Nightfall is directed by Jacques Tourneur and adapted to screenplay by Stirling Silliphant from David Goodis' novel. It stars Aldo Ray, Brian Keith, Rudy Bond, James Gregory and Anne Bancroft. Music is by George Duning and cinematography by Burnett Guffey.
A pretty model, an insurance investigator, two thugs, an innocent man on the run and a bag of stolen money buried out in the Wyoming snow. Destiny awaits with devilish glee.
It resembles the earlier Tourneur classic Out of the Past, so loses a bit of freshness, it hinges on a major contrivance involving the bag of money and it's more blanc-noir than film noir, but Nightfall rounds out as being a well executed paranoid thriller. Pulling it into the film noir universe is the protagonist played by Aldo Ray (a mighty physical presence), he's the victim of mischances and coincidences, his situation worsening because of paranoia and the inability to comprehend how the vagaries of fate have put him into a life and death predicament. With Tourneur using a flashback structure to dizzy up the story and Guffey operating on high contrast for imagery, film doesn't lack for atmospheric fret, but having held the audience in a grip, the makers fail to deliver a satisfactory ending worthy of the build up. Though it's noted that a pretty gruesome death does precede the outcome.
As has been noted by many observers, the interesting trick here is that Ray's man on the run is exposed and in real harms way when in the brightly lit wilderness, his safety net comes via the dark shadowy streets and bars. This two-fold setting allows Tourneur and Guffey to craft some terrific compositions to frame the characters. These characters are always interesting, the thugs played by Keith & Bond are unusual because they need the help of Ray's protagonist, thus having to rein in murderous tendencies, Gregory's investigator is like an impartial observer on the periphery and Bancroft's babe starts out cold but becomes a woman prepared to go on the lam with a guy who clearly has issues to be resolved! All are well delineated. Ultimately, and rightly so, it's Ray's movie, his Vanning character is a haunted figure, the world weighing heavily on his huge gait, with gravel in voice and bemusement in eyes, it's a true film noir character that is excellently portrayed.
Interesting if a mixed bag, Nightfall is however comfortably recommended to those interested in noir cinema. 7/10
