Night Must Fall 1964.

Most critics compare, unfavourable I must say, Karel Reisz’s 1964 version of the psychological thriller Night Must Fall with the 1937 version directed by Richard Thorpe which starred Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell and Dame May Whitty in her film debut at the age of 72! But the truth is although Thorpe’s US version was critically acclaimed the MGM’s British Unit attempt did much better at the box office than the original. I have never seen this earlier adaptation therefore I can’t compare the two.  Both, I understand, were based on Emlyn Williams play first performed in 1935.

 

Albert Finney as Danny.

It was the Czech born British filmmaker Reisz and play write Clive Exton who updated the story to the 1960’s and like Reisz previous movie, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), it stars Albert Finney. Finney plays Danny who when the film opens we observe murdering a woman in some woodland by removing her head with an axe! Juxtaposed with this we see a young lady having an early morning stroll around a rather sizeable English style garden of a large isolated house on the edge of the same woodland. Olivia (Susan Hampshire) is the daughter of the proprietor of the house, the elderly infirmed Mrs Bramson (Mona Washbourne). Arriving for her morning duties is Mrs Bramson’s maid Dora (Sheila Hancock).  Dora has been made pregnant by her ‘boyfriend’ Danny, yes the same Danny who we have just seen murdering a poor women with an axe and dumping her body in a lake. He has been summoned to explain his intentions towards Dora to Mrs Bramson and before long he has won over the old lady, aroused Olivia’s repressed sexuality and moved into the house along with a leather hatbox!

 

Danny makes his move on Olivia (Susan Hampshire)....

....having already won over Mrs Bramson (Mona Washbourne)

This melodramatic interpretation was produced by Reisz and Albert Finney, its DOP was the Academy Award winning Freddie Francis and the musical score was in the capable hands of Ron Grainer.  Don’t be put off by what you have heard, I was impressed with Finney’s role as Danny, a demanding one in which he injects dread into ever scene he appears. His scenes with Mona Washbourne are especially good and Susan Hampshire, who was born to play the repressed Englishwoman, does so with her normal competence. 

The Entertainer.

Originally a successful stage play at the Royal Court Theatre, John Osborne’s three-act play was adapted as a feature film The Entertainer (1960). This was the second Osborne play to be adapted for the big screen; the first was Look Back in Anger (1959) a stage play that changed British Theatre forever. Tony Richardson directing both the plays and movie adaptations

Filmed mainly on location at the English seaside town of Morecambe Richardson’s second feature film tells a story about the lingering death of the music hall which Osborne used as a metaphor for Britain’s post war decline. We follow the decay through the eyes of ‘has been’ Archie Rice, a seedy vaudeville artist who has that inbred knack of bringing misery and embarrassment to every one close to him.

Olivier with Shirley Ann Field.

Both Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright had transferred from the stage version to play identical parts in the feature film. Olivier’s portrayal of Rice was seen as one of his greatest performances, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Plowright plays Archie’s daughter Jean but both of these fine actors give the impression that they have not really left there stage craft behind, with that ‘must be seen and heard at the back’ type acting. Brenda de Banzie provides support as Archie’s long-suffering wife, with Roger Livesey reprising his role as the aged Colonel Blimp in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) as his father. There are debut-acting roles for both Albert Finney and Alan Bates as Archie’s sons.

Archie Rice.

It was an untidy adaptation with a soundtrack that at times drowned out the dialog.  Its commercial failure forced Richardson to decant to America to direct his next film. He did not seem to have the same directorial control over The Entertainer as he did in his previous film or in his two new wave films that were to be his greatest legacy to the British film industry, A Taste of Honey (1961) and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962). Incidentally Joan Plowright must have made an impression on Olivier, he divorced Vivian Leigh and married her in 1961.

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

Warmest thanks to Julie Russell for allowing a Film Club In House evening to take place in her, and daughter Megan’s home along with a big thank you for some fine food and drink. The evening started with a re-showing of the tribute film for Darren Conner that Alec Barclay produced for the final film of the last session of the RBC film club on Monday 27^th June. Following some refreshment’s we started the main feature. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007) the last directorial duty of Sidney Lumet’s before he died in 2011. This crime drama was written by Kelly Masterson, a former Franciscan Brother who left the seminary just short of his ordination in order to pursue a career in the theatre. The movie features a highly proficient cast including such well-known names as Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, Morisa Tomei, Amy Ryan and Spider-Mans mum Rosemary Harris.

Its non-linear plot starts with a nerve-racking robbery at a family run suburban jewellery store, which goes disastrously wrong.  What follows is an investigation into how close family members are affected by this crime. The film is more intriguing than your average crime drama due to it’s strong story line and how it goes back and forth in time allowing us an insight into the reasons for the robbery and demonstrating the pressures and frustrations that affect each member of the family.  A fine evenings entertainment coupled with some great conversation that ended with a discussion on the films of Doris Day!!!