Saturday 26 October 2024

Dead of Night (1945 Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Robert Hamer, Basil Dearden)

Watched it last Halloween... obviously.

From when this was written:

Moments to love. The way Anthony Baird slowly walks up to the the hospital window, all sound having disappeared. That slow track in on Ralph Michael as he tells Googie Withers he must be going mad. Sally Ann Howes' mother bursting in with the film's funniest line. Googie seeing the haunted room. And the antiques dealer - "It's a rather curious story" - Curious?? Douglas Slocombe's eerie lake. That final look of Michael Redgrave - totally deranged. Georges Auric - demented brass. The slow motion cigarette smoke right at the end.

It's quite funny how sanguine and stiff-lipped everyone is about their and the others' ghost stories, as they smoke countless cigarettes.

"Milk and sugar, Mr Craig?" I love his expression.


But the line that stuck in my head this time was Basil Radford's - "Must count the cups, darling. Yes, always count the cups before going to bed."

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