''Don't Ever Open That Door'' (Spanish:''No abras nunca esa puerta'') is a

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

of the

classical era Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the interwoven civilization ...

directed by

Carlos Hugo Christensen Carlos Hugo Christensen (15 December 1914 in Santiago del Estero – 30 November 1999 in Rio de Janeiro) was an Argentina, Argentine film director, screenwriter and film producer, an iconic figure of the Golden Age of Argentine cinema, classical ...

and starring Ángel Magana,

Roberto Escalada Roberto Escalada born Aldo Roberto Leggero (4 July 1914 – 5 December 1986 in Buenos Aires) was an Argentine actor, an icon of the Golden Age of Argentine cinema, classic era of Argentine cinema. Roberto Escalada began his career working on ...

and Norma Giménez. It is a

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film or a portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of three or more shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme, premise ...

based on two short stories by

Cornell Woolrich Cornell George Hopley Woolrich ( ; December 4, 1903 – September 25, 1968) was an American novelist and short story writer. He sometimes used the pseudonyms William Irish and George Hopley. His biographer, Francis Nevins Jr., rated Woolrich the ...

, namely "Somebody on the Phone" and "Humming Bird Comes Home". The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Gori Muñoz Gori Muñoz (1906–1978) was a Spanish-born Argentine art director. He worked on many films including ''The Phantom Lady (film), The Phantom Lady'' (1945).Rist & Barnard p.22 Selected filmography * ''The Phantom Lady (film), The Phantom Lady'' (1 ...

. It was included in the 2022 list of

The 100 Greatest Films of Argentine Cinema The 100 Greatest Films of Argentine Cinema (Spanish: ''Las 100 mejores películas del cine argentino''), also known as the Survey of Argentine cinema (Spanish: ''Encuesta de cine argentino''), are a series of opinion polls carried out to establis ...

at number 45, a poll organized by the specialized magazines ''La vida útil'', ''Taipei'' and ''La tierra quema'', which was presented at the

Mar del Plata International Film Festival The Mar del Plata International Film Festival () is an List of film festivals, international film festival that takes place every November in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. It is the only competitive feature festival recognized by the FIAPF ...

Plot

1. Anguish - A rich man's sister is having trouble due to gambling debts. She will not tell him who is calling her, using a code of letting the phone ring five times before hanging up and calling back as a signal. He tries to help her but she commits suicide before he can determine exactly what is happening. He tracks down a man he has seen her talking to in a bar, who he presumes is her blackmailer. After he kills the man, who says he was only trying to help the sister, the phone rings five times as he looks on in confusion and disbelief. 2. Pain. A blind woman lives with her young niece who assists her. The blind woman is very astute at using her other senses to determine what is going on around her. She misses her son who left eight years prior. Meanwhile, a man who whistles a familiar tune as he robs a jewelry store with two accomplices, kills the store owner while escaping with the stolen goods. The police announce this robbery on the radio, noting that the criminal whistles while robbing and murdering. He goes to the blind woman's house with his two accomplices, and one of them dies while there. Soon, we realize that the leader is the missing son. The blind woman realizes her son has gone bad when he whistles the tune known to be used by the robber. At night, as the thugs sleep, she goes through the house removing keys and stealing their guns from their bedsides in a long, suspenseful sequence. She has her young niece remove all the fuses from the fuse-box to make it dark in the house, and sends her to get help. In leaving by car, she rouses one of the thugs who wakes the son, and the criminals go to the top of the stairs. Using a flashlight, the two thugs see the woman, and when one goes to shoot her with his hidden gun, a scuffle ensues. One man falls to the landing below, dead, the other comes down the stairs to the mother while whistling and whispers, "I'll follow the good path." Appearing to believe it is her son, she lets him go. The niece returns, and it is discovered that it is the son who is dead on the landing and his accomplice who escaped. The niece covers the son's face with a napkin, repeating that he is now on "the good path."

Cast

* Ángel Magana *

* Ilde Pirovano * Nicolás Fregues * Arnoldo Chamot as Camarero * Carlos D'Agostino as Relator radial * Diana de Córdoba * Rafael Diserio * Renée Dumas * Pedro Fiorito * Norma Giménez *

Rosa Martín Rosa or De Rosa may refer to: Plants and animals * ''Rosa'' (plant), the genus of roses * Rosa (sea otter), a sea otter that has become popular on the internet * Rosa (cow), a Spanish-born cow People * Rosa (given name) * Rosa (surname) * San ...

* Luis Mora * Percival Murray as Policia * Luis Otero * Alberto Quiles * Orestes Soriani as Gerente de banco

Preservation

''Don't Ever Open That Door'' (also translated from its Spanish title to ''Never Open That Door'') was preserved and restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 35mm dupe picture negative, a 35mm subtitled print and a 16mm print. Restoration funding was provided by the

Golden Globe Foundation The Golden Globe Foundation is a nonprofit successor organization to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which previously owned and managed the Golden Globe Awards. The awards themselves are now owned and operated by Dick Clark Prod ...

and the Film Noir Foundation. The restoration was screened at the 2024 UCLA Festival of Preservation.

References

Bibliography

* Spicer, Andrew. ''Historical Dictionary of Film Noir''. Scarecrow Press, 2010.

External links

* 1952 films Argentine thriller films Film noir 1950s Spanish-language films Argentine black-and-white films Films directed by Carlos Hugo Christensen Films based on multiple works Films based on works by Cornell Woolrich Films scored by Julián Bautista 1950s thriller films 1950s Argentine films {{1950s-thriller-film-stub