The Long Night (1947)
This Anatole Litvak movie is about four things: Henry Fonda, Sol Polito, and Le Jour se Leve.
1) Fonda is a nice surprise here. He's got those sad, brooding, innocent expressions that make you hang in there for him alongside the young Barbara Bel Geddes, who is both demure and a screaming desperado in her support role. Fonda also has time of downright cheerfulness, and when you see him being lively and chipper you realize how often he is cast as a solid, sober, dignified type (from The Grapes of Wrath to 12 Angry Men, on and on).
2) Polito is the cinematographer, and a great one (see any of his films for proof). He moves the camera up and down that stairwell, around the darkened room, through the crowded streets, on and on, really making the experience visceral and lyrical. It's no small feat. Watch.
3) Le Jour se Leve is the 1939 French movie that is the basis for The Long Night. The writing for this Litvak version is really sharp (and a couple times, hilarious in the best way), and they make the most of the original idea, of a man thinking over his crime and the causes for it.
Which bring up number four, the essence of film noir. We often think of "film noir" as a style, and this one has lots of night shooting and deep shadows. It's also sometimes a period, which is mostly post World War II (so late 1940s into the 1950s). One of the key elements to classic noir is the idea of a man alone, out of step with the world, often vulnerable to a woman (or two) who may or may not have such good intentions. And this man represents the returning soldier, who in reality was out of step with the new booming America.
4) So here we have a textbook example, a soldier who was forced to do his murderous job during the war and now faces an America that he can't quite fit into. The struggle is all on the surface here (even the crowds make clear they are ready to support him through his adjustment), and even though there are no classic noir lines from some detective hardboiler, and even though Fonda is no Mitchum or Bogart, this is a perfect noir in other ways, and more about inner human struggles than external drama.
Is it good? Yes, for all these reasons. It's not flawless (Vincent Price is an odd presence, but if you like Price you'll enjoy him, too), but it has its flawless aspects, and is guaranteed to move you. For many men in a 1947 audience, it had to have been gutwrenching and inspiring. And it still is.
This Anatole Litvak movie is about four things: Henry Fonda, Sol Polito, and Le Jour se Leve.
1) Fonda is a nice surprise here. He's got those sad, brooding, innocent expressions that make you hang in there for him alongside the young Barbara Bel Geddes, who is both demure and a screaming desperado in her support role. Fonda also has time of downright cheerfulness, and when you see him being lively and chipper you realize how often he is cast as a solid, sober, dignified type (from The Grapes of Wrath to 12 Angry Men, on and on).
2) Polito is the cinematographer, and a great one (see any of his films for proof). He moves the camera up and down that stairwell, around the darkened room, through the crowded streets, on and on, really making the experience visceral and lyrical. It's no small feat. Watch.
3) Le Jour se Leve is the 1939 French movie that is the basis for The Long Night. The writing for this Litvak version is really sharp (and a couple times, hilarious in the best way), and they make the most of the original idea, of a man thinking over his crime and the causes for it.
Which bring up number four, the essence of film noir. We often think of "film noir" as a style, and this one has lots of night shooting and deep shadows. It's also sometimes a period, which is mostly post World War II (so late 1940s into the 1950s). One of the key elements to classic noir is the idea of a man alone, out of step with the world, often vulnerable to a woman (or two) who may or may not have such good intentions. And this man represents the returning soldier, who in reality was out of step with the new booming America.
4) So here we have a textbook example, a soldier who was forced to do his murderous job during the war and now faces an America that he can't quite fit into. The struggle is all on the surface here (even the crowds make clear they are ready to support him through his adjustment), and even though there are no classic noir lines from some detective hardboiler, and even though Fonda is no Mitchum or Bogart, this is a perfect noir in other ways, and more about inner human struggles than external drama.
Is it good? Yes, for all these reasons. It's not flawless (Vincent Price is an odd presence, but if you like Price you'll enjoy him, too), but it has its flawless aspects, and is guaranteed to move you. For many men in a 1947 audience, it had to have been gutwrenching and inspiring. And it still is.