The Beast Must Die

The Beast Must Die was adapted from a crime novel by Cecil Day-Lewis (father of Oscar-winning actor Daniel), published in 1938 under the pseudonym Nicholas Blake. The first quarter can seem disorienting – murder by poison is connected to a multitude of characters in complicated relationships. But then the flashback kicks in and the narrative centers around a single protagonist, crime fiction writer Felix Lane (Narciso Ibáñez Menta). The rest takes the form of a revenge film, with the man vowing to uncover and kill the man who caused the car crash that killed his son. Uruguayan-born director Román Viñoly Barreto and cinematographer Alberto Etchebehere use harsh contrasts, depth compositions and, in some sequences, light diffused in the fog. The same material was adapted by genre specialist Claude Chabrol in 1969, and a ten-hour TV version was released in 2021. (Noir Film Festival)