MartinHafer "So Dark the Night" is a frustrating film to watch. That's because it's such a high quality film and yet the finale is amazingly unsatisfying. In fact, up until near the end of the movie I might have give the film an 8 (a great score for a low-budget B-movie)--but because of the ridiculously improbable ending, I think it earns a 6.As I mentioned above, this film is a low-budget B-movie. None of the stars of the film have household names, though if you adore old films, you will at least recognize the face of the leading man, Steven Geray. Geray has a very rare chance to star here--usually he's a supporting actor and is hardly the leading man type. However, he's wonderful in this role and shows he really was a fine actor. The other star of the film is the director--Joseph H. Lewis. He was able to make the movie look great--a lot better than a normal B-movie. And, you'd swear the project took more than just 16 to complete.The story is about a famous French detective. He's highly respected but also a workaholic who desperately needs a vacation. So, he goes to a quite rural town where he is warmly welcomed. However, soon there are a pair of murders--and the detective's vacation is brought to an end. However, this killer is no ordinary murderer--this one has the detective totally stumped. At this point in the film, I was pretty impressed. What did NOT impress me was the weird psychological twist at the end of the film--it seemed a bit silly and just didn't work for me. It's a shame, as up until then it really was a pretty good film. Still, despite this silly twist, it's not a bad movie. See it yourself and let me know what you think about the ending.

Scarecrow-88 French detective, Henri Cassin(Steven Geray) finally gets a vacation after eleven years, heads out into the countryside for some much deserved rest and relaxation. His reputation known outside of Paris, even in a small village it seems Cassin can not escape murder and investigation.This little movie was a nice surprise because I'm not familiar with the director, Joseph H Lewis, but his camera is quite arresting and fluid. The ensemble cast is spirited, with a delightful lead performance from Geray as the chipper, celebrated detective, a bachelor with eyes for Nanette(Micheline Cheirel) , whose parents run the inn for which he's staying in the village. Nanette is engaged, though, to a handsome, young farmer, Leon(Paul Marion), while dreaming of a life in Paris, away from the mundane life of the country. Monsieur Cassin is in love for the first time, life as a detective has aged him and so this moment is quite rewarding for someone so associated with crime and murder, during an entire career.I particularly love how Geray gazes lovingly at Micheline Cheirel when she appears, his face emanates. But, this feeling of sudden joy is only temporary as Nanette's body is found in a nearby river, having run after Leon who didn't respond well to the news that, while he was gone, she had agreed to marry Cassin. When Leon is found in his barn strangled like Nanette(bottle of acid in his hand to supposedly assume he had took his own life after strangling Nanette), Monsieur Cassin's sleuthing turns up a double homicide, a footprint implicating someone. A note is presented to Cassin as a word of warning from the murderer that another would die. No motive befuddles the detective and when the next target turns up being Nanette's mother, he becomes consumed with solving this puzzling case. Even Cassin's credibility is in question as he tirelessly(mind, body and soul) pursues the killer.What positively stuns me is what Cassin turns up, and I wouldn't dare give this development up. Not in a million years. The evidence points to one man, only one could match the description, the footprint, the handwriting of the death notes..the revelation throws this genre, the murder mystery, for a loop, with schizophrenia/split personality disorder even tossed in the mix for extra oomph. Definitely recommended to fans of Hitchcockian kind of fare. I dig Lewis' style, he has an affinity for arranging big open shots(his shot of the bridge, an object of symbolic importance throughout as it is where a lot of the drama transpires, including the discovery of Nanette's body, especially striking), and tightly confined close-ups(it is said that Lewis had to shoot so much up close due to budgetary and time constraints). Consider me a Joseph H Lewis fan..why is it always these guys who are used by studios to churn out little movies to accompany supposedly great ones that wind up standing the test of time?

bmacv So Dark The Night poses a tough challenge: It's very hard to write about it in any detail without ruining it for those who haven't yet seen it. Since it remains quite obscure, that includes just about everybody. The movie will strike those familiar with its director Joseph H. Lewis' better known titles in the noir cycle – Gun Crazy, The Big Combo, even My Name Is Julia Ross, which in its brevity it resembles – as an odd choice.For starters, the bucolic French countryside serves as its setting. Steven Geray, a middle-aged detective with the Surété in Paris, sets out for a vacation in the village of Ste. Margot (or maybe Margaux). Quite unexpectedly, he finds himself falling in love with the inkeepers' daughter (Micheline Cheirel), even though she's betrothed to a rough-hewn local farmer. But the siren song of life in Paris is hard to resist, so she agrees to marry him, despite the disparity in their ages, which inevitably becomes the talk of the town. But on the night of their engagement party, she fails to return to the inn. Soon, a hunchback finds her body by the river. Her jealous, jilted lover is the logical suspect, but he, too, is found dead. Then anonymous notes threaten more deaths, which come to pass. For the first time in his career, the bereaved Geray finds himself stumped....A particularly weak script all but does the movie in; it plays like bad Cornell Woolrich crossed with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. But Lewis does this creaky vehicle proud. He takes his time near the beginning, but then the story – and the storytelling – gain momentum (alas, just about the time the script breaks an axle). Burnett Guffey lighted and photographed the film, with an intriguing leitmotif of peering out of and peeping into windows; there's also an effective score by Hugo Friedhofer, who supplied aural menace to many noirs. A good deal of talent has been lavished on So Dark The Night, but at the end it boils down to not much more than a gimmick – and not a very good gimmick at that. It's a one-trick pony of a movie.

Daniel-56 Joseph H. lewis was a great director who could do wonderful films with little money. Maybe that was why Columbia's president Harry Cohn gave him so much freedom to work. So Dark is the Night is an almost noir entry about a French detective on vacation in a little town near Paris who investigates some murders which he was somehow involved. A short and objective cheap movie that does not hide the director's talent and gives Steve Geray a great role. People who want to make unexpensive movies should know this gem.