Dead of Night

Dead of Night is a 1945 Ealing Studios horror Anthology Film, with a cast including Mervyn Johns, Roland Culver, Googie Withers, Sally Ann Howes, and Michael Redgrave.

In the Framing Story, an architect named Walter Craig (Mervyn Johns) arrives at a country house to consult on renovations. Craig meets a group of people in the house and tells them that he has met them all in a dream, in which everyone was horribly murdered. This leads other guests to recount their own supernatural experiences, including a premonition of disaster and a crazed ventriloquist. Finally, Craig says he has a horrible feeling that the killer in his dream was himself, and begins to butcher them. He then wakes up from the nightmare, drives off... and arrives at the same country house. The film ends as it began, in a supposedly infinite loop.

The film's segments, each from a different writer and director:

• "The Hearse Driver" (directed by Basil Dearden). Hugh the race car driver, recuperating in the hospital after a wreck, looks out his window and sees a strange vision.
• "The Christmas Party" (directed by Alberto Cavalcanti). Sally, a teenaged girl, shares the story of a ghost she saw at a Christmas party for kids.
• "The Haunted Mirror" (directed by Robert Hamer): Joan Cortland tells about the antique mirror that she bought for her husband, and the strange reflection he saw in it.
• "The Golfer's Story" (directed by Charles Crichton): Foley, who owns the house, tells a story about two of his golfing buddies and the weird events that followed after they became romantic rivals.
• "The Ventriloquist's Dummy" (directed by Alberto Cavalcanti): Dr. Van Stratten recalls a case he worked on, concerning one Maxwell Frere (Michael Redgrave), a ventriloquist who has an unhealthy relationship with his dummy.
• plus the "Linking Narrative" (directed by Basil Dearden)

Not to be confused with the 2011 Dylan Dog movie or the gamebook. Or the 1977 TV anthology movie written by Richard Matheson.

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Dead of Night provides examples of the following tropes:

