Mervyn Johns is the puzzled architect trapped in a circular dream in the house of perfect host Roland Culver and assorted guests:
Hearse Driver. Director Basil Dearden. Story E.F. Benson.
Hugh Grainger, Miles Malleson.
Note clock which stops ticking.
Christmas Party Director Cavalcanti. Story Angus MacPhail.
Sally Ann Howes.
The Haunted Mirror Director Robert Hamer. Story John V. Baines. Maybe the best episode.
Superb performances by Ralph Michael (who reappears as the older Tony in The Camomile Lawn) and Googie Withers.
Golf Director Charles Crichton, who also adapted an H.G. Wells story.
Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne ("do I make passes, or do I make passes?").
Ventriloquist. Director Cavalcanti.
Michael Redgrave (another unforgettable performance), Hartley Power.
Something about this sequence reminds me of Cruickshank or someone (insane asylum image).
Barbara Leake as Sally Ann Howes' mother has perhaps the best line when she remarks "Well he'll just have to assault someone else".
Film badly needs restoring - Georges Auric's magnificently brooding score sounds like it's underwater. And it's music like no one else's.
Shot by Douglas Slocombe and Stan Pavey.
Angus McPhail and John Baines also wrote the linking story and there's additional dialogue from T.E.B. Clarke.
Watch out for beautiful, final moment of slow motion.
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