Los tallos amargos (The Bitter Stems) (1956), directed by Fernando Ayala. Heights Theater on Thursday, February 9.

I’m so glad that almost a hundred people turned out at the Heights to watch Los tallos amargos (The Bitter Stems). This is the story of a man, Alfredo, plagued by guilt for not participating in a war (World War II? The Spanish Civil War? Maybe his family was of German ancestry?), and frustrated by his low wages at a newspaper, eagerly joins with a Hungarian immigrant who has concocted a scheme to rip off people with this bogus correspondence course. When our hero discovers that the immigrant needs money to get his family out of his country, now occupied by the Russians, Alfredo feels like he finally can be a hero, and plunges into the work, promising to give the Hungarian 75% of the earnings to bring the fam over. Well, Alfredo’s paranoid, and little things begin to make him feel like he’s being taken by the Hungarian, with disastrous results.

The Bitter Stems is highly regarded worldwide for its lush black and white cinematography, even being named as one of the best shot films of all-time in an old poll in American Cinematographer magazine. Honestly, though, if this movie were American or European, it would be regarded as one of the great crime films, period. That it’s not is sad, but screenings like last evening’s at least make up for this, if only a little bit.