Midnight Lace

Original poster
Directed by	David Miller
Produced by	Ross Hunter Martin Melcher
Written by	Ivan Goff Ben Roberts Based on a play by Janet Green
Starring	Doris Day Rex Harrison John Gavin
Music by	Frank Skinner
Cinematography	Russell Metty
Editing by	Leon Barsha Russell F. Schoengarth
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	October 13, 1960
Country	United States
Language	English

Midnight Lace is a 1960 American mystery-thriller film starring Doris Day and Rex Harrison, directed by David Miller. The screenplay by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts is based on the play Matilda Shouted Fire by Janet Green.

The film was remade as a television movie by Universal Television for NBC in 1981.

Plot

A newlywed, American heiress Kit Preston is living with her financier husband Tony on Grosvenor Square in London. Kit is returning home in a dense fog, where she is startled by an eerie, electronic-like voice threatening to kill her within the month. The voice calls to her by name and torments her as she runs to escape. Tony tries to convince her she has been the victim of a practical joker and suggests they take a trip to Venice for the honeymoon they never had.

The following day, business matters force Tony to cancel a lunch date with his wife at the last minute. She shows him recent purchases including a nightgown called "Midnight Lace" which Tony fancies. As she returns home, a falling girder from the construction site adjacent to her building nearly hits her, but she is pushed to safety by contractor Brian Younger, who startles her when he addresses her by name. Inside she encounters Malcolm Stanley, the shiftless son of her maid Nora, who annoys her with his unctuous behavior.

Soon after he departs, she receives a call from the voice in the park, repeating his intention to kill her. Neighbor Peggy Thompson urges Tony to take Kit to Scotland Yard to discuss the situation. After questioning her, Inspector Byrnes suggests to Tony he suspects Kit is merely a lonely wife in need of attention. Meanwhile, Kit's Aunt Bea comes for a visit. When Kit tells her of the phone calls they both put it off to "telephone talkers".

Tony must cancel the trip to Italy due to continuing problems at work. Kit receives another call, but before Tony can take the phone to hear the voice, she hysterically hangs up. Later the same evening, the couple meet Kit's aunt Bea Coleman and Bea's former beau Charles Manning at a nightclub, where Bea questions Tony about her niece's nervous behavior. When Tony repeats the inspector's suspicions, Bea wonders if he may be right when they identify the last call was received after hearing the Italy trip was cancelled.

The next day, Kit is trapped in her apartment building elevator when the power goes out. She begins to panic when she hears footsteps ominously approaching in the dark, and is relieved to discover it is Brian, who was on his way to warn her about his crew blowing a circuit. After the electricity comes back on, he takes a visibly shaken Kit to a local pub for a brandy. During their conversation, Brian relates an experience he had in a burning tank during World War II. He tells her he has suffered "black outs" and once lost a whole day. Kit is disturbed by his intense manner and returns home. The pub owner comes and asks Brian if she should include the phone charges from the night before in his bill. He seems a bit startled about the phone calls but tells her to include them.

Kit, Tony and Aunt Bea are at the ballet when Tony's assistant Daniel Graham calls him away to tell him it appears £1 million has been embezzled from the firm. Daniel knows company treasurer Manning has large gambling debts and suggests he is responsible for the loss. Meanwhile, Malcolm confronts Kit at the ballet and asks for money. When she hesitates, he vaguely threatens her.

As time passes, Kit becomes increasingly paranoid. Her reports of more calls and a visit from a mysterious stranger no one else sees are met with scepticism by everyone. She sees the man she had claimed came to the apartment in the street, and soon she is pushed in front of an approaching bus. Now frantic, Kit begs Peggy to lie and say she heard the voice on the phone, but her plan backfires when Tony reveals their phone has been out of order.

Now certain that Kit is delusional, Tony and Bea take her to a physician who suggests that she may be suffering from a split personality and that she should be taken to a psychiatrist. After consulting further with the doctor, Tony decides to take Kit to Venice immediately and asks Bea to help her pack while he attends a board meeting.

Brian having dinner at the pub across the street sees a man who seems very ill at ease. Talking to the pub owner, she tells him that the man has recently been hanging around staring at the building across.

Before he leaves for the meeting, the phone rings and Tony hears the voice. He calls Inspector Byrnes and asks him to come to the apartment, then tells Kit he will pretend to leave the building, secretly return, and hopefully catch the man who has been stalking her.

As soon as Tony leaves, the caller phones to announce he is coming to kill Kit. Tony returns, they turn off all the lights and inside the apartment, the voice begins to call Kit telling her he is there to kill her. A man with a gun is seen at the terrace doors. Tony tackles him and the two struggle throughout the apartment with the gun going off and hitting the intruder.

Kit begins to wonder why Scotland Yard is taking so long and starts to call them. Tony stops her and much to Kit's astonishment, Tony then confesses he never called them but soon will after she has been thrown from the terrace and killed "fighting off the intruder". He explains his plan was to kill Kit and make her death appear to be a suicide prompted by her mental illness so Tony can collect her inheritance and repay the money he stole from his business. The intruder has changed the plans, that he, Tony will now have come down the stairs after the intruder has killed Kit only to kill the intruder.

Just then Peggy enters the apartment and as Kit asks for her help, Tony explains that the two of them are responsible for everything that has transpired. Peggy helping with the phone calls and pushing her at the bus stop. The man with the gun regains consciousness. He turns out to be Peggy's husband Roy, who planned to murder Tony and Peggy after learning about their affair.

As they speak Kit has worked her way out on the terrace into the construction site gliding across girders. Brian and a policeman see her and provide a light on her stopping Tony from following and throwing her off. Brian reaches her and helps her to the elevator and down to the street where Aunt Bea awaits.

Inspector Byrnes arrives and reveals he had tapped Kit's phone and knew she was in trouble when Tony pretended to call the police. Brian and Bea give comfort to Kit while the inspector arrest her husband and his mistress.

Cast

• Doris Day as Kit Preston
• Rex Harrison as Tony Preston
• John Gavin as Brian Younger
• Myrna Loy as Bea Vorman
• Roddy McDowall as Malcolm Stanley
• Herbert Marshall as Charles Manning
• Natasha Parry as Peggy Thompson
• John Williams as Inspector Byrnes
• Hermione Baddeley as Dora Hammer
• Richard Ney as Daniel Graham
• Anthony Dawson as Roy Ash
• Rhys Williams as Victor Elliot
• Doris Lloyd as Nora Stanley

Critical reception

The Time critic called the film "another of those recurrent thrillers (Sorry, Wrong Number, Gaslight, The Two Mrs. Carrolls, Julie) in which a dear, sweet, innocent girl is pursued by a shadowy figure of evil who threatens her with all sorts of insidious molestation . . . Like its predecessors, Midnight Lace is not very interesting in itself, but it is uncomfortably fascinating when considered as one of the persistent fantasies of a monogamous society . . . False leads trail off in at least seven directions, but the climax of the film will come to most mystery buffs as no surprise . . . Doris Day wears a lot of expensive clothes, and in attempting to portray the all-American missus behaves like such a silly, spoiled, hysterical, middle-aged Lolita that many customers may find themselves less in sympathy with her plight than with the villain's murderous intentions."^[1]

Awards and nominations

Doris Day was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama but lost to Greer Garson in Sunrise at Campobello. Irene was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Color Costume Design but lost to Arlington Valles for Spartacus.

References

External links

• Midnight Lace at the Internet Movie Database