DEAD OF NIGHT (1945)

 

(Directors: Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Robert Hamer, and Basil Dearden. Screenwriters: John Baines and Angus MacPhail, with additional dialogue by T.E.B. Clarke.)

Review

Not to be confused with Dan Curtis’s 1977 NBC telepic, this influential 1945 multi-tale movie, put out by Ealing Studios (a British production company mostly known for social dramas, documentaries, and comedies), is a rare World War II cinematic work (the production of horror films wasn’t allowed in Great Britain during the 1940s).

 

DEAD begins with an architect, Walter Craig (Mervyn Johns, THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, 1963) arriving at a house in the English countryside, a haunted look crossing his face as he sees his destination. While walking up to the cottage, he’s greeted by Eliot Foley (Roland Culver, THUNDERBALL, 1965), who invited Craig for possible renovations to the house. They enter the house, where, in the living room, he sees five other people—guests—and his haunted look deepens. He’s not heard of, nor met them, at least in waking life.

He tells the congregated host and guests about how he has a recurring, half-remembered “evil” dream that begins exactly like the events shown thus far. He says another guest, a surprise “penniless” visitor, is due to arrive and provides other details about his dream that have happened or will happen.

 

One of the guests, Dr. van Straaten (Frederick Valk, NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH, 1940), a psychoanalyst, tries to convince Craig that it’s all in his head. The others, entertained by the situation, debate about the merits of Craig’s recurrent night vision, and talk about their own eerie, possibly supernatural experiences, seamlessly segueing the overarching (and untitled) segment into other segments.

This wraparound section was directed by Basil Dearden, its screenwriter not specified.

 

“The Hearse Driver”: Hugh Grainger (Anthony Baird, billed as Antony Baird), a race car driver, relates how during a post-crash recovery, he sees a hearse and its driver outside his hospital room. Later, something happens that leads him toward a life-changing decision.

Based on E.F. Benson’s story, published in The Pall Mall magazine in 1906, “Hearse” was directed by Basil Dearden, screenwriter (again) not specifically credited.

 

One of the other guest, a teenager, Sally O’Hara (Sally Anne Howes, THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, 1972) recounts a spooky, chiaroscuro-drenched game of hide-and-seek during “The Christmas Party” in a murder-site mansion the previous year, a holiday shindig with a surprise guest.

“Christmas,” during its upstairs/hide-and-seek portion, is especially excellent in its visual aspects. Penned by screenwriter Angus MacPhail and directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, its twist may be apparent to modern day viewers, but it’s still a striking cinematic experience in parts.

 

Joan Cortland (Googie Withers), the next tale teller, speaks about “The Haunted Mirror” she bought for her fiancé-now-husband (Peter), and how the reflecting glass with a troubling history intensely influenced their lives. Great use of light and shadow in this DEAD entry as well.

Robert Hamer directed “Haunted,” from John Baines’s screenplay.

 

The host, Eliot Foley, is the next to chime in with “The Golfer’s Story”.In it, two golfing buddies (George Parratt and Larry Potter, a real-life comedy duo played by Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne) fall for the same woman (Mary Lee), threatening their joyous amity. They agree to decide who gets the indecisive woman by playing golf—whoever wins becomes her betrothed. (Yes, sexist overtones here, in the weakest of these DEAD-told microtales.) But all is not as it seems.

Based on H.G. Wells’s “The Story of the Inexperienced Ghost,” it was directed by Charles Crichton, no specific screenwriter named.

 

“The Ventriloquist’s Dummy” is told by Dr. van Straaten, who discloses his experiences with a patient (Maxwell Frere), a famous, overwrought ventriloquist with an equally iconic dummy (Hugo). When Hugo begins scouting for a new partner (Sylvester Kee), Frere further unravels. Is Hugo, a brash personality, an aspect of Frere’s feverish insecurities, or is he a separate, supernatural entity?

 

“Ventriloquist” is the most-remembered segment in DEAD, an influential tale whose gone-mad ventriloquist trope has been seen in numerous works since. It wasn’t the first notable ventriloquist-trope flick (that honor goes to the 1929 movie THE GREAT GABBO, co-directed by and starring Erich von Stroheim), but GABBO doesn’t appear to have the following that DEAD has.

Alberto Cavlcanti directed the John Baines-scripted “Ventriloquist”.

 

DEAD’s circular storyline dovetails in a dreamlike, shadowy and déja vu manner after the psychiatrist’s remembrance—it’s a satisfactory, twisty and memorable finish, one that makes DEAD one of my all-time favorite horror anthology films, with its striking visual aspects, inherent charm, humor and fright, tight editing (hello, Charles Hasse), superb direction and writing, and Michael Relph’s art direction. Check it out!

 

Deeper film(ic) dive

Googie Withers, comedy duo “Parratt and Potter” (Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne) and Michael Redgrave all appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1938 film THE LADY VANISHES.

