Dead of Night

Dead of Night
Dead of Night

Dead of Night US release poster
Directed by Cavalcanti ("Christmas Party" and "The Ventriloquist's Dummy")
Charles Crichton ("Golfing Story")
Basil Dearden ("Hearse Driver" and "Linking Narrative")
Robert Hamer ("The Haunted Mirror")
Produced by Michael Balcon
Written by H.G. Wells (original story)
E.F. Benson (original story)
John Baines (original story and screenplay)
Angus MacPhail (original story and screenplay)
Starring Michael Redgrave
Mervyn Johns
Frederick Valk
Roland Culver
Music by Georges Auric
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Cinematography Jack Parker
Stanley Pavey
Douglas Slocombe
Editing by Charles Hasse
Distributed by Eagle-Lion Distributors Limited (UK)
Universal Pictures (US)
Release date(s) 4 September, 1945 (UK)
June 28, 1946 (USA)
Running time 102 min.
Country  United Kingdom
Language English

Dead of Night (1945) is a British portmanteau horror film made by Ealing Studios, its various episodes directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer. The film stars Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers and Michael Redgrave. The film is probably best-remembered for the ventriloquist's dummy episode starring Redgrave.

Dead of Night stands out from British film of the 1940s, when few genre films were being produced, and it had a huge influence on subsequent British horror films; most particularly, the anthology films produced by Amicus in the 1960s and early 1970s. Both of the segments by John Baines were recycled for later films, and the possessed ventriloquist dummy episode was adapted as an episode of the long-running CBS radio series Escape.

Contents

Plot

Architect Walter Craig (Mervyn Johns) arrives at a country house party where he reveals to the assembled guests that he has seen them all in a dream. He appears to have no prior personal knowledge of them but he is able to predict spontaneous events in the house before they unfold. The other guests attempt to test Craig's foresight, while entertaining each other with various tales of uncanny or supernatural events that they experienced or were told about. These include a racing car driver's premonition of a fatal bus crash; a light hearted tale of two obsessed golfers, one of whom becomes haunted by the other's ghost; a ghostly encounter during a children's Christmas party (a scene cut from the initial American release); a haunted antique mirror; and the story of an unbalanced ventriloquist (Michael Redgrave) who believes his amoral dummy is truly alive. The framing story is then capped by a twist ending.

Cast

Linking narrative

(directed by Basil Dearden)

Hearse Driver sequence

(directed by Basil Dearden)

  • Anthony Baird as Hugh Grainger
  • Judy Kelly as Joyce Grainger
  • Miles Malleson as Hearse Driver / Bus Conductor
  • Robert Wyndham as Dr. Albury

Christmas Party sequence

(directed by Alberto Cavalcanti)

  • Michael Allan as Jimmy Watson
  • Sally Ann Howes as Sally O'Hara
  • Barbara Leake as Mrs O'Hara

Haunted Mirror sequence

(directed by Robert Hamer)

Golfing Story sequence

(directed by Charles Crichton)

Ventriloquist's Dummy sequence

(directed by Alberto Cavalcanti)

  • Allan Jeayes as Maurice Olcott
  • Magda Kun as Mitzi
  • Miles Malleson as Jailor
  • Garry Marsh as Harry Parker
  • Hartley Power as Sylvester Kee
  • Michael Redgrave as Maxwell Frere
  • Frederick Valk as Dr. van Straaten
  • Elisabeth Welch as Beulah

Legacy

The circular plot of Dead of Night inspired Fred Hoyle's Steady State model of the universe, developed in 1948.[1]

Director Martin Scorsese placed Dead of Night on his list of the 11 scariest horror films of all time.[2] Dead of Night also currently holds a 96% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

See also

The theme of the mad ventriloquist has been visited in other works and media:

The theme of the fatal crash premonition has also been visited in other works and media:

  • "The Bus-Conductor", a short story by E. F. Benson published in The Pall Mall Magazine in 1906
  • Famous Ghost Stories, a 1944 anthology by Bennett Cerf
  • "Twenty Two", a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone.

References

Notes

  1. ^ Jane Gregory, Fred Hoyle's Universe, Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-19-850791-7, pp.36-7
  2. ^ Scorsese, Martin (October 28, 2009). "11 Scariest Horror Movies of All Time". The Daily Beast. http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-28/martin-scorseses-top-11-horror-films-of-all-time/2/. Retrieved November 15, 2009. 

Bibliography

  • Jerry Vermilye The Great British Films, 1978, Citadel Press, pp 85–87, ISBN 080650661X

External links


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