[20] Muir likens the film to the 1971 American horror film Let's Scare Jessica to Death, in which a psychologically-fragile female figure, also displaced in a new and strange environment, is tormented by events and visions which may or may not be occurring in reality. [4] It was not until 1971 that the script was altered by Sangster and co-writer Michael Syson and turned into Fear in the Night. It's entertaining enough if you want to stick it out but it will never be regarded as one of Hammer’s better films. Fear in the Night is an American 1947 film noir crime film directed by Maxwell Shane, starring Paul Kelly and DeForest Kelley (in his film debut). The detective uncovers clues that point to an evil hypnotist (Robert Emmett Keane) manipulating Vince. Fear in the Night is an American 1947 film noir crime film directed by Maxwell Shane, starring Paul Kelly and DeForest Kelley (in his film debut). Belknap puts Vince under hypnosis and tries to get him to drown himself. It's a strange tour of a seemingly haunted or perhaps cursed place, and the (effective) punctuation of the montage is a view of a hanging corpse. "[8] Executive Michael Carreras at Hammer studios conceived the pairing as a marketing tool, stating: "My original concept was to have two properties by the same author on a central theme, being made into two films both directed by the same person. My narcissistic parents gave me a fear of the dark or the night in particular. It is based on the Cornell Woolrich story "And So to Death" (retitled '"Nightmare" in 1943). Fear in the Night (also known as Dynasty of Fear and Honeymoon of Fear[2]) is a 1972 British psychological horror film directed, produced, and co-written by Jimmy Sangster and produced by Hammer Film Productions. [9], Time Out called the film "one of those neatly constructed but slightly mechanical psycho-thrillers which make you feel as if someone is pushing buttons connected to electrodes in your brain", but that "Hammer fans will soon recognise the plot as a thinly disguised reworking of A Taste of Fear (sic)". This is a better copy than what is already on this site. Peter Cushing and Joan Collins, respectively, also star as the school's mysterious headmaster and his wife. Rattled by the attack, she leaves with Robert the following morning to the boarding school, which is run by headmaster Michael Carmichael (Peter Cushing). When he lifts the sheet, however, he reveals Molly's dead body, bound and gagged. However, as he wakes up, there’s more than a strong hint that it wasn’t a dream after all. Pulling the hair out of my head now my soul it feels dead. "[11], Dave Sindelar of SciFilm.org praised the film's performances, but criticized elements of its script, saying: "Unfortunately, it's at the service of one of the most predictable scripts I've encountered in some time, and this is one of those stories that should be anything but predictable", comparing the film to Gaslight (1944) and Diabolique (1955). When he wakes up, he discovers marks on his throat, a strange key and a button in his pocket, and blood on his cuff. From the depths of the night a sound jolted me from my peaceful sleep. I thought, “This is it; someone is breaking in!” I always imagined that when confronted with this situation, my 5-foot-1-inch self would turn into a Ninja Warrior. [5] The scenes featuring the lakeshore (including the scene where Judy Geeson's character encounters Joan Collins') were shot at Aldenham Country Park around the Aldenham Reservoir. One night, the young man dreams he committed a grisly murder. Fear in the Night was remade in 1956 as Nightmare, with Kevin McCarthy and Edward G. Robinson.~Hal Erickson She descends the staircase, and sees Michael entering the front door, and notices that he has a prosthetic arm; panicked, she shoots him, and flees the chalet, but he continues to pursue her. That night, Robert meets with Molly in the school; it is revealed that the two are having an affair, and that Robert married the mentally-fragile Peggy in order to coax her into murdering Michael out of fear for her life. The next morning, two policemen arrive, saying they received a call from Michael. I'm lying there crazy! In his first starring role, DeForest Kelley plays Vince Grayson, a young man who has a terrible nightmare wherein he sees himself killing someone. Commenting on the film's establishing cinematography, Muir further states: Fear in the Night starts with a pan across a field, as leaves blow across it. List of films in the public domain in the United States, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fear_in_the_Night_(1947_film)&oldid=1017979345, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 15 April 2021, at 17:13. That evening, Robert leaves for a meeting in London, and Peggy believes an intruder has come into the chalet; she arms herself with a shotgun. They make plans to meet the Carmichaels for dinner that evening. Fandango FANALERT® Sign up for a FANALERT® to find out when tickets are available in your area. It is not only silly but rather dull. The frenzied Vince is nearly driven to suicide, but Detective Herlihy deduces that his friend's nightmare was the handiwork of Lewis Belnap (Robert Emmett Keane), the mansion's owner, who is a dabbler in hypnosis. In the United States, the film was released as part of a double bill with Demons of the Mind.