Aware of the title since seeing the magnificent Le Jour Se Leve (1939-also reviewed), I've been curious about watching the remake for a number of years, but have not been able to find the movie online, or at a good price on disc. Spotting it on the new free Talking Pictures catch-up service,I decided to start 2022 with a long night.
View on the film:
Directing solo for the first time in 5 years after working with Frank Capra to make documentaries for the War Department, director Anatole Litvak is joined for the first of two movies, (the other being the tense Sorry, Wrong Number (1948-also reviewed) by Film Noir atmosphere, lit by ultra-stylised crane shots following Ann running through the crowds towards the block of flats.
Panning down the long flight of stairs as a man tumbles to his death, Litvak loads up superimposition's to Adams standing in his flat, where the only splinters of light come from bullet holes created by cops trying to get in.
Loaned out by Fox to RKO, Vincent Price gives a scene-stealing turn as Maximilian, with Price igniting Maximilian's devilish cad attitude,as he pushes with glee Adams into the darkest corner of his mind.
Contrasting Price,Henry Fonda disappointingly gives a performance completely adrift as Adams, due to Fonda being unable to draw an impression of the screws being tightened for Film Noir loner Adams, instead giving Adams the appearance of oddly being rather at ease in the flashbacks, rather then expressing a sinking sense of anxiety that was needed.
Based on a film where the impending fall of France looms large, the only shadow which looms large in the screenplay by John Wexley here, is of the Hays Code, via the dashes of Film Noir pessimism filling Adams apartment, being left isolated with restrained Melodrama filled with horribly plodding dialogue that lacks the poetic, thoughtful quality in the original, leading to a Hays Code-approved shambles of a new moral ending over the long night.
View on the film:
Directing solo for the first time in 5 years after working with Frank Capra to make documentaries for the War Department, director Anatole Litvak is joined for the first of two movies, (the other being the tense Sorry, Wrong Number (1948-also reviewed) by Film Noir atmosphere, lit by ultra-stylised crane shots following Ann running through the crowds towards the block of flats.
Panning down the long flight of stairs as a man tumbles to his death, Litvak loads up superimposition's to Adams standing in his flat, where the only splinters of light come from bullet holes created by cops trying to get in.
Loaned out by Fox to RKO, Vincent Price gives a scene-stealing turn as Maximilian, with Price igniting Maximilian's devilish cad attitude,as he pushes with glee Adams into the darkest corner of his mind.
Contrasting Price,Henry Fonda disappointingly gives a performance completely adrift as Adams, due to Fonda being unable to draw an impression of the screws being tightened for Film Noir loner Adams, instead giving Adams the appearance of oddly being rather at ease in the flashbacks, rather then expressing a sinking sense of anxiety that was needed.
Based on a film where the impending fall of France looms large, the only shadow which looms large in the screenplay by John Wexley here, is of the Hays Code, via the dashes of Film Noir pessimism filling Adams apartment, being left isolated with restrained Melodrama filled with horribly plodding dialogue that lacks the poetic, thoughtful quality in the original, leading to a Hays Code-approved shambles of a new moral ending over the long night.