Dead Of Night (1945)

[Det Jim McLeod]

Dead Of Night (1945) TCM On Demand 10/10

An architect is invited to a country house and meets several strangers who he suddenly recalls from his nightmares. Each of the strangers has his or her own strange story to tell.

An excellent anthology of supernatural stories, first time viewing for me and one of the few times I have given a 10/10 rating to something I have seen only once. Many of these have inspired Twilight Zone episodes and many Hammer film anthologies in the 1960s and 1970s. I was totally engrossed from the moment it started and I liked every single story, unusual since normally there would be at least one weak segment. 

The Stories:

1. A man recuperating from a car crash sees a hearse driver from his window beckoning to him.

2. A young girl recalls a Christmas party where she played a ghostly game of hide and seek.

3. A woman buys her fiancée a mirror with a haunted past.

4. Two golfers play a game for the affection of the girl both love.

5. A ventriloquist does not like anyone else touching his dummy.

On top of all this, there is a linking story which reaches a terrifying climax and a great ending. The first three stories have great creepiness to them. The golfing story may seem a little out of place since it is purely comedic. I didn't care since I laughed a lot. Story #5 is the most memorable and disturbing and spawned tons of "evil dummy" stories. 

Anyone else love this one?

[Sepiatone]

I'm afraid I didn't see all of it.  I caught it during the story THE HAUNTED MIRROR.  and had to leave for something more pressing.  But you bet your a** I'll keep an eye out and try to see it all when it comes back around.  Looks very interesting.

Sepiatone

[chaya bat woof woof]

Unfortunately, I keep falling asleep.  I did catch much of it.  It is brilliant and scary.  Great cast (Michael Redgrave - wonder if people even know who is children are/were today - great performance as the ventriloquist).  Room for One More and the Ventriloquist were "tweaked" to become episodes of The Twilight Zone.

[LornaHansonForbes]

13 minutes ago, chaya bat woof woof said:

Unfortunately, I keep falling asleep.

SPOILERS

 

Okay, this is weird on multiple levels- I really enjoy horror anthologies, especially the British ones of the 70s and 80s, but can never get in to DEAD OF NIGHT. I also fall asleep EVERY TIME I try watching it and ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS I HAVE WOKEN UP AT right at THE END, which those of you who know the film know- is a shot-for-shot repeat of the scenes from the opening, suggesting that the people narrating their stories at a British country house are stuck in some sort of Hell loop.

this has happeend like three times at least i think.

[LornaHansonForbes]

if any of you do enjoy DEAD OF NIGHT, you might enjoy looking online for VAULT OF HORROR, THE MONSTER CLUB and the 1972 TALES FROM THE CRYPT.

[chaya bat woof woof]

I fell asleep for a myriad of reasons, none having to do with boredom.  Last night, slept through the last hour of The Paper with Michael Keaton, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall.  Good movie and it feels especially relevant today.

[Ray Faiola]

Universal released DEAD OF NIGHT domestically at 77 minutes. The most significant cuts were the Christmas party ghost story and the sequence with golfing chums Basil Radford and Naughton Wayne. I haven't seen the US version in years but I imagine they also removed or dubbed the many lines with "hell".

[jakeem]

It's always amused me that Sally Ann Howes was a child actress in "Dead of Night" and a star of the 1968 children's film "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" as an adult.

 

[Swithin]

17 hours ago, Ray Faiola said:

Universal released DEAD OF NIGHT domestically at 77 minutes. The most significant cuts were the Christmas party ghost story and the sequence with golfing chums Basil Radford and Naughton Wayne. I haven't seen the US version in years but I imagine they also removed or dubbed the many lines with "hell".

I think a festival of the twelve films in which Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne appeared together would make an interesting series. Although they didn't always play Charters and Caldicott, they always played those types. The pairing would also be interesting in exploration of incipient gay subtexts.