[3]. The crisp acting was just right. Scheuer, Philip. He reveals that he was aware of Robert and Molly's plot to have him killed, and that he had loaded the shotgun in the chalet with blanks. Shortly after entering her house she is again attacked. Peggy tells them he's inside the school, and that a new term is beginning. Peggy (Judy Geeson), an unassuming twenty-two year old caregiver, has recently married Robert Heller (Ralph Bates), and is scheduled to move with him to a secluded boys' boarding school south of London for his work. Thus, when Carmichael unties Peggy's hair band, we are intended to interpret the act as a form of sublimated rape— at least that is the implication at this stage in the plot. [3] The film was remade by the same director in 1956 with the title Nightmare this time starring Edward G. Robinson playing the cop and Kevin McCarthy.[4]. Fear in the night. Robert storms out of the school with Peggy, and attempts to hang her from the tree outside in a staged suicide, but is suddenly grabbed in a strangle grip by Michael. It is much in the vein of their earlier "Scream of Fear" (1961), which was also directed by Jimmy Sangster. Woolrich is credited under pen name William Irish. The film was remade by the same director in 1956 with the title Nightmare this time starring Edward G. Robinson playing the cop and Kevin McCarthy. Fear in the Night (1972) Hammer is best-known for its Kensington Gore and its literary monsters, usually shot against a 60s-coloured 19th Century which is a distinctive aesthetic all of its own; the studio deviated from this formula quite considerably at times, though, in a range of films which seem to have divided critics ever since. One of the police officers tells her that the school has been shut down for years, until suddenly the sound of a boys' choir begins emanating from the building. Carmichael does indeed seem to be the man who attacked Peggy in London, but things are never so obvious in a Sangster script. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, who is a Swiss-American psychiatrist, a pioneer in near-death studies, and the author of On Death and Dying, states in her article “On the Fear of Death,” that there are three psychological aspects that make people fear death. Director and writer Maxwell Shane maintains a frantic pace broken only by innovative, vertigo-inducing dream sequences. Cliff Herlihy (Paul Kelly), his police officer brother-in-law, tries to convince him it was just a dream. [17], On 30 October 2017, Studio Canal released a Blu-ray edition in the United Kingdom. Fear in the Night (1947) By Toronto Film Society on January 26, 2020 Toronto Film Society presented Fear in the Night (1947) on Sunday, January 26, 2020 in a double bill with Kid Monk Baroni as part of the Season 72 Sunday Afternoon Special Screening #4. They discover that the police found two bodies in the house, one in the mirrored room and one run over in the driveway. He questions her about what happened, but she says she cannot remember. [18] Scream Factory announced in 2019 that they will be releasing a Blu-ray edition in North America on 27 August 2019. [21] "Despite such threadbare material," Muir says, "there is an interesting sexual undercurrent to the film."[21]. [4], The film was shot on location in Aldenham, Hertfordshire. [6] Bhaktivedanta Manor was used for the location of the boys' school. Robert returns and is very concerned about Peggy's mental state; although Peggy insists that she was attacked, he doesn't believe her. Fear In The Night March 18, 2021 Dave Davis Commentary , COVID-19 , Policy , Uncategorized The point of this blog has been to find and promote a better life for our people. The films were shown in cinemas as a double feature titled "Women in Fear. The film stars Judy Geeson as a psychologically-fragile woman who, upon relocating to a rural boarding school where her husband has taken a job, finds herself being tormented by a mysterious figure with a prosthetic arm. Some have even speculated the UFO could even be … Molly goes to search for him, and shortly after, the sound of bells echoes throughout the school. The dark you fear in the night Every night I lie alone in our bed While you play in our shed With your hobbies, you're happy! At first Vince is hopeful that he is innocent because he does not know how to drive, but he recognizes the victims from his dream. Fear in the Night is a little B thriller from the mind of Maxwell Shane, based on a short story Nightmare by Cornell Woolrich. [7], Fear in the Night was released in the United Kingdom on 9 July 1972, shown as a double bill with Straight on Till Morning, another Hammer film with similar themes. Cliff rescues him from the lake and Mr. Belknap is killed in a car accident as he is trying to evade the police. He said darling don't you cry Now look me in the eyes and believe in me and the words I say That its gonna be alright [15] It was released for the first time on DVD in North America on 8 October 2002 by Anchor Bay Entertainment as part of their "Hammer Collection" series. Huckvale's interpretation of the scene between Peggy (Judy Geeson) and Headmaster Carmichael (Peter Cushing), during which he removes her hair-tie, as a metaphor for sexual violation, echoing John David Muir's claim of the film's sexual undercurrents: Just as the Biblical Samson's hair signified his virility, so too does