So Dark the Night (1946)

"Excellent Engrossing Rural Crime Thriller"

Director Joseph H Lewis' second film for Columbia (made after 1945's MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS) gets a Blu-ray release from Arrow and if anything it's even better than Lewis' stylish debut at that studio.

Renowned Parisian detective Inspector Henri Cassin (Steven Geray), exhausted by city police work, decides to take a holiday in the country. He ends up in a small village, where he and the local innkeeper's daughter, Nanette (Micheline Cheiral) fall in love. Unfortunately Nanette has been betrothed to local farmer Leon (Paul Marion) from an early age, and Leon doesn't take the news of their engagement well. 

Nanette runs after Leon to console him and the next day she can't be found. Until, that is, her body washes up on the bank of the nearby river. Inspector Cassin promises to solve the case himself but it proves trickier than he thinks as bodies start to pile up for seemingly no reason.

SO DARK THE NIGHT starts off so deceptively nice that you think you're going to watch a straightforward, and possibly a little bit insipid, thriller of the period, but once the film gets underway it couldn't be any more different. Definitely a forerunner of the twist-filled gialli of the 1970s, the film also has those movies' dime-store psychology as an explanation for what has been going on, so be prepared to forgive the movie that. 

Otherwise SO DARK THE NIGHT is a leap in quality from Lewis' already accomplished MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS, and by the end I was keen to watch it through again now that I knew what was going on.

Arrow's print looks very fine indeed, and is accompanied by a commentary track from NYT reviewer Glenn Kenny and blogger Farran Smith Nehme. There's a also a decent twenty minute analysis of the movie from Imogen Sara Smith, and I certainly agree with her that SO DARK IS THE NIGHT is an undiscovered gem. If you get the first pressing you'll also get a booklet featuring new writing on the film from David Cairns. Definitely worth picking up. 

Joseph H Lewis' SO DARK THE NIGHT is released on Blu-ray by Arrow Academy on Monday 18th February 2019

My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)

"Well Made Entertaining B Movie Melodrama"

Director Joseph H Lewis' first film for Columbia (after working on poverty row quickies) gets a Blu-ray release form Arrow Academy.

Julia Ross (Nina Foch), living in London and in need of employment, is delighted when she passes a successful job interview to become the new secretary to Mrs Williamson Hughes (Dame May Witty). Unfortunately all is not as it seems, and before Julia has even had a chance to notice that Mrs Hughes' son Ralph (George Macready) has a habit of slashing up girls' nightdresses she's been drugged, kidnapped and finds herself waking up in a bed in Cornwall.

No sooner is poor old Julia awake than she finds she's being called Marion by the staff of the mansion in which she finds herself, and that she's now mad Ralph's wife. What's going on? Why do they want her there? And will she be able to get a letter to handsome Dennis (Roloand Varno) up in London before she meets a similar fate to that which presumably befell the real Marion?

The tried and trusted plot of beautiful girl who ends up a prisoner of a elderly woman and her deranged son is one beloved of pulp thrillers all the way from the Victorian era through to the Pan Book of Horror Stories and beyond. Here director Joseph H Lewis imbues the brisk proceedings (MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS clocks in at 65 minutes) with lashings of style and does wonders with the low budget. The three leads are all excellent, although some of the more minor character roles do come across as rather wooden, but you can't have everything for little money.

Arrow's Blu-ray boasts a splendid transfer. Extras include a commentary track by film historian Alan K Rode and there's a good twenty minute piece from The Nitrate Diva (Nora Fiore) that helps contextualise the movie historically.

Joseph H Lewis' MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS is out on Blu-ray from Arrow Academy on Monday 18th February 2019