So Dark the Night [1946] [DVD]

It's not often that character actors have the chance to play leading roles and Steven Geray, an east European actor usually cast as bartender, foreign agent or small-time criminal, does a splendid job in this outstanding B-feature. Playing a famous French detective on holiday, he finds himself investigating murders in a small village.

Although the rest of the cast is little known, the well-written story has a memorably original twist, the setting is skilfully evoked, and the film is imaginatively directed by Joseph H Lewis in a worthy follow-up to his much acclaimed low-budget film noir, My Name Is Julia Ross.