Nightfall

I dunno why, but whenever I watch a noir, I think of a category for it.  This belongs to the “clearing his name” subgenre, like The Wrong Man and Kansas City Confidential.  There’s a few noteworthy elements.  As in Out of the Past, Tourneur uses a flashback structure to reveal the story, but this time he fragments it a lot more, often leaving the viewer guessing why the characters are in their situations.  This is the first movie I’ve seen with Aldo Ray, and he has a certain quality to him, kind of a teddy bear toughness.  And there’s a wonderfully grisly death at the end.  Other than that, it’s not too special but it’s plotted well and there are a few moments of stimulating photography.  Anne Bancroft is lovely, but doesn’t seem like a particularly good fit for this role.  Rating: 7

IMDb