Dead Of Night [1945]

Amazon.co.uk Review

While horror conventions may change from generation to generation, there are ideas that will scare us no matter what time period we inhabit. Dead of Night is a classic horror anthology that effectively plays on those timeless fears. Mervyn Johns stars as a man who has been summoned to a house with a group of strangers he has never met but has seen in his dreams. As they convene, he predicts certain events will happen as they do in his dreams and when they do, the other guests relate their own experiences with the supernatural, including tales of a possessed mirror, a sinister ventriloquist's dummy and an eerie premonition of death. Throughout the group meeting, the protagonist fears something horrible will happen to him and we are left to wonder what it might be. The film's final, revelatory sequence offers an unexpectedly horrific surprise. It may have been made in 1945 but Dead of Night is still spooky. --Bryan Reesman

Amazon.co.uk Review

The Ealing Classics Collection presents four films from the great British studio, which, unlike the two sets devoted to Ealing Comedy, have at first glance little in common. Apart from many of the same names before and behind the cameras, what really connects Went the Day Well? (1942), Dead of Night (1945), Nicholas Nickleby (1947) and Scott of the Antarctic (1948) is Ealing's commitment to well-written, high-quality drama realised with the best possible production values.

British patriotism at its best links Went the Day Well? with Scott of the Antarctic. The former is a wartime propaganda morale-booster that doesn't shirk from showing the cost of the conflict, but provides genuine excitement as a small German advance force take over a Midlands village--a plot later reworked in The Eagle Has Landed (1977). Director Alberto Cavalcanti handles events with neo-documentary efficiency and William Walton's score cannot fail to stir. No less a composer than Vaughan Williams scored Scott, delivering one of the finest in film history, while Ealing spared no expense on Technicolor location filming. The result is occasionally too tableau-like and historically inaccurate--the mini-series Shackleton (2002) is more commendable in this respect--but remains a gripping and ultimately very moving drama.

The darker side of life is explored by Cavalcanti in a suitably stark version of Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby, a film unfortunately overshadowed by David Lean's double whammy of Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948). Here Derek Bond is fine as Nicholas and a superb supporting cast, including Cedric Hardwicke and Stanley Holloway, ensure this is a first-rate production. Dead of Night offers one of the earliest examples of the anthology horror film, all wrapped in a decades-ahead-of-its-time framing narrative that nightmarishly twists reality inside-out. Most famous is the sequence with Michael Redgrave as a ventriloquist possessed by his own dummy, an idea later expanded to feature length with Anthony Hopkins in Magic (1978). Still unsettling six decades on, this all-time horror classic is only marred by a terrible comedy golf skit.

On the DVD Ealing Classics presents each film on its own DVD without extras. All four are in the original 4:3 ratio, in black and white, apart from Scott of the Antarctic. The audio is functional mono, and, while dialogue and sound effects are very clear, the music tracks are often distorted.

Picture quality is very variable, with Went the Day Well? being taken from an excellent print. Dead of Night, though, is constantly beset by small sparkles, with much more serious print damage being in evidence, making this a very below-par presentation for such a classic film. Nicholas Nickleby ranks somewhere in between, with a print showing various forms of constant but minor damage and offering a rather indistinct image in the darker scenes. The big budget Technicolor of Scott of the Antarctic is a little muted and the many snow scenes show a considerable amount of grain, but otherwise the print is in very good condition. --Gary S Dalkin

Customer Reviews:

directors .... this is how to make a great ghost film ......if only .............2007-10-12

as the other reviewers have stated , the quality of the actul print is pretty poor on this region 2 version , and from what i have read i may try to get the region 1 copy , but given the choice of this movie with this print or not having this movie in my ghost dvd collection would seem totally wrong . even now for its age you can imagine how scary it must have been when first viewed back in the day [ 1945 ] compared to other movies of that era .i remember as a schoolboy first seeing it on t.v. when the beeb were doing a series of great ealing movie re runs , and they had HALFWAY HOUSE as the first movie { another great little ealing ghost story } and this classic as the second . there are,nt that many movies that have such appeal and can stick in my mind but both those two and especially this classic did and for all these years as well , and now finally being able to get it on dvd and at least to watch it again , so print taken into consideration an excellent addition to any ghost collection , a must in fact , now all i need is the other classic ghost story HALFWAY HOUSE , and ray milland in the other most excellent classic ghost story THE UNIVITED to really make a classic ghost collection .

Terror repeated.......2007-09-16

When you watch this now, and it seems a little dated, remember what Universal were doing with horror films in the 1940's. Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein etc etc. They had run out of ideas, and until Hammer came on the scene in 1957 the horror/ghost story genre was virtually dead. Well this film is the exception.

