Search - The Long Night on DVD

1947 FORGOTTEN NOIR GEM

Robin Simmons | Palm Springs area, CA United States | 01/02/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Henry Fonda is Joe Adams, a man pinned inside his third floor apartment after gunning down a mysterious magician Vincent price. Joe's fractured memories are told in an intricate web of flashbacks that reconstruct the events leading up to the murder. Barbara Bel Geddes plays the third corner of the tragic, complicated and mesmerizing love triangle. Exceedingly mody and atmospheric direction by the masterful Anatole Litvak ("The Snake Pit," "Sorry Wrong Number"). The DVD is a pristine transfer made from a 35 MM nitrate negative. Bonus material includes a gallery of photos and artwork as well as excerpts from Marcel Carne's Le Jour se Leve. (Full Frame, B&W, 68 minutes, Not Rated)"

Underrrated film noir drama.

Magnus | Göteborg, Sweden | 07/28/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I liked this forgotten film, i think it is very well directed by Anatole Litvak. Henry Fonda gives a fine performance as the doomed fugutive, who barricates himself in an attic room while the police tries to make him surrender and come out. During the night he thinks back on the events leading up to a murder, and the situation he is in now. Much of the story is told in flashbacks, interrupted by scenes where the police try in different ways to make him come out. Vincent Price plays an evil magician with whom Fonda has a dramatic encounter, Price is both smarmy and unplesent in this role, and he plays very well. Both Barbara Bel Geddes and Ann Dvorak are good in their roles as a naive young girl, and a more down to earth woman. The photography by Sol Polito is very good, giving it a wonderful noir sheen, also the sets by Eugene Lourie are intriguing, giving the film a dark, dirty look, that at the same time is glossy, but filled with low key images that makes shadows on the walls. This was an american remake of a french film by Marcel Carne called Le Jour Se Leve, and it is by no means as inferior as many filmguides might lead you to think, its more dramatic and has more background musik. The original film is intense in a restraind way, more poetic while the remake goes more out for dramatic effects, and is more hard boiled. The Long Night uses almost the same screenplay as in the original, ecept for the ending which is different. The story is grim and gloomy, but i think this is one of the more visually dynamic american films from the 40s, very well directed by Anatole Litvak, no camera tricks were used in the scene where Price performs his magic show, Litvak wanted the actor to learn to make tricks from a real magician, so he could make a realistic magic performence. This film is a minor gem."

The Long Night

Trish | NJ, USA | 09/30/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This was a very cool film. Henry Fonda did an excellent job as a man who is hiding from the law. Vincent Price plays the guy that gets killed by Henry Fonda at the very beginning. Almost the entire film is flashback, which explain why Fonda is in this predicament in the first place, and how it came to be that he killed Price. A great suspense movie."