Dead of Night

For other uses, see Dead of Night (disambiguation).

Dead of Night
Dead of Night US release poster
Directed by	Cavalcanti ("Christmas Party" and "The Ventriloquist's Dummy") Charles Crichton ("Golfing Story") Basil Dearden ("Hearse Driver" and "Linking Narrative") Robert Hamer ("The Haunted Mirror")
Produced by	Michael Balcon
Written by	H.G. Wells (original story) E.F. Benson (original story) John Baines (original story and screenplay) Angus MacPhail (original story and screenplay)
Starring	Michael Redgrave Mervyn Johns Frederick Valk Roland Culver
Music by	Georges Auric London Philharmonic Orchestra
Cinematography	Jack Parker Stanley Pavey Douglas Slocombe
Editing by	Charles Hasse
Distributed by	Eagle-Lion Distributors Limited (UK) Universal Pictures (US)
Release date(s)	4 September, 1945 (UK) June 28, 1946 (USA)
Running time	102 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Dead of Night (1945) is a British anthology horror film made by Ealing Studios, its various episodes directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer. The film stars Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers and Michael Redgrave. The film is probably best-remembered for the ventriloquist's dummy episode starring Redgrave.

Dead of Night stands out from British film of the 1940s, when few genre films were being produced, and it had a huge influence on subsequent British horror films; most particularly, the anthology films produced by Amicus in the 1960s and early 1970s. Both of the segments by John Baines were recycled for later films, and the possessed ventriloquist dummy episode was adapted as the audition episode of the long-running CBS radio series Escape.

Plot

Architect Walter Craig (Mervyn Johns) arrives at a country house party where he reveals to the assembled guests that he has seen them all in a dream. He appears to have no prior personal knowledge of them but he is able to predict spontaneous events in the house before they unfold. The other guests attempt to test Craig's foresight, while entertaining each other with various tales of uncanny or supernatural events that they experienced or were told about. These include a racing car driver's premonition of a fatal bus crash; a light hearted tale of two obsessed golfers, one of whom becomes haunted by the other's ghost; a ghostly encounter during a children's Christmas party (a scene cut from the initial American release); a haunted antique mirror; and the story of an unbalanced ventriloquist (Michael Redgrave) who believes his amoral dummy is truly alive. The framing story is then capped by a twist ending.

Cast

Linking narrative

(directed by Basil Dearden)

• Anthony Baird (credited as Antony Baird) as Hugh Grainger
• Roland Culver as Eliot Foley
• Renée Gadd as Mrs. Craig
• Sally Ann Howes as Sally O'Hara
• Mervyn Johns as Walter Craig
• Barbara Leake as Mrs O'Hara
• Mary Merrall as Mrs Foley
• Frederick Valk as Dr. van Straaten
• Googie Withers as Joan Cortland

Hearse Driver sequence

(directed by Basil Dearden)

• Anthony Baird as Hugh Grainger
• Judy Kelly as Joyce Grainger
• Miles Malleson as Hearse Driver / Bus Conductor
• Robert Wyndham as Dr. Albury

Christmas Party sequence

(directed by Alberto Cavalcanti)

• Michael Allan as Jimmy Watson
• Sally Ann Howes as Sally O'Hara
• Barbara Leake as Mrs O'Hara

Haunted Mirror sequence

(directed by Robert Hamer)

• Ralph Michael as Peter Cortland
• Esmé Percy as Mr. Rutherford - the Antiques Dealer
• Googie Withers as Joan Cortland

Golfing Story sequence

(directed by Charles Crichton)

• Peggy Bryan as Mary Lee
• Basil Radford as George Parratt
• Naunton Wayne as Larry Potter

Ventriloquist's Dummy sequence

(directed by Alberto Cavalcanti)

• Allan Jeayes as Maurice Olcott
• Magda Kun as Mitzi
• Miles Malleson as Jailor
• Garry Marsh as Harry Parker
• Hartley Power as Sylvester Kee
• Michael Redgrave as Maxwell Frere
• Frederick Valk as Dr. van Straaten
• Elisabeth Welch as Beulah

Legacy

The circular plot of Dead of Night inspired Fred Hoyle's Steady State model of the universe, developed in 1948.

Director Martin Scorsese placed Dead of Night on his list of the 11 scariest horror films of all time. Dead of Night also currently holds a 96% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

See also

The theme of the mad ventriloquist has been visited in other works and media:

• The Great Gabbo, a 1928 film starring Erich von Stroheim
• Knock on Wood (1954), a Danny Kaye musical-comedy
• "The Dummy", a 1962 episode of The Twilight Zone television series, starring Cliff Robertson
• "Caesar and Me", a 1964 episode of The Twilight Zone television series, starring Jackie Cooper
• Devil Doll, a 1964 film starring Bryant Haliday
• Magic, a 1978 film starring Anthony Hopkins
• It Couldn't Happen Here, a 1988 film by the Pet Shop Boys
• The Ventriloquist, a Batman nemesis appearing in 1988
• "The Puppet Show", a 1997 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• The Beaver, a 2011 film starring Mel Gibson.

The theme of the fatal crash premonition has also been visited in other works and media:

• "The Bus-Conductor", a short story by E. F. Benson published in The Pall Mall Magazine in 1906
• Famous Ghost Stories, a 1944 anthology by Bennett Cerf
• "Twenty Two", a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone.

References

Bibliography

• Jerry Vermilye The Great British Films, 1978, Citadel Press, pp 85–87, ISBN 080650661X

External links

• Dead of Night at the Internet Movie Database
• Dead of Night at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Dead of Night at AllRovi
• Dead of Night at the TCM Movie Database
• Dead of Night at Rotten Tomatoes
• Dead Of Night locations