''The Night Heaven Fell'' (''Les bijoutiers du clair de lune'') is an

Eastmancolor Eastmancolor is a trade name used by Eastman Kodak for a number of related film and processing technologies associated with color motion picture production and referring to George Eastman, founder of Kodak. Eastmancolor, introduced in 1950, was on ...

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

French-Italian film directed by

Roger Vadim Roger Vadim Plemiannikov (; 26 January 1928 – 11 February 2000) was a French screenwriter, film director and producer, as well as an author, artist and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, su ...

. Vadim had already acquired international fame with his daring debut '' And God Created Woman'' (

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...

). Like its predecessor, ''The Night Heaven Fell'' explored the exuberant sensuality of

Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a former French actress, singer and model. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated characters with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the ...

, who was Vadim's wife at the time.

Plot

Set in rural

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, Ursula (

), is a young girl who has just left a convent and has moved in with her aunt Florentine and her violent husband, the count Ribera ( José Nieto). Ribera wants to see Lambert (

Stephen Boyd Stephen Boyd (born William Millar; 4 July 1931 – 2 June 1977) was a Northern Irish actor. He appeared in some 60 films, most notably as the villainous Messala in '' Ben-Hur'' (1959), a role that earned him the Golden Globe Award for Bes ...

), a young man from the village, dead. Ursula quickly falls in love with Lambert. In a confrontation between the two, Lambert kills Ribera in self-defense. The reason for the conflict soon becomes clear to Ursula: he was having an affair with her aunt. However, when Florentine (

Alida Valli Alida Maria Laura, '' Freiin'' Altenburger von Marckenstein-Frauenberg (31 May 1921 – 22 April 2006), better known by her stage name Alida Valli (or simply Valli), was an Italian actress who appeared in more than 100 films in a 70-year career, ...

) discovers her lover has no intention of making any commitment to her, she refuses to confirm Lambert's alibi to the police and forces him into becoming a fugitive. Ursula, always impulsive, runs off with him and together they seek a way to get him safely out of the country. While evading the police, the lovers take refuge in the gorge known as El Chorro. Lambert contacts Florentine, who agrees to help them complete their escape. But at the rendezvous back in town, the police spot Florentine's car and become suspicious. A policeman spots Lambert up the street in the village. Against Lambert's protests, Ursula runs up the street towards him. After issuing warning shots, the policeman shoots several rounds up the street, mortally wounding Ursula in the back as she stands in front of Lambert, who is unhit. He holds her in a doorway, and as she dies, they declare their love for each other, just before she falls dead on the ground.

Cast

as Ursula *

as Florentine *

as Lambert * José Nieto as Comte Miguel de Ribera * Fernando Rey as Tío * Maruchi Fresno as Conchita * Adriano Domínguez as Fernando * José Marco Davó Le chef de la police

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has an approval rating of 20% based on 5 critics, with an average rating of 4.60/10. Nathan Rabin of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' said this about the restored version of the film: "''The Night Heaven Fell'' still leaves much to be desired artistically, this new transfer is a crisp, vivid marvel that gives an interesting but tremendously flawed film better treatment than it probably deserves". The

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

version of the film was released on 19 September 2001. Rich Rosell of ''Digitally Obsessed'', who reviewed it, gave it a "C+".

References

External links

* * * French crime drama films Italian crime drama films 1958 films CinemaScope films 1958 crime drama films Films directed by Roger Vadim Films set in Spain Films scored by Georges Auric Films shot in Almería 1950s Italian films 1950s French films {{1950s-crime-drama-film-stub