A brilliantly made horror anthology from Ealing which paved the way for the Amicus films of the 60's and 70's (Dr Terrors House of Horrors, Tales from the Crypt etc) and directly influenced the film Magic starring Anthony Hopkins in 1978. This particular section of film centers on a ventriloquist and his dummy. Michael Redgrave is outstanding as Maxwell Frere the ventriloquist and it is this story and the Golfing one that will leave you very spooked.

Another thing that will leave you spooked is the ending, which unlike most Hollywood films made in those days, and even now, is very scary indeed. When you watch this film remember it was made in 1945 and that some of the stories have been used over and over in variations in more modern films. This is the original and its very creepy.

'Room for one more inside...'.......2007-09-15

I've seen this classic film almost every time it's been shown on TV for the last 30 years, and it's great to be able to have a permanent copy for one's DVD library. Perhaps because the TV prints have always been poor, I'm not so bothered about the print quality as others seem to be (although the sound is rough in places). Sure, this deserves to have the full restoration business done, but that is very expensive, and I've been disappointed in the past with some American issues of classic films (NTSC to PAL conversion?) so I haven't tried that avenue. Yet.

To the film itself. I am concerned that younger viewers coming new to this film may have unreasonable expectations; it has dated certainly, having a very middle-class 30's/40's Englishness about it that may put some viewers off straight away. This of course would be a terrible shame. Ealing Studios themselves did it no favours by having as a poster (reproduced on the DVD box) a depiction of some weird monster- completely misleading as these are human, psychological, tales.

Over the years, I've asked people what their favourite of the five (six?) separate stories is. Although everyone remembers Michael Redgrave's fine performance with the ventriloquist's dummy, it is The Mirror which is remarked on more than you might expect. This is I think the deepest tale in terms of character development, and we really get drawn into the drama gradually unfolding. I've also always had a soft spot for the delightful Naunton/Wayne golf sequence, a gentle comedy in the middle of the film - giving us a breather before we get inexorably dragged towards that astonishing climax; as surreal as anything you will see in British cinema.

At its current preposterously low price I would snap this up. A better U.K. transfer may come along some day, but this will do in the meantime.

So go on, join Mervyn Johns, and visit Pilgrim's Farm.

Again.

Extremely chilling if dated.......2007-08-24

This is one of the most chilling films I have ever seen: it is of course quaint and dated too, and contains a few reassuring comedy moments, but anyone who has watched the scene where a haunted mirror consumes the owner, turning him into a murderous maniac, will agree that this has to be an all time classic horror film.

try amazon.com for a better transfer.......2007-05-24

Great film but, as other reviewers have noted, this transfer is very poor. You will get a much better transfer if you buy the region 1 Dead of Night/The Queen of Spades double release available from amazon marketplace sellers or from amazon.com.

Dead of Night/Queen of Spades [1945] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Average customer rating:

"Three,Seven and the Ace"
Two fine, unsettling movies to watch late at night
AT LAST!

Dead of Night/Queen of Spades [1945] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Starring: Mervyn Johns , Roland Culver , Mary Merrall , Googie Withers , and Frederick Valk
Director: Charles Crichton , Robert Hamer , Basil Dearden , Alberto Cavalcanti , and Thorold Dickinson
Manufacturer: Anchor Bay
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000844JQ
Release Date: 2003-05-20

Customer Reviews:

"Three,Seven and the Ace".......2007-09-27

Essential double bill of two of the finest films of the 40's.

Dead of Night(1945)Much heralded pormanteau of horror tales directed by Charles Crichton and Cavalcanti amongst others is justifiably remembered for the final segment - Michael Redgrave and that dummy!The tales are linked together by the gathering of a group of people at a country mansion,one of whom is convinced he knows everyone present because he has met them all in his dreams.
Variable in chills,each tale is memorable in it's own way with Robert Hamer's "Mirror"segment being particularly creepy.Redgrave's tour de force performance in the final tale is the icing on the cake,

Queen of Spades(1948)Slow moving but utterly riveting supernatural tale(based on a Pushkin short story)is a forgotten gem with an electrifying central performance from Anton Walbrook.
It is Russia in the early 19th century and an embittered military captain(Walbrook)lacking the financial resources of his more titled collegues determines to raise his status by persuading an aged countess(the quite brilliant Edith Evans)to give up her "secret of the cards",something that she had bought many years before through the selling of her soul.
To reveal more would ruin the enjoyment of this unsettling,beautifully shot film.Performances are uniformly excellent,Dickinson's use of light and darkness are thematically and literally spellbinding(when Walbrook steps out of the shadows in one sequence the effect is positively spine tingling)and the finale is utterly mesmirising.
This together with Gaslight(the original not the insipid remake)were the high watermarks of Thorold Dickinson's directing career in movies.