Mélisande's hair stand for her sexual allure. … Overview. DeForest Kelley in a Cornell Woolrich story. Fear in the Night (also known as Dynasty of Fear and Honeymoon of Fear ) is a 1972 British psychological horror film directed, produced, and co-written by Jimmy Sangster and produced by Hammer Film Productions. Based on a story by Cornell Woolrich, the king of psychological suspense, Fear in the Night tells the tale of a man who dreams he killed someone, then suspects it was real! She encounters the headmaster Michael, who shows her around the building; she leaves him in the school and returns to her cottage. Paul Kelly plays his detective brother-in-law helping to solve the murder. DeForest Kelley is dopey as the fall guy and Paul Kelly is brisk as his detective friend. [12] Popcorn Pictures gave the film a middling review, calling it "a brave attempt by Hammer to go in a new direction but ultimately fails because even in 1972, the plot twists weren’t new or original in the slightest. The taut pulp story, dreamy atmospheric settings and brooding mood throughout, all serve the film well. [4] The film had been scheduled to go into production several times: first in autumn 1964, then "tentatively" in 1965. She runs into the school, where she hears a chorus of racket and boys' voices echoing through the halls. Do you know how I feel? Fear in the Night was the first starring role for DeForest Kelley who would go on to great acclaim as Dr. McCoy of TV's original "Star Trek." One of several low-budget mellers directed by scriptwriter Maxwell Shane, Fear in the Night was based on the short story Nightmare by William Irish (pseudonym for Cornell Woolrich). Peggy finds Molly standoffish toward her. DeForest Kelley, in his debut performance, does a fine job as the innocent victim."[8]. It is caused by upper airway obstruction. Robert explains to Peggy that he had originally met Michael when he was working in a hospital as a medical student; the boarding school had nearly burned to the ground in an accident years prior, and, devastated, Michael returned to the property, setting up recordings of boys' laughter and classroom lectures over the building's intercoms to recreate the feeling of the school's former glory days. DRAMA AND FILM: Kim Hunter, Buchanan Will Costar in England Michael is nowhere to be found. The dark you fear in the night!" "[13], The film was released on VHS in the United States by Thorn EMI home video,[14] later receiving a VHS release through Republic Pictures in 1998. Paul Kelly, DeForest Kelley. The director does a good job, with some exceptions, and keeps the story tight. We then see the abandoned school that is the film's central setting, and experience a feeling of isolation and foreboding. "[23], Huckvale also draws comparisons on the character of Molly Carmichael (Joan Collins) as a catalyst to Peggy's purported hysteria, likening her to the unnamed wife of Maximilian de Winter in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. A few days later, while trying to find cover from the rain, the pair finds themselves taking shelter in the strange house from Vince's dream, which is owned by a Mr. and Mrs. Belknap. Schallert, Edwin. "[The character] of Peggy marries a man she knows little about and then finds herself transplanted into a grand house with its own intimidating rituals, but with the major difference that the Rebecca figure is still there in the form of Joan Collins' Molly Carmichael," Huckvale says. ENTER CITY, STATE OR ZIP CODE GO. Obstructive sleep apnea is one of the most common causes of nocturnal panic attacks. [16] It was later released in the United Kingdom on DVD by Studio Canal on 15 January 2007. The following day, Robert returns, finding Peggy in a nearly catatonic state inside the school, and a pool of blood in the hallway. "Peggy sees the heartless Molly shoot a cute little rabbit. The film stars Judy Geeson as a psychologically-fragile woman who, upon relocating to a rural boarding school where her husband has taken a job, finds herself being tormented by a mysterious figure with a prosthetic arm. Michael corners her in an upstairs dormitory, and she shoots at him again, but he is unresponsive to the gunfire. The next day Robert leaves for work. Molly is a brutal, catlike character, and her superficial smile collapses when Peggy and Robert leave."[24]. Fear in the Night follows Vince (DeForest Kelley) a young bank teller in post-war Los Angeles. Night Synthesis Paper While reading the book Night, I asked myself why are people were afraid of death. It was shot in ten days. 100% (1/1) Movie Reviews - Film - Time Out London", "Fantastic Movie Musings & Ramblings - FEAR IN THE NIGHT (1972)", "Fear in the Night Blu-ray (United Kingdom)", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fear_in_the_Night_(1972_film)&oldid=1002512289, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 24 January 2021, at 20:06. Peggy stumbles in on their meeting, and Robert demands she reveal where Michael's body is. On top of Sangster as writer/director, we have Peter Cushing as an impenetrable headmaster and Joan Collins as a bitch, several years before she was The Bitch. Publication date 1947 Topics suspense, thriller, murder, mystery, noir. March against sexism / Ryan Mallett-Outtrim / Waging Nonviolence / CC-BY-4.0. 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