File access problems, long path/filename

I'm dealing with a file access issue that has me stopped dead in my tracks.  Recently a couple of users indicated that they were unable to open files in a particular folder.  The strange thing is that they don't get an access denied error--when they double click the file, nothing happens.  Nothing at all.  I tried it as domain admin and had the same exact result.

Thinking it might be a bizarre permissions issue, I verified the folder is inheriting permissions from the parent folder (where they do have proper access rights), and forced apply to child objects just for good measure.  This didn't help.  I tried dragging and dropping the file to the admin desktop--no luck, nothing happened.  Right-clicking one of these problem files brings up a context menu with Open, Print, Open With, and Send To.  No option for Security, Properties, etc.  I've tried changing the target app using Open With, and THEN I get an "Access denied" error when opening the files.

My users have long and complicated paths with files nested many levels deep and I'm thinking perhaps the total path+file name is too long for NTFS.  I've tried creating new documents in the problem folder and I can only type a few characters, so that seems consistent with a path that's too long.  Realizing this, I've tried to rename the parent folders to shorter names, but I still can't open the target files.

Anyone have any idea how I can force these documents to be accessible?