Two fine, unsettling movies to watch late at night.......2007-07-25

--Dead of Night - Dead of Night remains, sixty years after it was made at Ealing Studios, one of the creepiest and most intelligent of supernatural films. No, it doesn't have creaking coffins, or pale hands edging through a doorway, or Ruritanian vampires. It has a country home set in the warm Kentish countryside, civilized house guests with excellent manners, five stories of unhinged supernatural happenings, and one guest who suffers from nightmares. This is an anthology film, with the stories ranging from ghosts to premonitions to savage possession. They are told by the people who experienced them, and they are all wrapped around by the one guest who knows the house, knows the host and knows the other guests even though he has never seen any of them before. He knows them in his nightmare, a nightmare he has had over and over. "It always starts exactly the same as when I arrived, just now," architect Walter Craig (Mervyn Johns) says. "I turn off the main road into the lane. At the bend in the lane, the house comes into view, and I stop as I recognize it. Then I drive on again. And Foley meets me at the front door. I recognize him, too. And then, while I'm taking off my coat, I have the most extraordinary feeling. I nearly turn and run for it, because I know I'm going to come face-to-face with the six [other guests]." Four of the guests and the host, we learn, have stories of their own.

There's the race car driver's story, directed by Basil Dearden. Hugh Grainger (Anthony Baird) survives a crash but sees from his hospital window a horse-drawn hearse. The driver looks up at him. "Just room for one more, sir," he says with a smile. That's just the beginning.

There's the schoolgirl's story, directed by Alberto Calvalcanti. Sally O'Hara (Sally Ann Howes) plays hide-and-seek at a party and discovers a hidden room, a small boy crying...and an older sister.

There's the wife's story, directed by Robert Hamer. Joan Cortland (Googie Withers) buys an antique mirror for her fiancee. It's not long before he sees in the mirror another room from another age, and we learn of a crippled, jealous husband and a strangled wife.

For a chance to exhale and smile, there's the story of two golf fanatics, directed by Charles Crichton, who decide how to have the woman they both love. Elliot Foley (Roland Culver), our host, tells us this story.

And there is undoubtedly one of the most unnerving of horror tales, the story of ventriloquist Maxwell Frere (Michael Redgrave) and his dummy, Hugo, directed by Calvalcanti. Redgrave gives a tour de force performance as the dominated ventriloquist...but is he dominated by Hugo or by a separate personality. All we know for sure is that Hugo bites.

Weaving through these stories is the dread of Walter Craig (Mervyn Johns), who insists he has met the other guests. He knows that he will slap one, that another will break his glasses, that a sixth guest will soon appear. He knows he will do something terrible to someone who has never harmed him. One of the guests, Dr. van Straaten (Frederick Valk), is a psychoanalyst who has a reasonable explanation for all the stories. As the stories are told and as Craig's forecasts happen, van Straaten's rationales become shakier. This connecting story, directed by Dearden, reaches a climax in a psychedelic nightmare of leering faces emerging from the stories, of madly off-balance staircases and dark windows...and of a terrified Walter Craig.

And then a telephone rings. It's morning and we're in Walter Craig's bedroom. He wakes, realizes this was another nightmare and takes the phone. He's invited to spend the weekend looking over a house that needs an addition built. His wife asks who was calling. "Eliot Foley, Pilgrim's Farm...I wonder why that sounds so familiar," he says. "A weekend in the country? I should go." she says. Craig takes a coin and says, "I'll toss for it. Heads I go, tails I don't." Mrs. Craig looks at the coin. "Heads." He smiles and says, "I go." She gives him a hug. "That's just what you need, darling. It'll help you get rid of those horrible nightmares." But was it a nightmare? Or is it still?

Despite there being five tales, the linking narrative and four directors, Dead of Night works as one unified story. Everything fits seamlessly. Even after all these years the stories hold up, particularly those of Frere and Craig. Coming in a respectable second, for me, are the stories of the race driver and the wife. But even the weakest, the schoolgirl's story, is well done. The golfer's story is there to provide some eased tension and it serves it's purpose. The acting is all of a high order, with Michael Redgrave just about extraordinary. I've always been fond of Roland Culver's brisk competence. He's very good as the host. If you watch this movie, bear in mind that up until Dead of Night, ventriloquists' dummies in the movies had always been seen as charming, funny and harmless. Hugo's DNA changed all that forever.

--The Queen of Spades - It's comforting to think that Alexander Pushkin, had he been born a hundred years later than he was, could undoubtedly have found employment writing screenplays for Hollywood horror producer Val Lewton. As it is, we'll just have to put up with all those plays, novels, poems, operas and short stories he wrote.