• Agent Scully: Dr. van Straaten plays this to a tee, with him flat out refusing to believe the possibility of their being anything supernatural in Walter Craig seemingly dreaming of all the events that they are living through, and him constantly trying to find rational explanations for all the stories the guests relate. Notably when it comes time for his own, he admits the case did make him seriously question his convictions, but he did eventually decide on a rational solution.
• Anthology Film: The movie is actually an omnibus, or anthology of stories, tied together with a central narrative.
• Cain and Abel: An example based on real life. Sally encounters the ghost of Francis Kent who was murdered by his older half-sister Constance.
• Clothing Combat: Peter attempts to strangle Joan with his scarf. During the film's nightmarish climax, Walter does strangle Dr. Van Straaten with his tie.
• Compete for the Maiden's Hand: In "The Golfing Story", Parratt and Potter are in the love with the same woman, who cannot choose between them, so they play a round of golf for her hand, with the winner earning the right to marry her.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: The "The Haunted Mirror" segment. As the antiques dealer finally reveals, the titular mirror previously belonged to Sir Francis Etherington a 19th century Baronet, who following being crippled in a hunting accident, was consumed by jealous paranoia that his wife was unfaithful until he murdered her. His evil spirit eventually ends up possessing Peter and causes him to believe the same of Joan, nearly recreating the story.
• Dead Hat Shot: When Potter commits suicide by water trap, his flat cap is left floating on the surface of the lake.
• Demonic Dummy: Hugo Finch, whilst seemingly just Maxwell's cheeky dummy for the acts, the longer the story goes on the more it clear the sheer strain he's putting him under, with it seeming Hugo is going out of his way to destroy Maxwell, such as openly talking about ditching him for a new Ventriloquist and provoking another man to strike Maxwell whilst he's drunk. Potentially. The camera likewise puts a lot of emphasis on Hugo's features, which are carved so they look disturbingly to human for a wooden dummy with him becoming more expressive the longer the story goes on. He becomes even more Demonic in the climax, when Craig ends up trapped in the cell with him and Hugo gets up and starts strangling the terrified Craig, all whilst cheerfully continuing to mock him.
• Dream Within a Dream / "Groundhog Day" Loop: The end is the beginning is the end.
• Driven to Suicide: In "The Golfing Story", Potter commits suicide by water hazard after losing Mary to Parratt in a game of golf: a game in which Parratt cheated.
• Dutch Angle: Used extensively during the nightmarish climax.
• Evil Cripple: Whilst Sir Francis was always a passionate and scary figure, its stated by the antiques dealer that he didn't become cruel or jealous until after a hunting accident left it so he was confined to his bed. He speculates the strain and resentment of such a previously forceful and dominating man being injured so permanently caused him to turn wicked.
• Expy: Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford appear as the comic duo Charters and Caldicott, the characters they'd been playing in several films dating back to 1938 and The Lady Vanishes—except that due to contract dispute they were no longer able to call the characters "Charters" and "Caldicott". So in this movie they play a functionally identical comic pair named Parratt and Potter.
• Felony Misdemeanor: In "The Golfing Story", cheating at golf is considered the most heinous sin a man can commit. So serious that Potter returns from the dead to punish Parratt for it.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: In "The Christmas Party", when the other children can't find Sally whilst playing Sardines, one suggests checking the nursery only for Jimmy to reveal it's locked, as the audience knows Sally is in fact in the nursery with another child, this is the first clear hint of something supernatural going on.
• Flashback Within a Flashback: "The Ventriloquist's Dummy" has Dr. Van Straaten tell the story of his consultation in the Maxwell Frere case. In his flashback Van Straaten reads the statement of witness Sylvester Kee...and the bulk of the story then unfolds from Kee's narrative as a second flashback.
• Florence Nightingale Effect: When Grainger wakes up in hospital, he wastes no time in flirting with the nurse. They eventually get married.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Early on Walter discusses how a sixth individual will arrive at their meeting and all he can remember is that she's a beautiful, brunette woman. In "The Hearse Driver", whilst in the hospital Hugh happily flirts with his nurse Joyce, who notably matches the description. Sure enough, it turns out she eventually married Hugh and is the sixth guest.
  • Whilst trying to make sense of his recollections of his dreams, Walter relates that he remembers striking Sally at some point after it becomes a nightmare, but then notes that doesn't make any sense as he also remembers Sally leaving long beforehand, which quickly comes to pass with her mother fetching her for her great uncle's birthday. This foreshadows the climax, where all the elements of the stories merge together in their torment of Walter.
  • In "The Christmas Party", whilst all the other guests at the party are dressed in the sort of elaborate but cheap costumes you would expect children to wear (such as Sally dressing as a medieval princess), Francis's outfit is noticeably more sophisticated and old fashioned, looking like something you would expect out of the Victorian age. Foreshadowing he's the ghost of the murder victim that happened during the 1800s.
