The best Argentine film noir of the 1940s is an audacious blending of Naked City and Brute Force, telling the tale of a clever banking clerk (Jorge Salcedo in a charismatic performance) who embezzles money from his employer and tries to get caught, since a loophole in the Argentine justice system will free him after six years behind bars—when he intends to reclaim the hidden loot. Part caper and part prison picture, this acclaimed drama earned Argentine director Hugo Fregonese a career in Hollywood (including Black Tuesday, also screening at this year’s festival). Cinematographer Roque Giaccovino crosses noir chiaroscuro with semi-documentary “neo-realist” techniques to present an evocative vision of mid-century Buenos Aires, the Paris of the southern hemisphere. NOIR CITY is proud to present this landmark film in a preserved 35mm print courtesy of the Film Noir Foundation & UCLA Film Archive.

35mm print courtesy of the Film Noir Foundation Collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive