Dead of Night (1945)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Alberto Cavalcanti

Writers:

H.G. Wells (original story) &
E.F. Benson (original story) ...

Release Date:

15 February 1946 (Finland)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Architect Walter Craig, seeking the possibility of some work at a country farmhouse, soon finds himself once again stuck in his recurring nightmare...

Plot Keywords:

Dream | Nightmare | Architect | Psychiatrist | Farmhouse

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Mervyn Johns	...	Walter Craig
Roland Culver	...	Eliot Foley
Mary Merrall	...	Mrs Foley
Googie Withers	...	Joan Cortland
Frederick Valk	...	Dr. Van Straaten
Anthony Baird	...	Hugh Grainger (as Antony Baird)
Sally Ann Howes	...	Sally O'Hara
Robert Wyndham	...	Dr. Albury
Judy Kelly	...	Joyce Grainger
Miles Malleson	...	Hearse Driver
Michael Allan	...	Jimmy Watson
Barbara Leake	...	Mrs O'Hara
Ralph Michael	...	Peter Cortland
Esme Percy	...	Antiques Dealer (as Esmé Percy)
Basil Radford	...	George Parratt

Runtime:

103 min | USA:77 min | Germany:95 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | USA:Approved | Australia:M (DVD rating) | Norway:16 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Ealing Studios, Ealing, London, England, UK

Company:

Ealing Studios

Trivia:

US distributors thought that the original cut of the film was too long. The golfing sequence and the Christmas ghost tale were both cut. This confused audiences, who could not understand what Sally Ann Howes, Basil Radford, and Naunton Wayne were doing in the linking story.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the dummy sequence, when sitting and talking with Mr. Kee, the dummy's hand changes position from table to knee.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[Walter Craig drives up to Foley's farmhouse and looks around with an expression part suspicious and part dumbfounded]
Eliot Foley: Ah! Walter Craig?
Walter Craig: How do you do. You're Eliot Foley.
[They shake hands]
Eliot Foley: That's right. So glad you were able to come. Let's have your bag. I'll put the car away afterwards. You know, it struck me, after I'd telephoned you, rather cheek on my part to ask a busy architect like yourself to come down and spend the weekend with a set of complete strangers.
Walter Craig: [to himself] Not complete.
Eliot Foley: You see, we're pretty cramped for space here. We need at least two more bedrooms.
Walter Craig: And with only one living room.
Eliot Foley: Yes, only one living room. However, we'll go into all that in the morning, shall we?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 100 Greatest Scary Moments (2003) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Why Do You Pass Me By?

Scared me nearly to death as a kid.

I saw Dead of Night when I was ten years old, and the horror stayed with me through most of my teen years. The mini-story about the antique mirror that showed the reflection of a totally different room than the one the man was in, made me afraid to be alone in a room with a mirror. Even to this day, as a grown man, I am a bit uncomfortable if I am alone at night in a room with a big, old mirror. Most of the mini-stories in this movie stayed with me for years, making me shudder whenever I would think about them. It is interesting, too, that the story of the ventriloquist's dummy that "comes to life," an oft-repeated theme in other movies and TV shows, originated with Dead of Night. I did not see the movie again until decades later. I was not as horrified, seeing it as an adult, but certain scenes still made me shudder. The main, underlying, weird idea of the movie, which becomes plain in the closing scene, leaves you with a spooky feeling and this thought: "could something like this be true of my life too?"