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Based on a novel by noir genius David Goodis and the only film noir to feature death by snow plow, Jacques Tourneur’s Nightfall stars the under-appreciated Aldo Ray as Jim Vanning, a likable WWII veteran on the run from bank robbers who believe (mistakenly) that he has their loot. A chance encounter pulls fashion model Marie Gardner (Anne Bancroft) into Vanning’s maze, and the couple are forced to flee for Wyoming in the hopes of finding the lost money and saving their lives. Released a full decade after director Tourneur’s style-defining Out of the Past (1947), Nightfall is halved much like Nicholas Ray’s On Dangerous Ground (1952), switching the action between urban anonymity and snowy mountain intimacy, but Tourneur maintains narrative focus on Vanning’s increasing alienation throughout.
