Main Cast: Mervyn Johns, Michael Redgrave, Sally Ann Howes, Mary Merrall, Roland Culver
Release Year: 1945
Country: UK
Run Time: 102 minutes
Plot
Considered the greatest horror anthology film, the classic British chiller Dead of Night features five stories of supernatural terror from four different directors, yet it ultimately feels like a unified whole. The framing device is simple but unsettling, as a group of strangers find themselves inexplicably gathered at an isolated country estate, uncertain why they have come. The topic of conversation soon turns to the world of dreams and nightmares, and each guest shares a frightening event from his/her own past. Many of these tales have become famous, including Basil Dearden's opening vignette about a ghostly driver with "room for one more" in the back of his hearse. Equally eerie are Robert Hamer's look at a haunted antique mirror that gradually begins to possess its owner's soul, and Alberto Cavalcanti's ghost story about a mysterious young girl during a Christmas party. Legendary Ealing comedy director Charles Crichton lightens the mood with an amusing interlude about the spirit of a deceased golfer haunting his former partner, leaving viewers vulnerable to Cavalcanti's superb and much-imitated closing segment, about a ventriloquist (Michael Redgrave) slowly driven mad when his dummy appears to come to life. Deservedly acclaimed and highly influential, Dead of Night's episodic structure inspired an entire genre of lesser imitators. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
Review
A classic horror anthology, Dead of Night still has the ability to deliver chills, even this many decades after its release. It's an enthralling omnibus, one that continues to work year after year, viewing after viewing, in spite of the fact that so many of its surprises have become familiar to viewers over time. The best segment is inarguably the final one, the finest exploration of the creepy relationship between a ventriloquist and his perhaps-otherworldy dummy ever put on film. Again, this is a setup that has been done many times, but never so effectively as here, thanks in large part to Alberto Cavalcanti's superb direction and Michael Redgrave's enthralling performance. Cavalcanti also directs the least effective episode, involving a very young Sally Ann Howes and a ghost; but though less effective, it still makes an impression. Director Charles Crichton's macabre humor works well with actors Naunton Wayne and Basil Redford in the droll golfing segment, and Robert Hamer's smooth direction of the mirror sequence is equally effective. Basil Dearden does well directing the hearse sequence, but he does even better creating the "wraparound" that frames the stories, especially in the climactic déjà vu montage that is surprisingly chilling. Blessed with a strong cast, several strong directors, and solid scripting, Dead of Night is a classic of the genre. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Frederick [Fritz] Valk - Dr. Van Straaten; Basil Radford - George Parratt; Judy Kelly - Joyce Grainger; Barbara Leake - Mrs. O'Hara; Naunton Wayne - Larry Potter; Ralph Michael - Peter Courtland; Allan Jeayes - Maurice Olcott; Elisabeth Welch - Beulah; Hartley Power - Sylvester Kee; Anthony Baird - Hugh Grainger; Magda Kun - Mitzi; Michael Allan - Jimmy Watson; Renée Gadd - Mrs. Craig; Garry Marsh - Harry Parker; John McGuire - Hugo; Esme Percy - Dealer; Googie Withers - Joan Courtland; Robert Wyndham - Dr. Albury; Miles Malleson - Hearse Driver; Peggy Bryan - Mary Lee
Credit
Michael Relph - Art Director, Marion Horn - Costume Designer, Bianca Mosca - Costume Designer, Alberto Cavalcanti - Director, Charles Crichton - Director, Basil Dearden - Director, Robert Hamer - Director, Charles Hasse - Editor, Georges Auric - Composer (Music Score), Ernest Irving - Musical Direction/Supervision, Harold Julius - Cinematographer, Jack Parker - Cinematographer, Douglas Slocombe - Cinematographer, Michael Balcon - Producer, Sidney Cole - Producer, John Croydon - Producer, Lionel Banes - Special Effects, Cliff John Richardson - Special Effects, Eric Williams - Sound/Sound Designer, John V. Baines - Screen Story, John V. Baines - Screenwriter, T.E.B. Clarke - Screenwriter, Angus MacPhail - Screenwriter, H.G. Wells - Short Story Author, E.F. Benson - Short Story Author
The period of greatest intensity of something, such as darkness or cold. For example, I love looking at seed catalogs in the dead of winter, when it's below zero outside. The earliest recorded use of
dead of night, for "darkest time of night," was in Edward Hall's Chronicle of 1548: "In the dead of the night ... he broke up his camp and fled." Dead of winter, for the coldest part of winter, dates from the early 1600s.
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. It was also used twice by the American television series The Twilight Zone, as well as serving as the basis for the William Goldman-scripted film Magic.
Architect Walter Craig (Mervyn Johns) arrives at a country house party where he reveals to the other assembled guests that he has seen them all in a recurring dream. He has no prior personal knowledge of them, but he knows that each has a disturbing story to tell, while he also shows amazing knowledge of 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 mysterious premonition of a fatal bus crash; a humorous tale of two obsessed golfers, one of whom is 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 disturbing twist ending.
