A private eye escapes his past in a sleepy town until a big-time gambler seeks him out to do one last job. Now he must return to face the city that ruined him, and contend with his own broken past. If you can’t tell by the title, this is a moody noir told in flashbacks, and implements some of the best visual noir tropes: smoking, shadows, and femme fatales. (dir. Jacques Tourneur, 1947, U.S, 97 min)
“Significantly, (the film) takes place mostly at night – and the darkness is used metaphorically to express that malignant evil spreads from character to character.” – Danny Peary, Guide For the Film Fanatic
Sybil A. DelGaudio is retired from Hofstra University, where she was Professor of Radio, Television and Film and served for six years as dean of its School of Communication. Her research has been published in books and journals and her production work has combined her interest in animation scholarship with a passion for documentary, resulting in two projects she directed for public television: Animated Women and Independent Spirits. Both films have been shown on PBS stations around the country, and at international film festivals, garnering festival prizes, as well as an Emmy for Animated Women.
