Celebrated Argentinian film “Never Open That Door” (“No abras nunca esa puerta,” 1952), recently restored with funding from the Golden Globe Foundation, will soon be available on DVD with a selection of bonus materials, thanks to film distributor Flicker Alley.
“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.
Bonus Materials Include:
- If I Should Die Before I Wake (Si muero antes de despertar, 1952) – 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
- Cornell Woolrich: Fear Has No Borders (2024) – 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, Halley Sutton, and Alan K. Rode. Featuring additional remarks by author, film historian, and “noirchaeologist” Eddie Muller
- Preserving Memory: Fernando Martín Peña on Argentine Cinema (2024) – Peña is a cinema historian and Argentina’s leading film archivist
- Souvenir Booklet – with rare original photographs, posters, and ephemera
- New English Subtitled Translations
- Spanish SDH Subtitles
- Reversible Cover Artwork
- Blu-ray / DVD Authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion
- All Region Encoding (A,B,C/0)
Release Date: June 4, 2024
Format: Blu-ray / DVD
Region: ALL REGION
Director: Carlos Hugo Christensen
Year: 1952
Country: Argentina
Language: Spanish
Length: 85 mins. / 73 mins.
UPC: 6-17311-68859-1
Restored with funding from the @goldenglobefoundation
CLICK HERE for more information.