  • In "The Haunted Mirror", Joan briefly mentions getting a lift from someone named Guy who is implied to be a bit too willing to do things for her, whilst she brushes it off as a laugh, Peter noticeably looks uncomfortable. At the climax Sir Francis's ghost's influence exploits these feelings, convincing Peter Joan is unfaithful to him, in an attempt to recreate his crime of murdering his wife.
• Framing Device: Walter Craig's narrative. Notably unlike most examples, said framing device gets around as much focus as the stories themselves, having a clear narrative running throughout and leading to the nightmarish climax.
• Genre Shift: As opposed to the other stories which are serious narratives (albeit not without some levity) "The Golfer's Story" is a light-hearted Fantastic Comedy. It provides a nice respite between "The Haunted Mirror" (which is notably darker and scarier than the first two stories) and "The Ventriloquist's Dummy" (which is probably the scariest story of them all).
• Haunted House Historian: The antique dealer providing us with the back story of the haunted mirror.
• Herr Doktor: Doctor van Straaten is very much the stereotypical German psychiatrist, brought to life with Fredrick Valk's natural accent.
• Hope Spot: Halfway through "The Haunted Mirror", Joan (still believing Peter's issues are simply a mental condition brought on by stress) seemingly cures Peter of seeing a different room reflected in the mirror, by having him focus on her (as she's not present in his vision). Only whilst she's away visiting her mother (on a trip Peter can't attend due to work), does his visions come back, and with no support he ends up succumbing to the evil ghost's influence.
• Impairment Shot: Hugh the race-car driver wakes up in the hospital after a crash; a blurred picture comes into focus as Joyce the nurse.
• Laughing Mad: Maxwell, who is coming completely unglued, laughs maniacally as he shoots Kee.
• Love Triangle: In "The Golfing Story", Potter and Parratt are both in love with Mary, who loves each of them equally. They eventually agree to break the deadlock by playing a round of golf: the winner to receive Mary's hand in marriage. Mary enthusiastically agrees to this proposal.
• Magical Gesture: Done humorously, after they agree on the terms of Larry Porter's ghost leaving in exchange for George Parratt not marrying Mary Lee, Larry attempts to do the gestures that will lead to his spirit leaving for the afterlife only to suddenly realise he's forgotten the final step, thus he's stuck. Despite trying multiple times Larry is incapable of remembering the last gesture. At the climax of the story George in frustration accidentally does it whilst imitating Larry, causing him to vanish to the afterlife only for Larry to admit he wasn't looking meaning he's still stuck.
• "Magic A" Is "Magic A": How Larry's haunting of George works in "The Golfers Story", he must always be within six feet of George. After Larry gets stuck unable to return to the afterlife, this prospect quickly becomes intolerable for both of them (especially upon George's wedding night which he very much wants to enjoy with his bride, and the distance is too short for Larry to stay out in the hallway). At one point George tries to cheat, by sneaking off whilst Larry has his eyes closed, only for him to automatically teleport right beside George the moment he gets more than six feet away.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane:
  • Discussed heavily, with Doctor van Straaten constantly trying to find rational explanations for the seemingly supernatural events described in each story as well as Walter Craig's bizarre dreams that seemingly predict every event that is playing out before them.
  • "The Vantriloquist's Dummy" does this the most, as opposed to all the other stories nothing undeniably supernatural ever occurs. Does Hugo really have a mind of his own? Or (as Doctor van Staaten concludes) is he simply the manifestation of Maxwell's dissociated identity disorder? On the one hand, it becomes clear the longer the story goes on that Maxwell is very much not in his right mind, and several moments hint it all to be in his head (For example, in the scene in which Maxwell and Hugo "talk" in prison, you can see Maxwell's lips moving and expressions changing even though it's Hugo who's talking). On the other hand, this doesn't explain how Hugo was seemingly able to talk to Kee whilst Maxwell was in the other room and why when he bit down on Maxwell's hand (Maxwell covering his mouth in an attempt to silence him) it resulted in actually cutting into it to the point of producing blood and visible bite marks despite Hugo not having any actual teeth.
• Mind Screw: The circular nature of the narrative makes it unclear just what is reality and what isn't. Is Craig stuck in a "Groundhog Day" Loop in which he continually visits the country house? Maybe, but if the Framing Device in the country house is "reality", that doesn't explain how he cycles through all the stories that were told in a hallucinatory, dreamlike manner before waking up in his bed. So if the Framing Device is a dream, then he must actually be having the same dream over and over again...which would make it an infinite Dream Within a Dream nest as he continually "wakes up" and then the story starts again.
• Mirror Universe: In "The Haunted Mirror", an antique mirror reveals the room it was once in.
