The Long Night (1947)
(Anatole Litvak, US 1947, 101 min., 16mm)
A loose remake of Marcel Carné’s Le jour se lève (most recently seen at this year’s Nitrate Picture Show), Anatole Litvak’s American version has Henry Fonda taking center stage. Joe Adams (Fonda), a discharged veteran, holes up in his top-floor apartment after seemingly killing the magician Maximilian the Great (Vincent Price). Surrounded by police, Joe takes the night to reflect on what brought him to this point. A clear tie between the poetic realism movement in France during the 1930s and American film noir of the 1940s, Fonda provides a striking performance as the man unable to run from his past. Barbara Bel Geddes, Ann Dvorak, and Elisha Cook Jr. round out the cast.
Post-screening discussion with Curator of Film Exhibitions Jared Case.