There’s a scene in Palle Kjærulff-Schmidt and Robert Saaskin’s Bundfald (US: Sin Alley) in which the handsome, sullen Anton (Ib Mossen), dressed in new duds, stops to observe a building under construction as if pondering what might have been. Having recently arrived in Copenhagen from the countryside, Anton had dreamed of learning carpentry but instead succumbed to a life of crime: not just any crime but using his youthful good looks to lure wealthy older men into homosexual encounters during which they’re robbed and blackmailed. Recruited into this enterprise by two new “friends” from the street, Anton provides the beauty while Kaj (Bent Christensen) has the brains and Egon (Preben Kaas) the brawn. When one of the victims ends up murdered by accident, the boys scatter, and Anton goes on the run, bathing in a fog of shame and despair down by the water (this final sequence illustrates noir visual style nearly perfectly). Birgitte Price plays Kaj’s sister Rosa, who falls for Anton and tries unsuccessfully to persuade him to flee her oppressive brother’s control. The film paints postwar Copenhagen as a pool of desperate souls using any means necessary to satisfy their needs, whether financial or sexual, the gay bar’s glamorous interior concealing the hopelessness and loneliness on display outside. Despite its low budget and unusual subject matter, Sin Alley is a brilliant example of European noir and deserves widespread rediscovery among noir fans.