The Queen of Spades, based on a story by Pushkin, is a marvelously atmospheric and menacing tale of obsession and greed. It takes places in 1806 St. Petersburg. Captain Herman Suvorin (Anton Walbrook) is a poor German engineer serving in the Czarist army. Gambling has become the rage and faro is the card game of choice for all the rich, aristocratic and arrogant young officers who laugh at Suvorin. He hasn't the means to gamble and he hasn't the means to purchase advancement. Then he hears the story of Countess Ranevskaya (Edith Evans), who, a generation earlier, is supposed to have sold her soul for "the secret of the cards"...the three cards to choose which will win a fortune at faro. Amazingly, the Countess is still living, almost a recluse, with a beautiful ward. Suvorin determines to find a way to woo the young woman as a method to gain entry into the Countess' palace and to the Countess herself. He is determined to learn from her the three cards. He does, or thinks he does, and we witness madness and death. Says one character, "I believe all human beings are fundamentally good. I'm convinced of it. Yes, and I believe that evil is a force, a mighty force, that is abroad in the world to take possession of men's souls, if they will allow it to." Oh, Suvorin.

Now if Val Lewton had produced this we might have a cult classic on our hands. As it is, we have a movie which has been nearly forgotten. Too bad. The film might have been made with little money but it doesn't look it. Snow and slush cover the frigid St. Petersburg streets. Candles flicker and gutter. Deep shadows hide cubbyholes and doorways. There are ragged peasants and beggars, an ornate opera house and a dazzling ballroom filled with dancing aristocrats. There is the Countess' palace with it's decorated rooms, angled staircases, bare kitchens and cold servants quarters. There is the Countess' bedroom with it's secret passage and the stone steps leading to a hidden entrance. The black-and-white cinematography is excellent; everything shadowed might hold madness or a threat. Making everything work are the two mesmerizing performances by Walbrook and Evans. With these two actors it's a pleasure just to observe Suvorin's growing obsession and to hear the tap of the Countess' cane and the slow, steady swish of her silk gown.

Anton Walbrook was one of the great actors of his time. Sometimes he would almost teeter on the brink of mannerism, but he'd invariably deliver performances of startling quality. With his intensity, his Austrian accent and his ability to draw out a vowel for effect, it was difficult not to keep your eyes on him. At 53 he is playing 20 years younger and does so with ease. Edith Evans was 57 when she made this, her first film after years of stardom in the theater. She plays a selfish, irritable 90-year-old woman, querulous and suspicious. When Suvorin and the Countess finally meet in the Countess' bedroom, an acting student could learn much just by watching the two. Walbrook has all the lines; Evans watches and reacts. It's a toss-up as to which betters the other.

I think both Pushkin and Lewton would have enjoyed this movie.

The DVD transfer of Dead of Night is fine, although the movie shows its age a bit. The DVD transfer of The Queen of Spades is better than acceptable. It's an old film and looks it, but the picture and audio quality are satisfying. There are no significant extras. There is an eight-page booklet included in the case.

AT LAST!.......2005-05-24

This was so hard to find. Shame it has to be bought as a double bill with Queen of Spades, but...after searching for such a long time, it was well worth it.

Ealing Classics DVD Collection - Went The Day Well?/Dead Of Night/Nicholas Nickleby/Scott of the Antarctic [1945]

Average customer rating:

directors .... this is how to make a great ghost film ......if only ......
Terror repeated
'Room for one more inside...'
Extremely chilling if dated
try amazon.com for a better transfer

Ealing Classics DVD Collection - Went The Day Well?/Dead Of Night/Nicholas Nickleby/Scott of the Antarctic [1945]
Starring: Mervyn Johns , Roland Culver , Mary Merrall , Googie Withers , and Frederick Valk
Director: Charles Crichton , Robert Hamer , Basil Dearden , and Alberto Cavalcanti
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000AGVOD
Release Date: 2003-09-08

Amazon.co.uk Review

Customer Reviews:

directors .... this is how to make a great ghost film ......if only .............2007-10-12

Terror repeated.......2007-09-16

'Room for one more inside...'.......2007-09-15

Extremely chilling if dated.......2007-08-24

try amazon.com for a better transfer.......2007-05-24

Average customer rating:

Dead of Night [1945] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Starring: Mervyn Johns , and Roland Culver
Manufacturer: Congress Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 6309749927
Release Date: 2005-10-04

Average customer rating:

Dead of Night [1945] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Starring: Mervyn Johns , and Roland Culver
Manufacturer: Congress Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Horror & Suspense | Classics | Categories | DVD | Video

All Horror | Horror | Categories | DVD | Video

DVD | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000BNX4PO
Release Date: 2005-10-04

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