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Big thanks to Anne Hockens, who, in the September 2022 edition of her monthly column (“Film Noir and Neo-Noir on TCM”) reminded me and compelled me to write about DEAD with these words: “. . . noir-stained horror anthology. . . Michael Redgrave started the whole evil ventriloquist trope with his masterful segment. This is not strictly a noir but is a brilliant film."

Also, thanks to Turner Classic Movies’ Alicia Malone, who mentioned in her televised 9/6/22 introduction to the film, that the “initial [stateside] release of the film was missing two of the segments, ‘The Golfer’s Story,’ and—depending on the source—'The Haunted Mirror,’ or ‘The Christmas Party’.”

THE FOOD OF THE GODS (1976)

 

(Director/screenwriter/special visual effects: Bert I. Gordon)

Review

A mix of H.G. Wells’s 1904 science fiction novel THE FOOD OF THE GODS AND HOW IT CAME TO EARTH and Cy Endfield’s 1961 film adaptation of Jules Verne’s notably different 1874 novel THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, this 1976 film starts with a heavy-handed voice-over provided by Morgan (Marjoe Gortner, MAUSOLEUM, 1983) telling viewers how he and two football-player buddies went deer-hunting on a Canadian island where they’re attacked by mutated animals. Thankfully, Morgan’s voice-overs merely bookend FOOD (1976).

One of Morgan’s hunting buddies (Davis) is stung to death by man-sized wasps (that look like flying, winged shadows). Morgan and his other friend (Brian) escape, talk to a local woman (Mrs. Skinner, played by Ida Lupino). Skinner, who has mutant chickens and a rooster in her garage, tells Morgan about a weird, white liquid that bubbles out of the earth and how she fed it to her chickens and rooster─the same liquid that might be responsible for the oversized wasps.

Later that evening, Mr. Skinner (John McLiam), back from the mainland, gets a flat tire on his VW Bug and is attacked by a mischief of car-sized rats. More animal-related assaults and deaths follow, including several attacks on Jack Bensington (Ralph Meeker) and his fed-up assistant (Lorna, played by Pamela Franklin)─Bensington owns a company that hopes to strike a deal to distribute the white goo (labeled Food of the Good, FOTG, by the Skinners) for cattle growth.

Then the animals attack en masse! Everything gets crazy violent, lots of arguing, planning, and animal-repelling ensues. More characters die horribly. The familiar ending is solid, believable and (still) timely.

Gordon’s ecological thriller is cheesy, golden turkey fun. There’s a lot to admire about FOOD, released as a PG-rated film (by today’s standards, it’s probably closer to an R). Gordon, known for his big-monster pictures and FX work, wrote and directed this tightly edited movie (e.g., the first ten minutes of FOOD has two giant creature-related deaths). The characters are barely sketched, and the actors are mostly solid in their over-the-top acting (especially Lupino, who make FOOD more fun than it would otherwise be). The practical creature FX are obviously fake in parts, but it makes the film more fun in a nostalgic way. Adding to the enjoyment of these scenes are the sound effects (swarming rats sound like a mix of wild cats, pigs, and something else I couldn’t identify) as well as the suspenseful soundtrack (the latter provided by Eliot Kaplan).

If you have a sense of humor, appreciate solid Seventies B-movies and aren’t sensitive to obviously fake animal deaths (rats were shot with high-intensity blood squirts), this might be your cinematic cheese jam for an hour and a half.

THE INVISIBLE MAN (2020)

 

(Director/screenwriter: Leigh Whannell)

Storyline

Cecilia’s tyrannical ex kills himself and leaves her his wealth. She thinks his suicide is a hoax, a way to get her back. As events unfold, Cecilia─perceived as overwrought by others─struggles to reveal her ex’s sly and cruel plot.

 

Review

This excellent, every-shot-matters and occasional-gore thriller is one of my favorite 2020 films. Part of the reason for this is the superb acting, especially on the part of lead actress Elizabeth Moss (MAD MEN, 2007-15) who effectively embodies the trauma and eventual hope of a long-suffering abuse victim (Cecilia Cass). Cinematographers Stefan Duscio (UPGRADE, 2018, also directed and scripted by Whannell) and Daniel Grant maintain the cold, dark-tint-contrasted-with-antiseptic-brightness look that adds to the relentless, steady-build-up, psychologically intense mood of the film. Unlike UPGRADE, an underrated technology-themed thriller, INVISIBLE (rightfully) was a critical and box office hit, one that rings true to its themes of abuse, human nature, and technology. Its end-shot echoes the style of Alfred Hitchcock’s dramatic character-in-the-foreground scenes, while Benjamin Wallfisch’s score─in this scene Bernard Herman-esque─heightens the emotional rollercoaster of INVISIBLE. Great film, this.