So Dark the Night
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
So Dark the Night is the story of a detective, Henri Cassin (Steven Geray) from Paris, who falls in love with an innkeeper's daughter Nanette (Micheline Cheirel) while on a long overdue vacation. She is a country girl with a jealous boyfriend. Nonetheless, the detective becomes engaged to her. Then the girl vanishes the night of her engagement party and later shows up dead. Cassin believes that the obvious suspect is Leon (Paul Marion), the old boyfriend, but soon he is also found killed. Soon after Mama (Ann Codee) receives a warning that she will be the next to die, she is found strangled.
Pierre, fearing for his safety, decides to sell the inn, Henri returns to Paris and comes up with a sketch of the killer based on information provided by the footprint. To Henri's astonishment, the sketch bears the exact likeness of himself, and when he fits his shoe into the footprint, he realizes that he is undoubtedly the killer. After making a full confession to the police commissioner, Henri is evaluated by a psychiatrist, who determines that he is schizophrenic. Though placed under watch of a guard, Henri escapes back to St. Margot, where he tries to strangle Pierre. However, the police commissioner, who has followed Henri to the village, catches the detective in the act and shoots him.

Review: Music is by Hugo Friedhofer and cinematography by Burnett Guffey.Henri Cassin (Geray) is a well regarded Parisian detective who while on a much earned vacation falls in love with innkeeper's daughter Nanette Michaud.
However, with Nanette already having a boyfriend, and a tempestuous one at that, true love does not run smooth, especially when murder enters the fray and Cassin has to start investigating the tricky case.It all begins so perky, with jolly music, smiling faces and brightly lighted compositions, so much so I had actually thought I had loaded the wrong film to watch!
Once Henri Cassin arrives at Le Cheval Noir (The Black Horse) in the rural town of St. Margot, however, the whole tone of the film shifts into darker territory.
Enter hunchbacked man, jealous guy, love sick chamber maid, weak parents et al...Joseph Lewis (My Name Is Julia Ross - Gun Crazy - The Big Combo) does a top job in recreating a French town with what no doubt was a small budget, yet his greatest strengths here are his visual ticks, in how he manages to fill the picture with the requisite psychological discord that craftily haunts the edges of the frames until they be ready for maximum impact.
In partnership with ace photographer Guffey, Lewis brings tilted angles and black shadowy shadings to this French hot- bed of lust and character disintegration.
Also note scenes involving a rocking chair, a dripping tap and a deft window splice sequence that signifies that the psychological walls are tumbling down.Something of a rare picture given that who the director is, this definitely is of interest to the film noir loving crowd.
The famous French detective Henri Cassin takes his first vacation in 11 years in St. Margot where he meets Nanette, the daughter of the vacation spot proprietors.
Despite Nanette being promised to childhood sweetheart Leon, Henri and Nanette fall in love and decide to marry, despite Nanette's father objecting due to Henri's age.
The only clue Henri has to work with is a footprint found by Leon, but he is also getting written warnings that others will die soon.
Soon Nanette's mother is found dead and Henri has no idea as to the identity of the killer.
Credit to that certainly goes to director Lewis who does manage to turn this into a noirish film despite the setting of the film, also aided by the use of good camera-work and lighting.
Geray turns in a very good performance in probably his only lead and the rest of the cast is able to carry their performance.
lewis was a great director who could do wonderful films with little money.
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.
Famed middle-aged Parisian detective Henri Cassin (Steven Geray) takes his first vacation in eleven years.
While Henri is relaxing at a small village inn known as The Black Horse (Le Cheval Noir), he meets the innkeepers' daughter, Nanette (Micheline Cheirel), who is thrilled to make the acquaintance of such a famous person.
Before long Henri and Nanette fall in love.
A complication is that Nanette is supposed to be betrothed to a local farmer, Leon, a jealous man (Paul Marion).
Although the culprit's name is not provided in this review, note that the suspect list is rather short and the psychological ending is a little surprising.
STEVEN GERAY never got to play the leads in most of his films at Columbia, but he gets his chance here as a detective badly in need of a vacation in the French countryside.
As in all such stories, he has no time to relax because he's soon involved in a double murder.The trouble with the film, for the most part directed stylishly by Joseph H.
Lewis, is that it takes too long to become absorbed in the plot involving a double murder.
