The Midnight Story

Plot synopsis:
Father Tomasino is stabbed to death. San Francisco traffic cop Joe Martini felt the priest was like an actual father to him. He asks to assist homicide Lieutenant Kilrain in his investigation, but after being rejected, Joe quits the force.
He has a hunch restaurant owner Sylvio Malatesta could be involved. Joe is warmly welcomed by Sylvio's family, however, and falls in love with a cousin, Anna. He hides his past identity as a cop from her.
Something is troubling Sylvio, but the family believes he still misses a sweetheart killed in Italy during the war. Sylvio also has an alibi for the night of the priest's murder, but Sergeant Gillen gets word to Joe that the alibi is a fake.
In a ploy to encourage Sylvio to confide in him, Joe pretends to be a murder suspect himself. Sylvio breaks down and admits to having killed his own sweetheart, then the priest as well after confiding to him about the murder in confession. Sylvio runs into the street and is struck by a moving vehicle. Dying, he begs for Joe's forgiveness.

Tags: murder

Review:
Late, well-cast hybrid mixes noir with ethnic family drama.
One night in San Francisco's seedy North Beach neighborhood, a beloved priest is attacked in an alley and stabbed to death.
A traffic cop (Tony Curtis), who grew up in the orphanage the priest ran, takes the murder particularly hard but sees it as his chance to advance to the homicide squad.
At the funeral, he spots a man (Gilbert Roland) so shaken that his rosary has cut into his hand, drawing blood.
Curtis follows his hunch that this man knows something about the murder.Posing as a young fisherman fallen on hard times, he gets a job in Roland's crab shack on Fisherman's Wharf.
Next, he's invited to live in the home Roland shares with his mother and his cousin (Marisa Pavan  Pier Angeli's twin sister).
And for about half the movie, the noirish plot about the murder gets shoved onto the back burner like a kettle of red sauce in favor of an Italian-ethnic family drama (Curtis falls for Pavan, who plays hard to get, and so forth).Though it seems as if director Joseph Pevney has lost track of the suspense story, he hasn't  he interweaves it into the family dynamics.
When Curtis finds out information that he thinks exonerates Roland, he's so relieved he asks Pavan to marry him.
But at the engagement party, he discovers that Roland's alibi is full of holes....Falling late in the noir cycle, The Midnight Story recalls in its theme of a priest's killing (and in its San Francisco setting) the haunting little noir Red Light, of 1949.
Red Light was pretty hard-core, while The Midnight Story is watered down with heart-warming vignettes.
Curtis doesn't make the role as unforgettable as Sidney Falco in Sweet Smell of Success the same year, but he doesn't embarrass himself, either.
Roland comes close to overdoing the lusty fisherman, but instinctively pulls short.
Pavan, however, looks and acts like Natalie Wood as Maria in West Side Story.
Flippen, as Curtis' `rabbi' in the police department; one of the unsung stalwarts of the noir cycle, he brightens the screen whenever he turns up because he's sure to polish up a little gem of a performance..
Tony Curtis and Gilbert Roland are terrific in this little murder mystery.
This is really a great early role for Tony Curtis.
Curtis plays Joe Martini, a San Francisco cop who got his job on the force through the recommendation of Father Thomasino, and who was in an orphanage from age six after the death of his parents, with Thomasino taking him under his wing and being a father figure to him.
So naturally Joe takes it personally when Thomasino is murdered in an alley by an unknown assailant.
The man is Sylvio Malatesta (Gilbert Roland), who owns a local fish market.
So Joe goes undercover, posing as a guy looking for a job saying that Father Thomasino was going to recommend him to Malatesta, but that he died before he could.
Not only does Malatesta give him a job, he invites him to bunk with his family for awhile.
So Joe quickly becomes friends with Sylvio, he actually likes him, and in the Malatestas he finds the family he never had.There are a few weird things about Malatesta.
So Malatesta is indeed a troubled soul, but his troubles predate Thomasino's death by years, and he has an apparent alibi for the night of Thomasino's murder.
