While Spanish cinema in the 50’s and 60’s was producing musicals, comedies, and melodramas to attract foreign tourists as part of Franco’s “Spain is Different” propaganda campaign, Barcelona represented a sort of oasis on the eastern coast for the production of more realistic and socially critical fare, largely through dozens of crime stories shot on the gritty city streets and across the Tarragona countryside. Even these films, however, weren’t spared the scrutiny of state censors; for example, in his Muerte al amanecer (US: Death at Dawn), director Josep Maria Forn was compelled to replace the corrupt police officer of Mario Lacruz’ source novel with a corrupt insurance company investigator to avoid tarnishing the Franco regime’s image. Plot-wise, the investigator Doria (José María Rodero) is monomaniacally focused on proving (even to the point of planting evidence) that wealthy Montevidei (Félix de Pomés) was killed by his stepson, conductor Virgilio Delise (Antonio Vilar), whose car was seen at the scene of the crime but who can’t remember being there. Delise evades arrest and sets off to prove his innocence while the police learn of new witnesses who may be hiding crucial information. Like contrasting two different interpretations of Franco society, the film depicts Doria as rapacious and corrupt, Delise as disoriented and desperate (lying on a hotel room bed, he’s shaken by a knock on the door). Forn incorporates a variety of camera angles, some very fresh for the period, but the noir visuals shine the most at night, of course, especially the sequence involving Delise’s escape and hiding from police down cobblestone alleys and around shadowy corners.