Night Must Fall (1937)

Very disappointed :(

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Living in very violent times when there seems to be an epidemic of psychopaths in every direction, I am especially impressed by Robert Montgomery's complex portrayal of Danny, a manipulating con artist with a psychological condition that is, under the circumstances, believably complicated and unpredictable. This role is very different from any that I have seen from Montgomery, and it demonstrates his true talent as an actor. With the exception of the World War II drama "They Were Expendable", many of Montgomery's films unfortunately never allowed him the opportunity to demonstrate his true skill as an actor as this one did.To a slightly lesser extent, the same holds true for Rosalind Russell here, who brings intricacy to the role of Olivia as she is simultaneously attracted to Danny while she also loathes him. Why else would she protect him from the police by vouching for the unusually heavy hat box? And why would she risk returning alone to her aunt's isolated house on a night when everyone else is overwhelmed by a sense of prevailing fear about a murderer at large and suspected to be within close proximity. In my humble view, these strange actions on the part of Olivia are not illogical holes in the plot as much as revelations of her own internal, psychological conflict as both a repressed and oppressed victim of her current situation. While she despises Danny, she is also fascinated by his sinister, deranged, and impulsive behavior. This complex character study is not only about a psychopath but about a woman who is captivated by him. In combination, both Montgomery and Russell fulfill the task wonderfully. Yes, the production may be stagey and excessively talky, but these two top professionals kept me absorbed from start to finish, even though we knew of Danny's guilt from the very first scene. Although many reviewers praised Dame Whitty as the cantankerous, disagreeable, old hag, I found the character to be unbearably annoying. Perhaps Whitty played the part too well because I couldn't stand watching her for very long. She reminded me of the grateful tenants of the Las Vegas shooter, killer of 59 innocent people in real life, who praised their former landlord for "everything that he had done for them". They were very lucky that they didn't end up like old lady Bramson. God forgive me, but I was actually glad when she ultimately met the destiny that was designed for her from the start. Perhaps her niece felt the same way and did in fact facilitate the final outcome as at least one other IMDb reviewer contends.Richard Thorpe, as director, and Edward Ward, as musical composer, accumulated hundreds of film credits to their names, and their extensive movie experience produced excellent results here . Among many successful atmospheric touches, I especially appreciated the pan shot of the mysterious, surrounding forest at the height of tension, which I found very sophisticated and advanced for 1937. Ward's powerful musical score also contributed to the overall, suspenseful atmosphere. Kathleen Harrison, who played Alistair Sims' long suffering maid, Mrs. Dilbert, in "A Christmas Carol" (1952), as well as other Dickensian characters, is always a cinematic treat never to be underestimated.

A charming, handsome handyman (Robert Montgomery) wheedles his way into the home of a wealthy old woman (Dame May Witty). Her niece (Rosalind Russell) is suspicious of him and eventually pieces together that he is a murderer the police are looking for. Montgomery being the killer is spoiled in most descriptions of this movie. Even TCM spoils it in their one sentence description on their programming guide. I guess we can't exactly cry foul over spoilers for a movie over 75 years old, but still it makes me wonder if there would have been some added punch for audiences in 1937 who might not have connected the dots right away. Entertaining thriller with a standout performance from Robert Montgomery, who clearly has fun with his part. Witty is excellent as always. Russell is good in one of her first big roles. Her character does a few things that are hard to explain, such as covering for Montgomery even though she knows he's got a severed head in a hatbox! I've read a decent theory that Russell wanted him to kill the old lady and that's why she prevented his arrest earlier. But I'm not convinced that's supported by what we're shown as much as it's people trying to explain away some out of character moments by Russell. Still, it's all good fun and an enjoyable film.

Rosalind Russell is wonderful playing a demure, somewhat repressed secretary, working for her crotchety old auntie in a country estate, who suspects the charming Irish houseboy of being a killer; worse still, her odd attraction to the man stops her from alerting the police. Emlyn Williams' successful stage production becomes first-rate dramatic film, with careful attention to character motivation and dialogue (and gleefully nasty, sordid little details besides). Unfortunately, it all unravels in the final reel, which does allow Oscar-nominated Robert Montgomery a chance to pull out the stops, though at the expense of credibility. Beautiful production, terrific supporting performance from May Witty. Followed in 1964 by a critically-drubbed remake. **1/2 from ****

