Night Must Fall (1964 film)

Night Must Fall
Directed by	Karel Reisz
Written by	Emlyn Williams (play) Clive Exton
Based on	Night Must Fall 1935 play by Emlyn Williams
Produced by	Albert Finney Karel Reisz
Starring	Albert Finney Mona Washbourne
Cinematography	Freddie Francis
Edited by	Phillip Barnikel Fergus McDonell
Music by	Ron Grainer
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	18 March 1964 (1964-03-18)
Running time	101 minutes (US)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Night Must Fall is a 1964 remake of the 1937 film of the same name, which was in turn based on the 1935 play by Emlyn Williams. It was directed by Karel Reisz from a script by Clive Exton and starred Albert Finney, Mona Washbourne, and Susan Hampshire, but was not as successful as the original film. The film was entered into the 14th Berlin International Film Festival.

Plot

In the woods of a Welsh suburb, a man commits an axe murder and disposes of his female victim's body and the axe in a lake. The man, later shown to be a hotel bellboy named Danny, is summoned to the home of Mrs. Bramson, a wealthy widow, whose maid, Dora, is pregnant by him.

Having charmed Mrs. Bramson, he is soon living in her house and pretends to be her son, while redecorating a room and assuming butler duties. He also woos Olivia, Mrs. Bramson's daughter. Alone in his room, he favours a hatbox, which contains the heads of his victims.

Meanwhile, the police uncover the headless body and the axe in the lake, which is bordering the property. They question Danny about the victim, who he states frequented the hotel as a prostitute. Dora discovers Danny and Olivia's relationship and rejects both of them. He begins to play odd games with Mrs. Bramson, and Olivia flees the house out of fear.

Frustrated because Mrs. Bramson grows weary of a game of chase, Danny hacks her to death. Olivia returns, sees the carnage, and summons the police. She finds Danny bathing and informs him that the police are soon to arrive. He huddles in the bathroom, withdrawn in his madness.

Cast

• Albert Finney as Danny
• Mona Washbourne as Mrs. Bramson
• Susan Hampshire as Olivia
• Sheila Hancock as Dora
• Michael Medwin as Derek
• Joe Gladwin as Dodge
• Martin Wyldeck as Inspector Willett
• John Gill as Foster

Production

Freddie Francis argued, "I think it was a good film, it wasn't a very good version of Night Must Fall but as a film, and I always told Karel if they'd called it anything other than Night Must Fall it would have been successful. But if you say this is be Night Must Fall everybody remembers Night Must Fall, the head in the hat box and blah blah blah. and this had none of that element in it. It was too much a study of this Strange boy, which was fine but not when people are waiting for the hatbox bit."

External links

• Night Must Fall at the TCM Movie Database
• Night Must Fall at IMDb
• Night Must Fall at AllMovie