Dead of Night (1946)

ridiculous rating

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Five stories are told:1. The Hearse Driver 2. The Christmas Party 3. The Haunted Mirror 4. The Golfer's Story 5. The Ventriloquist's DummyThe only story which is truly terrible is The Golfer's Story. It is awful, the story, the idea, the execution. The Hearse Driver is short, and pretty solid. The Christmas Party has a spooky flavor to it, and isn't a bad attempt. The Haunted Mirror is excellent. The Ventriloquist's Dummy is also excellent, and truly shines as the best story of the lot. If watching this film, either skip over The Golfer's Story or watch an edited copy where this story is cut out.

You KNOW a movie is good when you even stay and watch the end credits. But yeah, this film was made way back in 1945 and it still can creep the heck out of anyone. Make sure you avoid all spoilers for this because there is a little cherry on top that you want to experience with fresh wits about you. I put this film on my must watch list a few years ago after reading an article about the best scary movies of all-time. I recall that stupid article spoiling the end but luckily I forgot about it. So yeah, this review is spoiler free because the only way to watch this film, or the best way to watch this film is going into it knowing absolutely nothing about it.

Ealing films, the warm and cosy home of lovingly crafted British comedies, branched out into slightly more unnerving territory with this early anthology. At a country house, in an age where, following communal afternoon tea, the local doctor likes to offer round the cigarettes, Walter Craig (Mervyn Johns) turns up and recognises the ensemble (none of whom he has ever met) from his recurring dreams.In this world, where everyone speaks in the clipped tones of racing horse commentators, ("I can't leave. This is Mr Craig and I'm a character in his dream." "Oh how do you do? Such fun, charades!") the anecdotal stories everyone tells merely confirm Craig's suspicions. He can see their future: he knows what is going to happen.I cannot knock a 72 year old production for being dated, so I won't. But it is. The extreme politeness and styles are often difficult to get past, even harder to take seriously. To begin with, such chills as there are are very tame and wholesome. The segment featuring the malevolent mirror is where things pick up, giving the impression 'Dead of Night' is unveiling its frights in a measured way. Until the following dreadful golfing farce sequence lets things down. "Totally incredible and decidedly improper," to quote Mrs Foley (Mary Merrall).If you can sit through that segment, the best and most widely remembered is saved till last. Maxwell Frere (Michael Redgrave) is a ventriloquist, performing and popular with packed audiences every night. So when it becomes apparent that the dummy Hugo appears to be the controlling element of the partnership, initially amusing music-hall scenes become genuinely tense. This is partly due to the writing, in which Hugo's comedy jibes to his partner become increasingly spiteful, and Redgrave's performance, in which the showbiz charade slips and he becomes edgy whilst still continuing with the act.The Director for this final segment is Alberto Cavalcanti, who eschews the brightly lit jollity of the other stories and coaxes an intense performance from Redgrave. To say this finale is the best of the bunch is understating things. In its way, it is a masterpiece.In case Walter Craig's plight has been forgotten in all this, the twist ending gives the film's climactic moments a nice sense of closure.

A troubled man accepts an invitation to a meeting at an old farmhouse, but when he gets there finds the guests may make his nightmares come true.Interesting anthology that seems familiar and a bit tired. It's certainly heavy on dialogue and some of the stories do drag on, but the framing of feelings versus analysis works well, at least in the first half and in the climax. But a bit lax in the middle.Other reviewers have set out the stories, so I'll just say the haunted mirror is my favourite, and I expected that would be the H G Wells contribution because it uses all its potential. But no - he wrote the daft golfing story.The actors are OK - nobody outstanding (including Redgrave) - and the protagonist has several ucnonvincing dramatic moments. There are a few unnecessary characters in the farmhouse, and I think it would have been more interesting to have the farmhouse actors also play the supporting characters in the stories. Y'know - Wizard Of Oz style.Editing very patchy, with an obvious insert to deliver gravitas to the golfing story. Plus the protagonist's first view of the house, when the car comes to a halt, is so awkward - at the end of the film the same footage is used much better. Music threatened to overwhelm, but thankfully it eased off.Two most impressive moments were the golfing suicide + the scene where the faces press up against the jail bars. The latter is nice and weird and brings the wraparound to a satisfying point, where you think back on everything you've seen. Not perfect, but you get a sense of the conflict of feelings and analysis ending in horror.Overall, interesting but not gripping.