And then, as the detective begins to study the case, the plot takes a twist in another direction entirely.It's a minor entry in the films that were taking on more psychological tones in the early '40s, but I can't say there's anything memorable about the characters or the script.
"So Dark the Night" is a frustrating film to watch.
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.
The other star of the film is the director--Joseph H.
However, soon there are a pair of murders--and the detective's vacation is brought to an end.
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.
A French cast is featured in "So Dark the Night," a 1946 B noir directed by Joseph Lewis.
Steven Geray is Henri Cassin, a burnt-out detective who goes on holiday.
He falls in love with Nanette Michaud (Micheline Cheirel), who kind of plays both ends against the middle.
One day, they both end up dead - and there's more tragedy to come.I would have loved to see this plot directed by someone like Hitchcock, who could build the suspense.
Only 29 at the time of filming, Micheline Cheirel comes off as a bit too mature for some reason.
Geray is very good and underplays his role."So Dark the Night" plays about an 1:15 minutes.
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.
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.
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.
Cassin is not exactly charismatic or intense enough for you to believe his role in that twist (or is it wrench?) of an ending and the supporting cast is as two dimensional as the "French countryside" backdrop.
The only thing of interest is how Lewis attempts, somewhat perversely, to employ noir conventions and build suspense in a sun-dappled bucolic landscape.
Detective finds love and murder in countryside.
It is here that the two-dimensional characters actually work for the film; is it the jealous widower, the protective father or the ambitious mother?
In this case I think it is the combination, particularly the direction by Joseph Lewis.
A Paris detective encounters mysterious murders while on vacation in the French countryside.Some day when I have absolutely nothing to do I'm going to count the number of window shots in this film.
The movie itself has a rather sumptuous look for a cheap second feature, a credit to the art department and director Lewis' visual imagination, I suppose.
Anyway, it's an interesting little noir with an ironical ending, even if it doesn't reach the suspenseful heights of My Name Is Julia Ross, Lewis' previous movie.I wasn't sure where So Dark was going since it begins in rather leisurely fashion.
Steven Geray made a notable career as a waiter or maitre'd in upscale night spots, but as a detective, his presence is a little thin.
Also, I agree with the reviewer who thinks Cheirel a shade too old for the ingénue role.Anyway, Lewis' visual talent is on vivid display, making this a very watchable 70 minutes, even though I'm canceling my next visit to the French countryside..
I just discovered "So Dark the Night" in the recently released "Film Noir Classics 4" set from Turner Classic Movies.
Although it is presented as a border line "noir" it is really a complex little murder mystery with a few surprises thrown in.
Filmed on a modest budget on studio bound sets in good old Black and White, it runs a scant 71 minutes.Director Joseph H.
Lewis has assembled a cast of largely unknown actors which adds to the mystery elements of the film.
Steven Geary plays Parisian detective Henri Cassin who is burned out and ordered to take a vacation by his boss Commissioner Grande (Gregory Gaye).
Cassin goes to a country inn and there meets the proprietor's young daughter Nannette Michaud (Micheline Chierel)whereupon a May-December romance begins.
Nanette hopes to escape her small village to the lights and glamour of Paris.The girl's father Pierre Michaud opposes the relationship because Nanette is already betrothed to local farmer Antoine (Frank Arnold) and he feels that the age difference between Cassin and Nanette is too great.
Mama Michaud (Ann Codee) is pushing Nanette into the relationship to help her to a better life.Nanette and her fiancé are found murdered causing Cssin's vacation to be cut short.
The suspects include Nanette's parents, a sinister looking widow (Helen Freeman) and a hunchback (Brother Theodore)Cassin's resolution of the murders comes after he gives a description of the murderer from the clues he has gathered to the police artist back in Paris.
The murderer then turns out to be................................................................A good movie..
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.
No motive befuddles the detective and when the next target turns up being Nanette's mother, he becomes consumed with solving this puzzling case.
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?.
It's audacious -- the action goes from inside the bank to the getaway car with no cut and then Lewis let his actors improv all of their dialogue.But we're here today to speak of So Dark the Night.Inspector Henri Cassin (Steven Geray, who was in tons of films in supporting roles, but fans of this site may know him as Dr. Frankenstein in Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter) has left Paris for a vacation he's waiting a long time for.
He's a renowned expert who has solved all manner of the world's toughest cases, but he finally deserves some rest.At a small country inn, he falls for the innkeeper's daughter Nanette.