[LornaHansonForbes]

48 minutes ago, chaya bat woof woof said:

I fell asleep for a myriad of reasons, none having to do with boredom.  Last night, slept through the last hour of The Paper with Michael Keaton, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall.  Good movie and it feels especially relevant today.

i'm the same way, i can fall asleep watching the best of films. It's just WILD that I ALWAYS ALWAYS WAKE UP RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF "DEAD OF NIGHT"- because it FITS THE ENDING so well!!!!!

 

[TomJH]

I purchased an Anchor Bay DVD of Dead of Night quite a  few years ago (a dual disc collection combining it with Queen of Spades).

It's a fine transfer which runs 103 minutes. I guess I'm due to watch the film again as it's been a few years since I last saw it. I particularly recall finding the musical score quite chilling.

I see that this two disc collection is still available. I recommend it to fans of the film.

[Ray Faiola]

I love QUEEN OF SPADES.

[Vautrin]

I've seen it a half dozen times or so over the years. Sometimes I'm in the mood to watch it again and

sometimes not. Either way, a most excellent film. My two favorite stories are the one with Sally Ann

Howes and the one with Michael Redgrave. The others are pretty good too.  I really can't blame Mervyn

Jones for strangling the know it all psychiatrist with the heavy German accent. He was a real pain. Jah

wohl. 

[Ray Faiola]

1 hour ago, Vautrin said:

 I really can't blame Mervyn

Jones for strangling the know it all psychiatrist with the heavy German accent. He was a real pain.

 

Frederick Valk was even MORE of a pain in THE MAGIC BOX, styfling poor Robert Donat's ambitions to be a photographer.

[Vautrin]

4 hours ago, Ray Faiola said:

Frederick Valk was even MORE of a pain in THE MAGIC BOX, styfling poor Robert Donat's ambitions to be a photographer.

That's hard to believe, but I'll take your word for it. I saw The Magic Box once many years ago and don't

remember very much about it.

[Det Jim McLeod]

22 hours ago, Sepiatone said:

I'm afraid I didn't see all of it.  I caught it during the story THE HAUNTED MIRROR.  and had to leave for something more pressing.  But you bet your a** I'll keep an eye out and try to see it all when it comes back around.  Looks very interesting.

Sepiatone

It's still On Demand if you want to catch it.

[Det Jim McLeod]

21 hours ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

1972 TALES FROM THE CRYPT.

That's one of the best ones, it has Ralph Richardson as the Crypt Keeper. The most memorable story is Joan Collins menaced by a psycho Santa Claus.

[TomJH]

21 hours ago, TomJH said:

I purchased an Anchor Bay DVD of Dead of Night quite a  few years ago (a dual disc collection combining it with Queen of Spades).

It's a fine transfer which runs 103 minutes. I guess I'm due to watch the film again as it's been a few years since I last saw it. I particularly recall finding the musical score quite chilling.

I see that this two disc collection is still available. I recommend it to fans of the film.

I watched my Anchor Bay DVD yesterday for the first time in a few years and must now admit there is room for improvement. The audio is sometimes a bit muffled and the visuals are not particularly sharp. That's why I just ordered a DVD of the film released last year by Kino Lorber, hoping it will be an improvement. The Anchor Bay release is okay quality but that's about all I can say for it. When I originally purchased it I was pleased as it was the only game in town for this British chiller. Kino has a good name for quality so I am hopeful. As you can see by the image, Kino has released a blu ray of the film, as well.

[skimpole]

It's never shown in Canada.

[slaytonf]

On 10/18/2020 at 9:09 AM, LornaHansonForbes said:

SPOILERS

 

Okay, this is weird on multiple levels- I really enjoy horror anthologies, especially the British ones of the 70s and 80s, but can never get in to DEAD OF NIGHT. I also fall asleep EVERY TIME I try watching it and ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS I HAVE WOKEN UP AT right at THE END, which those of you who know the film know- is a shot-for-shot repeat of the scenes from the opening, suggesting that the people narrating their stories at a British country house are stuck in some sort of Hell loop.

this has happeend like three times at least i think.

Looks like you're stuck in a hell loop of your own.

[LornaHansonForbes]

18 minutes ago, slaytonf said:

Looks like you're stuck in a hell loop of your own.

Since 2016.