A Night of Terror

Once this gets moving, it's a good thriller with an interesting story that is well worth watching. It has a good cast, led by Basil Rathbone and Ann Harding. The last half of it builds up the suspense very nicely in leading up to a tense climax.

The story is a fairly straightforward one about a young woman who is swept away by a charming man, and then quickly marries him, but then begins to wonder if he is really what he seems to be. The first part is rather slow in setting everything up (the Agatha Christie story on which the play and movie are based is much more economical, and just as suspenseful), but stick with it, because the last part is more than worth waiting for. It squeezes quite a bit out of the possibilities that the situation offers, and you'll definitely want to find out what happens.

Interesting British-made suspenser - from an Agatha Christie story, no less - which feels quite dated today due to the low budget and a rather slow pace (though the atrocious condition in which it's available doesn't help matters any!), but survives nevertheless by virtue of its excellent leading performances.

I've watched Ann Harding in only a few other films - most notably PETER IBBETSON (1935) - but, even if she has been largely forgotten, here again she proves her standing as one of the unsung actresses of her time. Basil Rathbone relishes his role as the suave murderer and the latter stages of the film allow him to go into all-out hysterics in much the same way (and under the same director!) as he would, memorably, in SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939); in fact, the last 15 minutes create a genuinely electrifying tension that are basically the film's raison d'etre.

Rowland V. Lee has perhaps never been a highly regarded film-maker but, from what little I've seen of his work, he was a reasonably efficient craftsman and, given promising material, he always turned in a quality product (the two films of his I would most love to catch up with are the definitive screen version of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO [1934] and TOWER OF London [1939], yet another Rathbone collaboration).

This is based on an Agatha Christie story and contains some of the most histrionic acting I've ever witnessed. I never knew that anyone could go so far over the top and not shoot out of the frame and into space.

The basic plot concerns a young woman who wins a lottery and soon after meets and falls in love with a "stranger", played by Basil Rathbone. Rathbone's intentions are far from happy and it all winds down to a conclusion that allows... well lets just say you will wonder about everyone's sanity.

I'm not sure I liked this. Its good, but it takes a while to get going. Once its moving its fine but even then I was never really content. I want to say that its oddly British, but its not so much that its British as mannered. I like that you have the pure unrestrained emotion in the final act, but at the same time compared to the earlier low key nature of it I was wondering how many coffees the cast had.

Frankly I'm reserving my final judgment until I see it again.

Even with all of that said and done I suggest you do see this movie- and stay to the end. Unless you've seen this before, I'm certain you've never witnessed what Basil Rathbone was truly capable of. I won't try to explain that statement, I'll let you search this out and see for yourself.

This is the definitive movie version of the story. The later movie version pales by comparison. The casting is terrific. The plot is plausible. The pacing is perfect. The settings were simple yet convincing. The acting is right on the button. Basil Rathbone is extraordinary in what may be one of his finest performances. Hitchock could not have directed it any better. The psychopathology is presented in a valid way, eschewing melodrama. This version is uncompromisingly true to the meaning and the tone of Christie's creation. Just as importantly the dialogue does not insult your intelligence. The final scene is intense yet controlled and makes one yearn for these well-done black and white movies in contrast to the melodramatic, syrupy Technicolor endings we get nowadays.

I love Basil Rathbone. He made a wonderful Holmes. Too bad the scripts didn't match the performance. But that's another issue. Here he plays a type of Bluebeard who marries women who come into money and then bumps them off. He is a mass of psychoses, depression, and a bad ticker. He goes from being suave and successful, to maudlin and manic. A modern psychologist would have a field day. The tension that builds as he goes through his rant is a little like Jack Nicholson in "The Shining." There's a moment where the bride becomes cognizant of the fact that she is married to a lunatic. And, of course, she had been warned and has married him anyway. Anyway, the last scene where they spar intellectually is delightful and shows both actors at their best. There's a wonderful moment of realization on the young woman's face where she realizes that her life depends on what she says. It is one of the most claustrophobic bits I've ever seen and is very effective in showing that there is just a little tilt to the scales on both sides.