Endless Night
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Movie Reviews of Endless Night
Movie Review: BUY IT FOR THE SCORE ALONE
Summary: 4 Stars
Before I discuss the film itself, I have to mention Bernard Herrmann's classic score. At a time in his career when mainstream Hollywood turned its back on Herrmann, smaller, independent or British films embraced this veteran of the studio system days. And here, in "Endless Night," Herrmann did some of his best, most mature work. The score is amazing, a symphony of synthesizers and orchestral music as only Herrmann could put together. And who could forget Shirley Jones (dubbing for Hayley Mills) singing the title song adapted from the William Blake poem? It is a lovely piece and deserves to be sung in concert venues. Alas, this brilliant score--reflective of Herrmann's maturity and mastery of film music--is unavailable on CD. So here, on DVD, you can hear it in the best form it has been available in for a long time.As for the film itself, it doesn't ever reach the level of pathos and sad beauty of Herrmann's score, but it does have a memorable style all its own. The script is competent, even inspired at times, and the whole thing feels less like Agatha Christie and more like the murky thriller territory Hitchcock worked in. Hayley Mills is charming and lovely in her role; her presence here makes one wish to see more of this actress as an adult. She has been criminally underused in film, but she adds grace and warmth to these proceedings (the warmth being especially welcome in this somewhat cold film). Hywel Bennet is competent in his role, and Britt Ekland is less out-of-place in this movie than in others I've seen her in. (Is it just me or does dear Britt always seemed dubbed in every film she's in? Do they have to loop every one of her lines?) The movie is a complex, intriguing mystery that is only somewhat undermined by the dated trappings of the sets, particularly that garish seventies house that is depicted as a dream home. Overall, however, the film is shot quite stylishly and even if you figure out, as most discerning viewers will, the plot ahead of time, it still remains a solid character study and psychological thriller. The dvd itself has few extras, but the transfer is the best I've seen and all in all, it confirms the fact the for mystery fans this is something of an overlooked gem.
Movie Review: ENDLESS NIGHT (BRITISH LION FILMS/1972)
Summary: 4 Stars
REVIEW: Although it looks like some made-for-T.V. adaptation from the early 70's: "ENDLESS NIGHT" is actually quite a neat little thriller that is probably the closest Agatha Christie ever came to writing a bona fide horror story. It begins when a shiftless-yet-charming chauffeur falls in love and marries a rich American heiress, and together they build an extravagant modern house on a supposedly cursed lot called Gypsy's Acre. After moving in they begin to experience a host of supernatural occurances (along with the usual plethora of meddling relatives PLUS a nutty old lady who seems to be stalking them) that threatens their newfound happiness. Before long there is an accident, a death, a disappearance, and most definately a murder: but who or what is behind all the sinister goings-on at Gypsy's Acre? Is it truly cursed? Or is there a real human element of evil at work here? Director Sidney Gilliat does a fantastic job in building up the bits and pieces of the plot until the final horrific climax that fully lives up to the film's title. Along with the superb musical score by Bernard ("PSYCHO") Herrmann: the cast itself is quite excellent (especially Hywel Bennett in the role of Michael the chauffeur, George Sanders as "Uncle" Andrew, and Per Oscarsson as the brilliant-yet-sickly architect Santonix), and the construction of Gilliat's screenplay is faithfully adapted from Christie's novel with every surreal plot twist intact.
Movie Review: Christie Meets Hitchcock
Summary: 4 Stars
This was a pleasant surprise. I've always liked Agatha Christie's unusual 1968 novel, but I'd never seen this 1972 British film version. Many critics (and fans) have given the movie high marks over the years, so I bought the DVD. Now I'm a fan, too.
ENDLESS NIGHT isn't your typical Christie "whodunnit," but a dark, creepy psychological suspense story. Writer/director Sidney Gilliat, who worked with Hitchcock on THE LADY VANISHES and also made the wonderful GREEN FOR DANGER, was obviously influenced by the Master in his approach to it. The result is like a dream collaboration between Christie and Hitchcock, the two giants of suspense. We have the sinister house in the sinister small town, the Hitchcock blonde (a surprisingly good Hayley Mills, of all people), the flashbacks to childhood trauma, and the shocking twist ending. On top of that, we have one of the final musical scores from Hitchcock's favorite composer, Bernard Herrmann.
