I recently reviewed “Nightwish.” Now I turn to another movie with a nocturnally themed title, this one a film noir feature from the 50s.

“Nightfall” is quite entertaining. Aldo Ray, an actor I was unfamiliar with (a quick wiki search reveals he was an incorrigible drunk), plays the classic noir loner who wanders the streets at night, his mind weighed down by secrets. He finds some relief at a bar upon meeting a charming model played by Ann Margret. But his tormented past starts catch up with him when he’s kidnapped by two thugs, one played by Brian Keith who viewers of a certain age (e.g. mine) will recall as the co-star of the eighties action show “Hardcastle and McCormick.”

But wait—there’s more! An additional character, a private eye type, is watching events from a distance. What’s his role in all this?

The secrets slowly spill out as these characters engage in a cat-and-mouse pursuit. And the story moves around a bit, from the shadowed alleys of LA*, to the snow-covered hills of Wyoming where several of these characters first met in an act of wanton violence.

As with the best of noirs, it’s the look of the film that is the real star. Crisp blacks and snow blinding whites battle each other for every inch of the screen. Neon lights dazzle the eyes, while jutting shadows promise evil.

In a suspense scene I found Hitchcockian, Ann Margeret’s character tries to finish her runway gig, even as the fiends close in.

Plot-wise, “Nightfall” could have used a few more betrayals. For the most part, the good guys stay good and the bad guys bad.

Also, someone gets killed by a snowplow. * Interestingly, one character notes that the opening scene takes place on Las Palmas, a street in Hollywood I lived on in the 90s.