Everyone informs him that he's too old, but his romantic heart beats for the possibility of a new life.On the night of their engagement party, her ex-boyfriend Leon informs Cassin that he may have her now, but she will always think of her younger lover and eventually, he will have her.
Nanette vanishes from her party with Leon as the main suspect, but he's soon found dead.Nanette's mother is warned that she will be next to die and sure enough, she's soon strangled.
He comes up with a sketch of the killer and more information by studying the footprint found near Leon's body.
Arrow Academy is releasing two films by director Joseph H.
Lewis with MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS and this film, SO DARK THE NIGHT.
But of the two this one twists things more than the other.French detective Henri Cassin (Steven Geray) is taking a long overdue vacation from the police force.
Once he arrives he meets their daughter Nannette (Micheline Cheirel) and is immediately smitten by her.For Mama this is a good thing as she wants her daughter to find someone who will take her away from this small village life.
The most obvious suspect is Leon but when he turns up murdered as well the discovery of the killer becomes more complicated.
Then Mama receives a note telling her she is next and she is found strangled.Unable to find out who the killer is Cassin returns to Paris, pondering what it was that he missed that would have provided him with the clues he needed to solve these murders.
It is only then that he realizes who the killer was.The movie is a gem with subtle performances played out by actors who were often used in bit and side character parts but rarely in lead roles.
But it is the story that makes this movie worth watching.Any good mystery provides enough clues that the viewer can help determine the villain while those attempting to solve the puzzle onscreen do so.
But my guess is you won't be able to figure it out until near the end of the film.As with MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS director Lewis shows once more his distinct ability to tell a story effectively was amazing and overlooked by those in charge at the studios.
When a life-long bachelor police investigator from Paris takes a much needed vacation to the country, he finds more than he bargained for when a much younger pretty local maiden, excited by his glamorous city life, takes an interest in him.
This leads to the farmer becoming violently jealous, threatening both of them and resulting in murder, but not of who the audience suspects it will be.Steven Geray, a gentle European character actor, is perfectly cast as the seemingly mild mannered investigator who doesn't plan on falling in love but is obviously too lonely not to respond to the attentions of the pretty Micheline Cheirel.
It's obvious that Cheirel is not in love with Geray but definitely infatuated with him, and her sexual desires towards Marion make it clear that a marriage with Geray would be doomed.The build-up to the murders makes the audience believe that somebody else is going to get knocked off first, not the actual initial victim.
***SPOILERS*** Burnt out famous Paris police inspector Henri Cassin, Steven Geray, decides to take a trip out to the country to chill out and get his head back together.
That's after solving a string of unsolvable crimes that almost put him in the hospital suffering from exhaustion.At the small town of Saint Margot Henri stays at the Le Cheval Noir Inn where he plans to catch up with his long needed sleep and spend his free time out fishing at the local river.
It's when the inns owner Pierre Michaud's, Edger Borden, daughter Nanette, Micheline Cheirel, laid her eyes on Henri, who's exploits as a crime solver preceded him, she went completely gaga over the meek middle aged police inspector.
In fact it was Mama Michaud, Ann Codee, who tried to get Nanette and Henri matched up against the objections of her husband Pierre who thought that he, being some 20 years Nannete's senior, was a bit too old for her.Things got a little sticky when Nanette's boyfriend, who was also engaged to her, Leon Achard, Paul Marion, got wind of her attraction to Henri and didn't like it one damn bit!
Telling Nanette that he's not going to stand for her to leave him for Henri and that he'll kill her if she did didn't makes thing any better for Henri who was not really that interested, in him being a life long bachelor, in marrying her in the first place.
It's later when Nanette was found dead and dumped off a bridge into the river that Leon became the prime suspect in her murder!
It's almost by accident that Henri uncovers the person who murdered both Nanette and Leon in a plaster cast he made at one of, Leon's, the murder scenes.
But the person that Henri came up with is so unconnected to Leon and Nanette's murder that his boss back at the Paris Police Department thinks that Henri has finally lost it and even goes so far as recommending that he spend some time in a sanitarium for a long needed rest.Little did anyone know at the time that Henri, crazy as he was, was right on target in whom he suspected in Leon and Nanette's murders!
And by him bringing the murderer to justice Henri could finally get the much needed rest that he so badly needed.