit because we learn that he's had over 100 cases and apparently solved all of them (supposedly he's a veritable Sherlock Holmes). When Pierre's wife turns up dead and it appears there's a serial killer loose, Henri uses all his powers to solve the crime but comes up empty.
The only real clue he has is a shoeprint left at the scene of the first two murders. That brings us to the big twist toward the beginning of the third act. And that of course (in true "Angel Heart" fashion), Henri concludes that he's the killer!
Did I buy it? Not really. First off there's Henri's attraction to Nanette-when he's mocked by Pierre for his interest in a younger woman (chastised by the innkeeper that he has no chance with her), this apparently is his "trigger" for going on a rampage. Where did this come from?
I thought this was the guy who solved over 100 cases and certainly when he was investigating the case, he looked like the "real thing" (the intrepid detective who took "control" of the crime scene and drew conclusions that that the local police investigator could not possibly have drawn).
The film scenarists' explanation for Henri's sudden change in personality was due (in the parlance of the times) "split personality." Today this would be referred to as dissociative identity disorder. You don't really hear too many of these types of cases anymore and one wonders if it's real at all-or simply the figment of screenwriters' imaginations over the course of cinematic history.
Of course, Henri's comeuppance is a fait accompli which takes place at the hands of the police commissioner who finally accepts Henri's theory that he himself is the killer.
Geray reminds me of Peter Lorre and it's refreshing to see him in a rare leading role. I also liked how some real French language is interspersed with the English dialogue, convincingly delivered with both French (and other) foreign accents.
Some say that So Dark the Night is an example of film noir but I'm not sure of that as many of the scenes take place in daylight (although it can be conversely argued that many of the interior scenes are darkly lit!).
This is the type of film to take in on a rainy Saturday afternoon. See it mainly for Geray's performance and not for the twist in the final act which doesn't hold that much water.
At the inn he's staying at he falls for a younger woman Nanette (Micheline Cheirel), daughter of innkeepers Pierre Michaud (Eugene Borden) and his wife Mama (Ann Codee). Cheirel was almost thirty at the time she was cast as Nanette but it would have been better if Director Joseph H. Lewis had cast a twenty year old!
A red herring is introduced with the character of Leon Archard (Paul Marion), the jealous boyfriend who turns up murdered along with Nanette. It looked for sure that Leon had killed Nanette because he caught her kissing Henri but the veteran detective concludes after going over the crime scene that he was not the perpetrator.
This irks Henri quite a bit because we learn that he's had over 100 cases and apparently solved all of them (supposedly he's a veritable Sherlock Holmes). When Pierre's wife turns up dead and it appears there's a serial killer loose, Henri uses all his powers to solve the crime but comes up empty.
The only real clue he has is a shoeprint left at the scene of the first two murders. That brings us to the big twist toward the beginning of the third act. And that of course (in true "Angel Heart" fashion), Henri concludes that he's the killer!
Did I buy it? Not really. First off there's Henri's attraction to Nanette-when he's mocked by Pierre for his interest in a younger woman (chastised by the innkeeper that he has no chance with her), this apparently is his "trigger" for going on a rampage. Where did this come from?
I thought this was the guy who solved over 100 cases and certainly when he was investigating the case, he looked like the "real thing" (the intrepid detective who took "control" of the crime scene and drew conclusions that that the local police investigator could not possibly have drawn).
The film scenarists' explanation for Henri's sudden change in personality was due (in the parlance of the times) "split personality." Today this would be referred to as dissociative identity disorder. You don't really hear too many of these types of cases anymore and one wonders if it's real at all-or simply the figment of screenwriters' imaginations over the course of cinematic history.
Of course, Henri's comeuppance is a fait accompli which takes place at the hands of the police commissioner who finally accepts Henri's theory that he himself is the killer.
Geray reminds me of Peter Lorre and it's refreshing to see him in a rare leading role. I also liked how some real French language is interspersed with the English dialogue, convincingly delivered with both French (and other) foreign accents.
Some say that So Dark the Night is an example of film noir but I'm not sure of that as many of the scenes take place in daylight (although it can be conversely argued that many of the interior scenes are darkly lit!).
This is the type of film to take in on a rainy Saturday afternoon. See it mainly for Geray's performance and not for the twist in the final act which doesn't hold that much water.