Night Watch (1973)

Really Surprised!

i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

An atmospheric thriller that's a bit short on thrills, "Night Watch" is nonetheless entertaining. Ninety-nine minutes of watching 41-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, still looking good and decked out in Valentino, is reason enough. The successful Broadway play by Lucille Fletcher (ex Mrs. Bernard Herrmann) suffers in its translation to the screen. Like Fletcher's most famous writing credit, "Sorry, Wrong Number," the female protagonist is way too shrill. Poor Laurence Harvey, close to death and generously reunited with his good friend and "Butterfield 8" co-star Taylor, tries hard as the deceitful husband. The ending will satisfy the long, tedious buildup. A fun movie to watch as a distraction when you're home with a cold, but certainly not among Taylor's best.

Just bought NIGHT WATCH and watched it tonight when it arrived. I don't think I've seen it since, say, I was a teenager and it was on the late show!But it's a Taylor film no one talks about. I actually think it's great, in its way (but, as with every Laurence Harvey movie he does with Taylor, I always want to re-cast him with James Mason).Anyway, yes, I think it's a smidgen underrated. And has a nice, London-y, shrouded early-'70s melancholy flavor and that neo-Victorian early-'70s thing what with the dark wood and the plush velvet-y furniture and the Tiffany lamps and the overgrown plants and deep shadows and the sprinkling of harpsichord in the score and the occasional fish-eye lens.Great twist ending, too!

It says much about the decline in Elizabeth Taylor's career that she wound up in such a routine film, and even more that it was one of her better films of the 1970's. The plot is about a wealthy, recently remarried widow who is being menaced by someone unknown and fears for her own life. However, she recently recovered from a mental breakdown and is suspected by some to be losing her sanity again. Her stockbroker husband (Lawrence Harvey) and friends want to help, but things are not what they seem. This storyline was old hat even back in 1973. It's the same kind of material which was covered by "Midnight Lace," which this closely resembles, along with "Gaslight," "Sorry, Wrong Number," "Suspicion," "Diabolique," "Sudden Fear," and many others. Nothing in this film is done all that badly, in spite of a slow beginning. Taylor gives an adequate performance, and she gets to wear some glamorous clothing and is surrounded by attractive sets. Also, there is a clever twist ending which delivers some suspense. But none of the film delivers the kind of excitement that it's supposed to. Perhaps we already have seen this story in one form or another far too often and it fails to deliver anything new.

Elizabeth Taylor stars in a horror movie. This alone should be enough to make you want to see it. But unfortunately, this movie is slower than a broken clock. Nothing really happens for a large portion of this film as we are beat over the head with the red herrings. But every once in a while Ms Taylor delivers some very unintentionally funny lines that keep you from totally falling asleep. So, why the 5-stars then?? Simply because the pay-off is almost worth the first 85 minutes of agony - I said almost! Seriously, though, the end is pretty good. I'd recommend this to fans of "old-hag horror" (ie Whatever Happened To Baby Jane,Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte) or Elizabeth Taylor aficionados.