The Cinematheque

“Possibly the best picture-maker in B‑movies … Lewis was the perfect noir director.”

Tom Charity, The Rough Guide to Film

B‑movie auteur Joseph H. Lewis, director of Gun Crazy, The Big Combo, and My Name is Julia Ross, is a cult favourite for his brisk, stylish films noir. In So Dark the Night, a Parisian detective takes a much-needed vacation in the French countryside, only to become tangled up in a messy romantic triangle — and murder. Made on a miniscule budget with a no-name cast, and shot by noted cameraman Burnett Guffey (In a Lonely Place, Bonnie and Clyde), Lewis’s little-seen gem is ​“directed like a million bucks … It has more cinematic ideas per square foot of screen than any number of contemporary A features … This is what Lewis was all about” (Tony Rayns, Time Out).