It’s a shame that only barely watchable prints of Daniel Tinayre’s A sangre fría (US: In Cold Blood) are available today because it’s a fantastic example of Argentinian noir from the most fertile period of the cycle. (As if they knew the film would fall into disrepair, an excellent remake, Kill and Be Killed, was directed by Manuel Mur Oti and released in 1962.) Opening in a women’s prison, the film follows the remorseless Elena Rossi (Amelia Bence) as she receives parole and joins her mother as a servant in the household of a sick, wealthy woman whose morally compromised nephew, Fernando Román (Pedro López Lagar), ultimately joins in Elena’s plot to off the woman and spend the inheritance together. A primarily domestic noir with a few “old dark house” elements, the film’s story and setting are a perfect match for Tinayre’s aesthetic proclivities, his infusion of deep expressionism, including the frequent use of shadows to conceal body parts and facial elements, adding an almost supernatural chord to the drama. Few were better at representing the dark corners of human psychology than Tinayre, his floating camera and oblique framing enriching the interpretations of nearly every scene, including and especially the final dramatic confrontation on a speeding train.