• Mood Whiplash: "The Christmas Party", starts off as a light-hearted story of Sally enjoying herself at a party despite most of the other guests being children much younger than herself, and pushing off the not-so-subtle intentions of the only other boy her age Jimmy. Things take a more serious turn when she first encounters Francis crying into a chair, with it clear the boy is terrified of his older sister, but seemingly becomes sweet as Sally is able to reassure him and sings him a lullaby, with Francis seemingly reassured it will all be fine now. Only for it to turn dark when Sally releases Francis the ghost of the murder victim, and condemned to relieve his horrific murder for all eternity.
• Murder-Suicide: In "The Haunted Mirror" it turns out this was the story of Sir Francis, who over 100 years ago in a fit of jealous paranoia strangled his faithful wife to death and then slit his own throat. His ghosts almost make Peter recreate his crimes once its influence takes over him.
• Nested Story: The five subplots.
• Or Was It a Dream?: The whole story.
• Plagued by Nightmares: Walter Craig is called to a country house for work purposes. He realizes he knows all those assembled because they appear in a recurring dream he has and predicts what will happen to those assembled (including his killing them). Each guest recounts a bizarre and spooky story to distract him and entertain each other — but all of Craig's foretold events occur. He begins murdering those in the assembled group and then runs afoul of the characters in the stories he has heard, one of whom begins strangling him. He wakes up to a phone call, summoning him to a country home for work purposes, thereby starting the nightmare over.
• Played for Laughs: "Golfing Story" is not at all scary.
• Power Incontinence: Becomes the crux of "The Golfer's Story", following discovering that George Parratt cheated in the game over who would get to marry Mary Lee, Larry Porter returns as a ghost to haunt him. However, after striking a deal for Larry to leave George alone if he breaks off the engagement, to Larry's horror he realises he can't remember the gesture needed for him to return to the afterlife, meaning he's stuck with George. He justifies this on the grounds he only had a week till George got married and thus had to rush things when they were explaining how being a ghost worked.
• Pronouncing My Name for You: The ventriloquist Frere's surname is pronounced "Freya". We wouldn't have a clue how it's spelt if it weren't spelt out in Kee's statement.
• Psychic Dreams for Everyone: In "Hearse Driver", a young man is in hospital, and is reading a book late in the evening, then sees a stir at the curtains, and notices the clock has jumped from 9:45 to 4:15. He gets up to open them, and sees sun shining brightly. He looks out and sees a hearse driver complete with an old fashioned horse drawn hearse say ""just room for one inside, Sir." He shuts the curtain, it is 9:50, as it should be. When he leaves he is about to catch a bus. The bus conductor looks just like the hearse driver and says "just room for one inside, Sir." He shudders and runs off the bus, only to see it swerve to avoid a truck and crash through a bridge with everyone on it going to their doom.
• Ripped from the Headlines: The "Christmas Party" ghost story is loosely based on a real life murder mystery. In 1860, Francis Saville Kent (aged nearly four years old) was murdered. His sixteen-year-old half-sister Constance later confessed to the crime.
• Round Robin: Six segments done by four directors.
• Serious Business: "The Golfer's Story" draws a lot of humour out of just how seriously the two protagonists take golfing. For instance, George Parratt accepts it pretty easily when one of the terms for Larry Porter's spirit to stop haunting him is to break off his engagement to Mary Lee, however, he's horrified when he discovers the other is that he give up golfing, arguing that he'll have nothing to live for otherwise. Larry even ends up conceding that might be a bit drastic a demand, despite it being George's cheating that led to him committing suicide.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: It's heavily implied in "The Haunted Mirror", that the reason the mirror shows Peter the reflection of the room it used to hang in, is cause it is inhabited by the spirit of the evil Sir Francis, with Peter talking about how each time he looks into it he can feel something in the mirror drawing him in, something that repulses and scares him as it feels so utterly evil. Worst still the ending implies that if Sir Francis had succeeded in repeating his grisly crime, Peter and Joan's souls would also become trapped within the mirror, as whilst Peter is choking her Joan suddenly realises she can now also see the alternative room as if the mirror is attempting to suck her in.
• Split Personality: The ventriloquist/Hugo.
  • Eventually results in Split-Personality Takeover, as the last time we see Maxwell, he is speaking in Hugo's voice (without moving his lips, of course).
• Suicide by Sea: After losing the golf game for Mary's hand, Larry Potter slowly and solemnly walks into the lake on the golf course until the waters close over his head.
• Those Two Guys: Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne, who play George and Larry in the "Golfing Story" sequence, appeared together in several other films of the '30s and '40s, including The Lady Vanishes and Night Train to Munich.
• Time Title: Since the bulk of the movie takes place in a dream at night.
• Undead Child: There is one at "The Christmas Party". Or is there?
• Ventriloquism: In "The Ventriloquist's Dummy", Michael Redgrave plays a disturbed ventriloquist.

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