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Nightfall

  • 19561956
  • 1h 18m
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
4K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Anne Bancroft, Brian Keith, and Aldo Ray in Nightfall (1956)
Watch {VideoTitle}
Play trailer2:08
1 Video
16 Photos
  • Crime
  • Drama
  • Film-Noir
Through a series of bizarre coincidences, an artist finds himself falsely accused of bank robbery and murder and is pursued by the authorities and the real killers.Through a series of bizarre coincidences, an artist finds himself falsely accused of bank robbery and murder and is pursued by the authorities and the real killers.Through a series of bizarre coincidences, an artist finds himself falsely accused of bank robbery and murder and is pursued by the authorities and the real killers.
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
4K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Jacques Tourneur
  • Writers
    • Stirling Silliphant(screen play by)
    • David Goodis(from the novel by)
  • Stars
    • Aldo Ray
    • Anne Bancroft
    • Brian Keith
Top credits
  • Director
    • Jacques Tourneur
  • Writers
    • Stirling Silliphant(screen play by)
    • David Goodis(from the novel by)
  • Stars
    • Aldo Ray
    • Anne Bancroft
    • Brian Keith
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 59User reviews
    • 45Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:08
    Trailer

    Photos16

    James Gregory and Aldo Ray in Nightfall (1956)
    Aldo Ray in Nightfall (1956)
    Anne Bancroft, María Belmar, Orlando Beltran, Aldo Ray, and Maya Van Horn in Nightfall (1956)
    Anne Bancroft and Aldo Ray in Nightfall (1956)
    Anne Bancroft and Aldo Ray in Nightfall (1956)
    Nightfall (1956)
    Nightfall (1956)
    Nightfall (1956)
    Nightfall (1956)
    Anne Bancroft, Brian Keith, and Aldo Ray in Nightfall (1956)
    Nightfall (1956)
    Nightfall (1956)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Aldo Ray
    Aldo Ray
    • James Vanningas James Vanning
    Anne Bancroft
    Anne Bancroft
    • Marie Gardneras Marie Gardner
    Brian Keith
    Brian Keith
    • Johnas John
    Jocelyn Brando
    Jocelyn Brando
    • Laura Fraseras Laura Fraser
    James Gregory
    James Gregory
    • Ben Fraseras Ben Fraser
    Frank Albertson
    Frank Albertson
    • Dr. Edward Gurstonas Dr. Edward Gurston
    Rudy Bond
    Rudy Bond
    • Redas Red
    Arline Anderson
    • Hostessas Hostess
    • (uncredited)
    Monty Ash
    • Clerkas Clerk
    • (uncredited)
    María Belmar
    • Spanish Womanas Spanish Woman
    • (uncredited)
    Orlando Beltran
    • Spanish Manas Spanish Man
    • (uncredited)
    Art Bucaro
    • Cashieras Cashier
    • (uncredited)
    Steve Carruthers
    Steve Carruthers
    • Fashion Show Spectatoras Fashion Show Spectator
    • (uncredited)
    Robert Cherry
    • Man on Bus with Radioas Man on Bus with Radio
    • (uncredited)
    George Cisar
    George Cisar
    • Bus Driveras Bus Driver
    • (uncredited)
    Lillian Culver
    Lillian Culver
    • Womanas Woman
    • (uncredited)
    Bess Flowers
    Bess Flowers
    • Woman at Fashion Showas Woman at Fashion Show
    • (uncredited)
    Joan Fotre
    • Modelas Model
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Jacques Tourneur
    • Writers
      • Stirling Silliphant(screen play by)
      • David Goodis(from the novel by)
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Along with The Prowler (1951), Crime Wave (1953), and Murder by Contract (1958), this film was listed by author James Ellroy as one of his favorite noir films with a Los Angeles setting.
    • Goofs
      When John (Brian Keith) and Red (Rudy Bond) first approach Marie's (Anne Bancroft) apartment, Red says "Maybe Vanning's inside" (Aldo Ray). However, they would not have known him by this name at this point. They knew him only by his real name, "Rayburn". Earlier, in the car, they asked him what name he was going by now, but he didn't answer. They were calling him Rayburn then. They also had looked at his wallet but said he was smart, carrying no identification. Therefore, they wouldn't have known him as Vanning yet. They'd never heard that name.
    • Quotes

      James Vanning: [Walking into Marie's apartment] Nice place. I'll try not to bleed over everything.

    • Connections
      Referenced in Murder of a Cat (2014)
    • Soundtracks
      Nightfall
      Music by Peter De Rose and Charles H. Cuppett (as Charles Harold)

      Lyrics by Sam Lewis (as Sam M. Lewis)

      Performed by Al Hibbler

    User reviews59

    Review
    Top review
    8/10
    Another Wonderfully Inventive Film from Jacques Tourneur
    Jacques Tourneur used his vast reserves of creativity to turn small-budget films into fascinating movie-going experiences. If "Out of the Past" is one of the best films noir to be released in the 1940s, then "Nightfall" must be one of the best from the succeeding decade.

    Aldo Ray plays James Vanning, who, with his doctor friend Edward Gurston (Frank Albertson), finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and ends up knowing the whereabouts of a bag of stolen money, wanted mightily by two bank robbers (one played with droll relish by Brian Keith). Fate, always a principal character in any film noir, brings James together with Marie Gardner (an impossibly young Anne Bancroft), a fashion model who becomes his girl Friday. Meanwhile, an insurance investigator (James Gregory) working on behalf of the robbed bank has James's number and comes calling. All of these characters finally collide in a memorable and rather grisly ending.

    "Nightfall" is tremendously stylish and playful. It very much resembles Tourneur's earlier noir, "Out of the Past," in its thesis that a man can run but never hide from his past. But it also reminded me of "On Dangerous Ground," Nicholas Ray's strange offering from 1952, in its juxtaposition of a shadow-filled urban environment filled with anonymous (and perhaps dangerous) strangers with the wide open (and no less frightening) spaces of the country, where anything can happen and no one will know. I don't know if Aldo Ray was considered a good actor at the time, but he does a terrific job here -- who better to play an American everyman caught up in a sticky web than this all-American jock of an actor? He and Bancroft sizzle in their scenes together, and one of the movie's highlights comes when they are racing away from one of Bancroft's fashion shows with the bad guys in hot pursuit, and Ray, frustrated by the fact that Bancroft can't run in the impractical gown she was just modeling, picks her up and runs with her into the safety of a cab, after which she leans against him and says, "You're the most wanted man I know." This scene and line got laughs and applause at the screening I attended, but you could tell that people were laughing with the film and not at it.

    This film is one of the highlights of the noir genre, and I highly recommend catching it if you get a chance.

    Grade: A
    helpful•61
    5
    • evanston_dad
    • Dec 27, 2006

    FAQ3

    • New York Opening Happened When?
    • Chicago Opening Happened When?
    • Who Produced "Nightfall"?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 9, 1956 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Spanish
      • Italian
    • Also known as
      • Wenn die Nacht anbricht
    • Filming locations
      • Teton County, Wyoming, USA
    • Production company
      • Copa Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 18 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White

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