Olivia Grayne (Rosalind Russell), a prim-looking, bespectacled young woman in tweed skirts, twinsets, and sensible shoes, lives in a country house with her crabby aunt Mrs. Bramson (Dame May Witty) and suffers the indignity of being treated like a servant while employed as her aunt's companion. She is ardently pursued by her aunt's lawyer Justin Laurie (Alan Marshal, a ringer for Laurence Olivier), who is handsome and good. Frankly, I would have left with him long ago. He asks her to marry him and says, "Even if you don't love me, aren't I better than the old lady?" Indeed!! Olivia longs for some adventure or excitement in her life of drab monotony, but doesn't think it's ever going to happen.That changes when Dora, one of the maids, confesses tearfully to being "in trouble" by a messenger from another house. Mrs. Bramson agrees to see him to make him do right by the girl. Into their lives comes Danny (Robert Montgomery), a strutting Irish charmer whose silver tongue so enchants the old lady, she offers him a job. He nonchalantly agrees to marry the maid, like many sociopaths who toss off the answer they know needs to be said without any intention of actually doing so. Indeed, soon enough Danny is taking dinner with the ladies of the house and being served by the maid presumably carrying his baby.Olivia sees right through Danny from the start. She becomes interested in him, though, because he's good-looking, different, and has that dangerous bad-boy vibe going on. But she's also repulsed my his servile attitude to the old cantankerous battle-axe and his facile way with the truth. Nonetheless, after he tells her she would be prettier "without them glasses on," we don't see her wearing them much.When the lady of the house from his previous employment turns up dead, nude, and decapitated in the woods, Danny seems to know her far too intimately to have been just her servant. Olivia twigs onto this immediately, and has her suspicions. Olivia wonders what is in the hatbox under the bed that is much too heavy for a hat and why he's never unpacked his things. Nonetheless, Olivia saves his bacon when the police inspector wants to look through his things and she claims his hatbox as her own. She feels a little sorry for him and we guess that even she doesn't know quite why she did this.There's a lot of sexual tension between Danny and Olivia. This is played out in quite a charged fashion in the kitchen scene. Olivia goes to make tea because she can't sleep. Danny is also awake, troubled by something. He hears someone in the kitchen, goes to investigate, and scares the bejesus out of Olivia. He pegs her spot on, telling her, "You want adventure, don't you? It's right here in this house, right here in this kitchen, with the two of us, alone here, at this time of night. It's exciting, isn't it?" He tells her, as she is breathing hard and blushing, that she's never been alone with a chap like him but she likes it, and it's a secret part of her she never knew existed. He comes closer to her, close enough to kiss…It's true, she is excited. But it's dangerous too, and she knows it. I won't spoil the scene for you; you'll have to see it for yourself.This was the first performance I had seen Montgomery give. I went back and saw his romantic comedies and then saw this again. He is wonderful in it, and indeed was nominated for an Academy Award. His Irish accent is very good. His demeanor as the insouciant servant who starts out mouthing platitudes to all and sundry and by the end of the story is displaying his contempt of them is very well-played. His good looks worked for him in this role, as who would believe someone so handsome would be a killer? Indeed, would many women have cuddled up with Ted Bundy had he looked creepy and frightening? That's just how sociopaths work; and Montgomery pretty much nails it. Russell is good as well in the kind of role that would be left in the dust as she moved on the screwball comedies in just a few years. Dame May Witty, as the malingering old biddy, is too perfect with her complaints of palpitations, bosom-clutching, and rattling around in a wheelchair she clearly doesn't need. Her hysterics late in the film, when everyone has left her alone and she has the "jitters," is classically comical.The story holds up but some of the film's flaws include staginess and talkiness (over two hours long). You can tell it started life as a play because most of the action takes place in one room from which all others open off. I also found heavy-handed the device of using threatening music when Danny enters the room. Also, mention is made that the body has not been found yet and promptly there is a scream from offstage and a policeman rushes in to use the phone to report that the body has indeed been found. Stagy! It doesn't quite hold up to thriller standards by today's viewpoint but still atmospheric, and the set design is beautiful and the performances, especially Montgomery's, are well worth seeing. In fact, this role was not given to Montgomery as some sort of punishment by MGM, as suggested by another post. Louis B. Mayer was astounded Montgomery wanted to play this type of role at all, and Bob had to fight for it. If all you know of him is the fluffy romantic movies where he waltzed around pretty women and said things like, "I love you, and you love me too, admit it," do see him acting quite differently in this film.