Does he even want to now that Sylvio's family has become like his family?
Watch and find out.Roland and Curtis are great in this.
They have a real brotherly chemistry that makes this film worth watching every bit as much as the murder mystery itself.
The only bad thing I can say about the film are the Italian stereotypes.
Marisa Pavan plays Sylvio's cousin Anna who plays it over the top with her Italian shrew routine who is either bubbling with anger that comes out of nowhere, slamming doors and throwing things, and then suddenly she is all sweet and doe eyed.
Then there is Mama Malatesta who acts like a calmed down version of Anna.
When young, I saw this movie three or four times, and from then I have not seen more: not TV exhibits, not video edition (at least in my country) and no DVD edition (as I know).
Instead, I keep a formidable memory of it: a crime story where the humanity of the characters reveals to be the most important thing: Tony Curtis searches a murderer, and takes friendship with Gilbert Roland, and fall in love with Roland's sister, Marisa Pavan.
But Roland is the murderer that he has searched, and when he discovers that, explodes the human conflict --the friendship, the treason, the love-- and that gives the force of the film.
A modest story of friendship and crime..
In an unusually deep performance, Curtis plays a cop who goes undercover to try to find a priest's murderer.
At times, the story seems to teeter on the precipice of turgid melodrama, but Curtis and Roland are always there to right the course.
Roland is magnificent as the Italian patriarch whose family Curtis invades.
The painstaking attention that the film gives the Italian neighborhood and its collective perspectives pays handsome dividends.
Just saw this in a double bill with Six Bridges To Cross (another Tony Curtis noir from the same era, also directed by Joseph Pevney) as part of the American Cinematheque Film Noir Festival.
Pevney was wonderful at rich characterization and the portrayal of the Italian family in this story is nothing less than one of the most heartwarming and charming in cinematic history!
Well-defined roles, clever psychological dynamics and a downright pithy script lift this far above the average crime melodrama, which you might otherwise suspect this would be based on its seemingly standard "cop goes against system to avenge death of his friend" plotline.
More importantly, while there is mucho complexity inviting lots of analytical "academic flapdoodle," this is at the heart a highly entertaining piece which lays out a challenging conflict and finds a way to nimbly avoid the cliches and build to an ultimately satisfying solution.
If you are a fan of noir or the versatile Tony Curtis, don't miss the chance to see Curtis shine in the straight man cop role for once...
If you just like a good crime drama, you'll also want to check this neglected diamond in the rough!.
The Midnight Story (AKA: Appointment With A Shadow) is directed by Joseph Pevney and written by Edwin Blum and John Robinson.
It stars Tony Curtis, Marisa Pavan, Gilbert Roland and Jay C.
Music is by Joseph Gershenson and CinemaScope cinematography is by Russell Metty.When a San Francisco priest is murdered, friend of the priest, Joe Martini (Curtis), a traffic cop, gets a hunch and ingratiates himself into the family of the man he thinks is responsible.Somehow it has become one of those 1950s black and white crime movies entered into film noir publications.
Thrusting a handsome and restrained Curtis into a murder mystery while his emotions get whacked from all sides.
Filmed (joyously so) and set in Frisco, the makers never once play their hand to reveal what the finale will bring.The everyday life of a working and loving Italian-American family is vividly brought to life, luring us in to their world as intrigued but concerned observers - the North Beach District a sweaty backdrop just waiting to spill its secrets.
Pevney keeps things brisk, never letting things sag, even as the inevitable romantic thread dangles (it's 1950s Tony Curtis after all), there's always an air of suspicion and mystery pulsing away in the narrative.Curtis fronts up for dressage, but delivers promise on an interesting role, but it's Roland's movie all the way.
Murder at Midnight.
The Midnight Story has Tony Curtis starring as a young motorcycle cop who was
raised in an orphanage and the priest who ran it is knifed to death at the midnight hour.
Curtis wants to get reassigned to homicide to help catch the killer.
get reassigned so Curtis quits the San Francisco PD and goes to work on his own.
