NEVER OPEN THAT DOOR (1952)

"This extraordinary 1952 Argentinian noir … is probably the most bedarkened, beshadowed film I've seen, full of extreme closeups, unexpected sound effects and music. It deserves to be restored and reissued."- Paul Schrader

Preserved by the Film Noir Foundation in 2013 and now beautifully restored through the UCLA Film & Television Archive, Never Open That Door (No abras nunca esa puerta) is a significant example of the cross-cultural cinematic legacy shared by the United States and Argentina during the post-WWII era. Based on two short stories by American master of suspense fiction Cornell Woolrich (Rear Window, Phantom Lady, The Bride Wore Black), the film is brilliantly directed by Argentine filmmaker Carlos Hugo Christensen with extraordinary cinematography by Pablo Tabernero. Says FNF founder Eddie Muller about this recent restoration, “It is a revelation to experience the work of an all-American author, in Spanish, and rendered as well – or perhaps better – than any Hollywood adaptation of his work.”

Never Open That Door is one of the most evocative realizations of Woolrich ever produced, featuring masterful sequences of sustained suspense. Said Buenos Aires film critic Horacio Bernades, “Rarely has an Argentine film been more purely cinematic than this.” Originally a three-part anthology of Woolrich tales, Never Open That Door was released separately from the 73-minute film If I Should Die Before I Wake (Si muero antes de despertar) adapted by screenwriter Alejandro Casona and Christensen. An exceedingly rare archival conservation scan of If I Should Die Before I Wake is featured in this publication. 

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• Introduction to Never Open That Door (No abras nunca esa puerta) and If I Should Die Before I Wake (Si muero antes de despertar) – by author, film historian, and "noirchaeologist" Eddie Muller
• If I Should Die Before I Wake (Si muero antes de despertar) – an exceedingly rare archival conservation scan of Carlos Hugo Christensen's third part of the film trilogy
• Audio Commentary for Never Open That Door (No abras nunca esa puerta) – by author and film historian Guido Segal
• New Documentary on Cornell Woolrich – produced by Steven C. Smith and writer/film historian Alan K. Rode, and featuring interviews with writer/film historians Gary Phillips, Maria Elena de las Carreras, and Halley Sutton
• Newly Recorded Conversation – with Argentina's leading film archivist and cinema historian Fernando Martín Peña
• Souvenir Booklet – with rare original photographs, posters, and ephemera
• New English Subtitled Translations
• Spanish SDH Subtitles
• Reversible Cover Artwork
• REGION-FREE