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Dead of Night
1945 Horror / Thriller / Comedy
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Credits
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Director: Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, Robert Hamer
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Script: H.G. Wells (story), E.F. Benson (story), John Baines, Angus MacPhail, T.E.B. Clarke
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Photo: Jack Parker, Stanley Pavey, Douglas Slocombe
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Music: Georges Auric
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Cast: Mervyn Johns (Walter Craig),
Roland Culver (Eliot Foley),
Mary Merrall (Mrs Foley),
Googie Withers (Joan Cortland),
Frederick Valk (Dr van Straaten),
Anthony Baird (Hugh Grainger),
Sally Ann Howes (Sally O'Hara),
Robert Wyndham (Dr Albury),
Judy Kelly (Joyce Grainger),
Michael Allan (Jimmy Watson),
Barbara Leake (Mrs O'Hara),
Ralph Michael (Peter Cortland),
Basil Radford (George Parratt),
Naunton Wayne (Larry Potter),
Peggy Bryan (Mary Lee),
Allan Jeayes (Maurice Olcott),
Michael Redgrave (Maxwell Frere),
Elisabeth Welch (Beulah),
Hartley Power (Sylvester Kee),
Magda Kun (Mitzi),
Garry Marsh (Harry Parker)
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Country: UK
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Language: English
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Runtime: 102 min; B&W
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Summary
Wanting to make some changes to his farmhouse, Eliot Foley invites the
architect Walter Craig to spend the weekend with him and his
family. As soon as he enters the house, Craig has a strong sense
of déjà vu. Not only is the building familiar to him,
but so are the people he meets inside. When Craig makes this
revelation, each of his fellow guests recounts an incident in which he
or she had a brush with the paranormal. Dr van Straaten, the only
scientist present, is sceptical of what he hears and suggests a
rational explanation for each of the seemingly supernatural
occurrences. However, Craig is increasingly convinced that
he has lived through all this before, in a dream, and that this dream
is about to become a nightmare...
Review
Often cited as the first and finest horror film made in Britain, Dead of Night is also one of
the best - if not the best -
example of the anthology film. Unlike many films of its kind, the
various pieces of the film - five short tales set within a linking
narrative - fit together perfectly, and the overall effect is both
compelling and chilling, and also darkly comical.
Dead of Night was the
first film made by Ealing Studios to be released after WWII.
It was a collaborative effort involving some of the most significant
figures at Ealing at the time - Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton
and Basil Dearden had directed or would go on to direct some of the
company’s greatest films, including: Went
the Day Well? (1942),
The Lavender Hill Mob
(1951) and The
Blue Lamp (1950).
The two segments of the film that stand out are The Haunted Mirror and The Ventriloquist’s Dummy, both of
which still send a shiver down the spine in spite of the fact that they
have both been emulated many times since. In the former, Ralph
Michael plays a man who sees a room reflected in a mirror which looks
nothing like the room he is standing in. In the latter, Michael
Redgrave plays a ventriloquist whose dummy appears to have taken on a
life of its own. Not only do both stories have excellent central
performances - Redgrave’s descent into neurotic hysteria is
particularly disturbing - but both are directed and filmed with more
than a touch of twisted genius.
The only segment that is out of place is the humorous Golfing Story, which now looks like
the inspiration for the TV series Randall
and Hopkirk (Deceased). Two golfing buddies play a round
of golf to decide who will marry an attractive woman. One of the
golfers wins by cheating; the loser commits suicide and returns as a
ghost to taunt the other. Whilst this part of the film
provides a few easy laughs and has a certain charm, it cuts against the
grain of the rest of the film and feels like an unnecessary comic
interlude. Interestingly, this sequence, along with the creepy Christmas Party segment, was cut in
the American release of the film.
Despite the immense success of Dead of Night, this was to be Ealing’s one and only venture into
the horror genre. Horror would remain pretty dormant in British
cinema for over a decade until its glorious resurrection by Hammer Film
Productions in the late 1950s. The influence of Dead of Night can be seen in
many of Hammer’s films and remains one of the most satisfying films of
its kind.
© James Travers 2008
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