Road House

(Jean Negulesco, US 1948, 95 min., 35mm)

The Noir Effect. Ida Lupino is brilliant as the singer who comes between two old enemies (a wonderfully unhinged Richard Widmark and the hunky Cornel Wilde) at a café on the American-Canadian border. A major discovery for many at this year’s Nitrate Picture Show, this completely unpredictable, very dark, and remarkably suspenseful noir brought the very best out of Jean Negulesco, the hardworking contract director perhaps best known for helming How to Marry a Millionaire.