The Night of the Following Day (1968)

Director:

Hubert Cornfield

Writers:

Hubert Cornfield (writer)
Robert Phippeny (writer)

Release Date:

26 December 1968 (Sweden)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Because of the unusual ending no one will be admitted during the final 14 minutes!

Plot:

Two men kidnap a girl off the streets, take her to a beach house owned by a drug-addicted stewardess, and hold her for ransom.

Plot Keywords:

Brother Sister Relationship | Chase | Bistro | Bondage | Escape Attempt

Cast

Marlon Brando	...	Chauffeur
Richard Boone	...	Leer
Rita Moreno	...	Vi
Pamela Franklin	...	Dupont's daughter
Jess Hahn	...	Wally
Gérard Buhr	...	Gendarme
Jacques Marin	...	Cafe's owner
Hugues Wanner	...	Dupont
Al Lettieri	...	Al - Pilot (as Al Lettier)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Gina Production

Trivia:

In the scene in which Rita Moreno is in the tub zonked out on heroin, Marlon Brando entered the set completely drunk and played the scene in that condition. In the editing room director Hubert Cornfield had to delete the parts in which his drunkenness was apparent.

Quotes:

Chauffeur: Listen, man... if you want to try anything freaky, you don't do it with her.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Brando (2007) (TV)

Odd and ever watchable film: NOTFD

What I like most about Night of the Following day is its sublime way in introduces France. The entire film is low-key, which is not quite seen nowadays in cinema. Plus there was Marlon Brando. Brando looks great in this film. His style of dress looks like he's modeling for some design that counts on black colors to the exclusion of all others. In one scene he's wearing an olive trench coat at an airport. Somehow I could not believe that this swank and bronzed and blonde-haired movie star could abet in the same crime as his associates. The only worth-while scenes are the ones Brando's in. Only because you don't know where they're going to end. Richard Boone, Rita Moreno, and the actor who plays her brother are all thinly written characters. Rita Moreno's character snorts heroin, her brother is an ineffectual non-entity who doesn't care whether he's killed as a result of committing this crime, and Richard Boone's character has sadistic tendencies. That's all the audience knows about these three characters. We even know less about Brando's character. But Brando can transcend the material in this shallow film because of his eerie star-quality. Night of the Following Day is indeed an ambitious film. Adapting a novel is ambitious in itself. A plot revolving around a volatile foursome kidnapping an heiress and hiding her out in a house somewhere in France sounds great on paper. But the audience must be engaged and somewhat let in on something. This film keeps the audience at a cool distance.