Night Heat [Cette nuit la] (Collection of 71 original keybook contact sheets from the 1958 film)

Paris: Cinedis, 1958. Collection of 71 vintage single weight keybook contact sheets, amounting to over 800 numbered images, from the 1958 French film. Much of the film is represented in minute detail, along with test shots, set design shots, and many candid moments from the set. Dramatic high-contrast images of starring actors, Demongeot answering telephones and in heated embraces, with several sheets capturing a formal dinner with the cast and crew, presumably the film's premiere. Most with 12 images per sheet, a few with 6-frame strips of 35mm film, each image with a series number, and all sheets credit at the top the photo laboratory Tele-Photo, film studio Cinedis, film title, and photographer Apoteker. Housed in a red paper 2-ring binder with French titles printed on the front. Several with brief numerical annotations on the verso.

Noirish crime thriller based on Michel Lebrun's novel "Un Silence de Mort" (1957), starring Demongeot as Sylvie, married to Jean (Ronet), an executive at a fashion magazine. Jean's boss, André (Servais), obsesses over Sylvie, whose demure femininity can be fatal. An early film credit for still photographer Paul Apoteker, whose "Too Late for Love" (1959) is regarded as his first credited film. His dramatic execution would later be seen in Clouzot's "The Truth" (1960), Sautet's romance noir "Classe Tous Risques" (1960), and Woody Allen's "Love and Death" (1975). Demongeot and Ronet are amply represented throughout the collection, including a preliminary mockup of the poster art.

Photos 8.25 x 10.25 inches, a few slightly variant sizes, hole-punched, and two with square cuts. Very Good plus overall, with curling and light foxing, creases to the binder.