Au coeur de la nuit

Mervyn Johns a quite ordinary architect is summoned for a job by Roland Culver. As he drives up to Culver's house it's in the words of a great 20th century philosopher, deja vu all over again.

Culver's entertaining and Johns comes in and seems to know the people there. When Johns relates what he thinks is happening to him, the others start telling some paranormal tales of their own.

With Mervyn Johns's introductory story unifying the film, Dead Of Night now goes into five very engrossing short stories of some weird experiences that the guests have had. I'm not sure the introductory tale is needed, all five can certainly stand on their own as Gothic drama.

Although all the stories are good, by far the outstanding one involves Michael Redgrave as a ventriloquist whose dummy seems to be taking on a life of its own. One of Culver's guests is psychiatrist Frederick Valk and he contributes this story as he was a consultant on this case. Is it schizophrenia or is that dummy really alive?

I also liked the episode with Sally Ann Howes as a young teenager at a costume party who befriends a young boy whom she sings to sleep with a lullaby. The boy played by Michael Allan had a perfect right to be in that house, but he's a most unwelcome guest at the party.

I might not have even had the linking story included in the film and let the stories stand on their own. But either way Dead Of Night is an engrossing Gothic drama.