Fisherman's Wharf community did the deed and he'll find who it is.His suspicions fall on Gilbert Roland playing his usual happy go lucky self as 
one of the fisherman, but Roland is a man who is hiding something obviously.Curtis's efforts to ingratiate himself with Roland work only too well.
more important he falls for Marisa Pavan who is Roland's cousin who also boards with him.Coming right before Tony's breakthrough role in Sweet Smell Of Success, The
Midnight Story is a small indication of what Curtis was capable of.
a fine job as the troubled and conflicted cop who wants more than anything to
believe Roland is not capable of killing a priest.
The real star of the film though is Roland.
This part is one of the best he ever did on film.Some other outstanding performances are Argentina Brunetti as Roland's sister, Ted DeCorsia and Jay C.
Flippen as Curtis's police superiors and one that
Her scene with Curtis, DeCorsia, Flippen, and
Russ Conway as the cops questioning here is quite memorable.In his memoir Tony Curtis said he liked this film very much.
Several viewings of this film have lead me to the following conclusion - that it is a 1950's gem !
Plot and acting are very impressive and although it is unfortunately filmed in Black and White, this does serve to increase the 1950's atmosphere.
The world of Italian Americans is portrayed marvellously and I wonder today whether it is the same !
Unfortunately I do not know any Italian Americans.
In general I like films where priests play a rôle although it must be said that that is not the main element here - it's just that the initial murder is that of a priest !
What really interested me was the relationship between Tony Curtis and the Malatesta family - there's also romance too to add to the suspense of "who did the murder".
Although I have an excellent VHS recording of this, I would have liked to own it on DVD but it would appear to be one of those films that has fallen into oblivion;.
One of Tony Curtis' better films of the 1950s..
While "The Midnight Story" is not among Tony Curtis' more famous films, it is among his better films.
The fact that it's a story told without spectacle (such as in "The Vikings") might just account for it being lesser-known...but it deserves to be seen and appreciated.Joe Martini (Curtis) is a cop who is incredibly upset following the brutal murder of a local priest.
This kindly man had helped Joe when he lost his family and Joe is determined to investigate the murder on his own when the detectives can find no leads.
So he takes a leave of absence and follows up his one very tenuous lead...a man he saw at the funeral who seemed more affected by the priest's death than anyone else.
So, Joe befriends Sylvio (Gilbert Roland) and tries to slowly and casually investigate Sylvio's actions the night of the murder.
However, something unexpected happens...Sylvio is so taken with his new 'friend' that he invites Joe to live with him and his family.
Now, Joe's in a bind...as he's practically family with the man who MIGHT have killed the priest!The acting is very good in this one and Gilbert Roland and Tony Curtis put in really nice performances.
Additionally, the story is well written--with a dandy finale.
Saw 'The Midnight Story' as part of my Tony Curtis completest quest after being recommended many of his films here in the recommended for you section.
While there were and are better actors about and he didn't always look comfortable in his early films, Curtis was always immensely likeable and had a charming charisma with many good and more performances under his belt.
'The Midnight Story' turned out to be a very good film, a good representation of Curtis in one of his better early roles and films, certainly the case for both from the 50s.
The weak link is Marisa Pavan, whose performance for my tastes was on the overdone side.
Her chemistry with Curtis didn't quite convince as much as it could have done, a bit bland compared to everything else being so compelling.Curtis however is excellent in a departure role at that point of his career and even better is the quite magnificent Gilbert Roland walking away with the film.
On top of that their characters are surprisingly well-defined, the script is tautly written and the story is from start to finish compelling and suspenseful with an ending that's both tense and affecting.Visually, 'The Midnight Story' is atmospheric and stylish and the direction ensures that the pace of the story never gets dull while allowing some breathing space.
It never tries to be more than it is and knows what it wants to be, never trying too hard while also never descending into laziness which is always appreciated.
8/10 Bethany Cox. Terrific Film Noir!.
Noir films don't come much better than this modest little 'B' thriller from 1957.
