Terrific Mexicali-Noir, and a great starting point on Mexico Golden Age director Roberto Gavaldón.* A fever dream melodrama about Jai Alai champ Pedro Armendáriz (why is this thrilling game not played north of Florida?), an arrogant bastard loathed by his competitors and currently involved with three contrasting ladies: a nightclub songbird reduced to backup lay (think Gene Tierney/Rita Hayworth); an upper-crust society teen he’s knocked up (think Ann Blyth/Jane Greer); an old flame just back in town, now a widowed heiress (think Joan Crawford/Gloria Swanson). Set mostly at night, richly photographed (look for the restored edition), Armendáriz shows his tru-colors right from the start, dumping one date for another and kicking a dog as he enters her limo. (Don’t worry, the dog gets his own back.) The first two acts set up a furious roundelay of romantic, sporting & gambling entanglements. Come Act Three, debt maintenance comes due on all these fronts with whiplash reversals, gunplay trigger action, gambling & blackmail switchbacks, mob kidnapping; all of it motivated by enough greed & stupidity to save a man’s life or seal a man’s doom. Essential viewing.
DOUBLE-BILL: *Other Roberto Galvaldón pics tend to disappoint, but NOCHE is good enough to set anyone back on the hunt over his 50+ titles. Suggestions welcome!
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