Hitchcock students, pay close attention to those flashbacks at the icy lake (SPELLBOUND), the scenes in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (VERTIGO), and that wooden sign with the big eye painted on it that reads "Thou, God, see'st me." And check out the final scenes in the hospital (PSYCHO).
No, ENDLESS NIGHT isn't as wonderful as any of those films, but it's one of the better "homages" to Hitchcock I've ever seen, and one of the better Christie adaptations, too. Try it.
Movie Review: Tricky
Summary: 3 Stars
I'd love to be able to rave about this quirky movie, but it has rather too many flaws to make it a real gripping chiller, and not enough real action. Although saying that, it's flaws are small, and some of it's minor parts are actually quite impressive.
The biggest hurdle to get over as you settle down to watch this film is the problem of just what sort of film is this trying to be? The story takes us on a rambling journey through the life of Michael, a lazy and not entirely honest drifter, who works mostly as a chaffeur - when he's not being fired for being too cheeky to the rich clients. Michael has a strange, listless life, in which he dreams of setting up home in a particularly beautiful spot he has found in the country. In between doing this and visiting his disappointed old mum, he meets and romances an attractive young girl called Ellie, and after a lot of, well nothing really, they marry and get an architecht to build a dream home for them in the idyllic location. It's after they move in that things start to go a bit wrong, which is good news for the viewer because almost an hour of the films running time is gone before anything other than the mildly diverting actually starts to happen.
I can't say any more about the plot, except that if you don't know the story you should hopefully be pleasantly surprised by a few twists in the tale. The film looks good, albeit firmly planted in the 1970's, especially the scenes that show the very dated mod-cons of the supposed "dream house". I'd say this is more than a character study than anything, with Michael being the main focus for your attention. Although many pointers are dropped into the film to suggest that Michael is teetering on the wrong side of insanity, he is played rather vacantly by Hywell Bennett, who, despite giving him the required air of instability, never takes us very far beneath the surface of the character. Despite the fact that Michael also narrates much of the tale with a voice-over, I still ended up very confused about his true character.
Hayley Mills makes a delightful heroine, despite a very poor US accent that all but disappears most of the time, but Britt Ekland makes little of the enigmatic Greta, which is a shame after the film makes such a concerted effort to telegraph the mysterious nature of this character before she ever appears on screen.
What helps the film rise above a rather lacklustre plot are some sumptuous outdoor locations, along with some very daring fast cuts and flashbacks to vivid imagery, such as Michael's childhood frozen lake tragedy, and his memory of an ominous wall-hanging featuring a large eye. Michael's other visions include a nightmare in which Ellie has no face, and another in which he encounters her beside a tree, frozen in a smiling pose almost like a shop mannequin, which I found very eerie. In fact the film as a whole is very good at being odd. It chucks in a few rambling minor weirdos like the crazy old lady, and the main characters are forever asking each other things like: "Why is so-and-so riding his horse past our window even though he lives 15 miles away?"... These little oddities scarcely ever come to anything, but they do have the combined effect of making you think that everything is going to turn out very badly without ever actually spelling anything out.
The film belongs to a long-gone era of British pyschological thrillers from the 1970's, which I would suggest also includes "Neither The Sea Nor The Sand" and "The Beast In The Cellar"... all cold, windy countryside based affairs with lots of atmosphere and earnest British character actors, but not a lot of box office success. "Endless Night" might entertain you on a wet afternoon, and probably best so if you are willing to give time a film that does not seem to fit into any particular genre.
Movie Review: Endless Night - dated, but still a good watch
Summary: 3 Stars
For lovers of Agatha Christie and Hayley Mills this is a "should see". Although very early seventies in look, especially the Gypsies Acre dream home, this film still satisfies with a twisted plot and good performances by Mills, Ekland and Bennett.