A youthful-looking Tony Curtis plays an (ex-)cop on the trail of the killer of his boyhood-idol priest, with Gilbert Roland (outwardly, a calm, assured typical San Franciscan Italian family member) his chief suspect.
Curtis moves in with the family, then spends almost the entire film veering wildly between believing Roland totally innocent or guilty, producing all sorts of wild mood swings & unstable behaviour in him (Curtis).
The final dramatic scene in Roland's store-hut will have you riveted to your seat!
Like other reviewers, I recommend this movie wholeheartedly, although currently (January, 2015), it is not officially available on DVD..
This actress appears only twice in the film but her "Veda Pinelli" really stands out.
She even assumes a kind of movie star glamour when she dons sunglasses to cover the black eye she gets from her husband (never seen in the film) for "stepping out." I watched this movie a second time only to see Peggy Maley as the enticing and vulnerable Veda Pinelli.Peggy Maley may be best known for delivering the feeder line, "Whaddya rebelling against, Johnny?" to Marlon Brando in "The Wild One" but "The Midnight Story" may be her best and most vibrant work.Here's to you, Peggy Maley!.
Tony Curtis as a San Francisco cop getting mixed up with Italian family with war traumas.
This is vintage Tony Curtis when he acted in notable films like "Sweet Smell of Success" with Burt Lancaster and "The Defiant Ones" with Sidney Poitier, and this is perhaps the best of them.
It all happens in San Francisco, when a Catholic priest is brutally murdered by getting knifed in the back, and immediately the mystery arises: whoever would want to do so such a thing to a priest who was beloved by all?
Tony Curtis is a cop and has been raised as a an orphan by the murdered priest, he carries the coffin at the farewell service and there meets a fellow Italian who appears to be burning in hell.
Curtis immediately gets a hunch, the faintest of leads by a mere feeling, and lays down his badge to start a private investigation of his own.What follows is a Dostoievskian psychological drama.
Gabriel Roland plays the Italian father who welcomes Curtis as one of the family, and he finds happiness and even a perfect fiancée in the family (Marisa Pavan, like another Natalie Wood as the West Side Story Maria).
The character and development of this film is very much like Edward Dmytryk's "Give Us This Day" about Italian immigrants in Brooklyn 1929, but this is more interesting psychologically.
The crisis is inevitable, which breaks out into a total tragedy - which proves to have been the only happy solution.It's a tremendous film, and it will remain actual forever and of as lasting an interest as any Dostoievsky novel..
Sensational performances by Tony Curtis and Gilbert Roland makes this film noir with an ethnic background a must-see for fans of the genre.
Grieving over the sudden murder of a beloved priest who helped raise him, Tony Curtis goes undercover to track down the person who killed him.
The presence of the grieving Gilbert Roland at the priest's funeral leads Curtis to his old neighborhood where a visit with Roland and his family ends up with Curtis moving in with them and becoming involved with Roland's daughter, Marissa Pavan.
But as Curtis becomes more obsessed with finding the killer, certain twists take him down dark places where he finds out certain things that may make him wish he never began the investigation.This outstanding film noir, set in San Francisco, utilizes some great location shots to make you feel like you are a part of the action and have gone back in time.
It includes some terrific character actors and explores the closeness and loyalty of the Italian community that never becomes schmaltzy or overly stereotypical.
In a very funny scene, the very non-Italian Herb Vigran and Kathleen Freeman play an argumentative couple who are guests of Roland and his wife, the very Italian Argentina Brunetti.
Famed boxer Chico Vegar plays the hood who tries to pick a fight with Curtis, and blonde bombshell Peggy Maley appears as a key character Curtis visits.This film will keep you riveted from start to finish, guessing with all the different characters introduced who maybe the Killer and why a priest became their victim.
Another terrific moment has Pavan discovering the truth about Curtis's real identity, and the shocked, blank look on her face is awesome.
As Curtis gets closer to the truth, the audience is still in the grips of wondering who did it, so the surprise twist at the end and the reason for it are truly stunning.