LA NOCHE AVANZA (1952)

We managed to get ourselves over to Vancouver from Victoria, Sunday, April 3, for the Vancouver International Film Centre's screening of LA NOCHE AVANZA (NIGHT FALLS) 1952, Mexcian director Roberto Gavaldon's unseen film noir classic. The movie entirely lived up to its VIFF billing:

"This Gavaldón classic suggests that what the boxing world is to the Hollywood film noir, the high-speed game of pelota (jai alai) is to its Mexican cousin. Pedro Armendáriz, Mexico’s great romantic lead, plays against type as an arrogant pelotari who seduces and discards women at will, until he becomes the target of a cunning revenge plot. He meets his fate in a final image that is as quintessentially noir as it is inconceivable in a Hollywood film."

While LA NOCHE AVANZA is not available in video, Gavaldon's LA OTRA (THE OTHER ONE) 1946 and LA DIOSA ARRODILLADA (THE KNEELING GODDESS) (1947) both are. Seasoned noir fans will be thrilled.