NIGHT WITHOUT SLEEP

June Vincent and Gary Merrill

NIGHT WITHOUT SLEEP (1952). Director: Roy Ward Baker.

Broadway composer Richard Morton (Gary Merrill of Another Man's Poison) wakes up from a bender with a vague idea that he might have killed a woman. His shrink has already suggested that he's capable of violence, especially when he's drinking. There are three women in his life: his wife, Emily (June Vincent of Shed No Tears), who backed his last show on the condition that he marry her if the show was successful; his girlfriend, Lisa (Hildegarde Knef), who is in despair that she can't maintain a hold on him; and movie star Julie Bannon (Linda Darnell of Star Dust), who was in his last show before she became a star, and whom he basically forgot until re-encountering her at a party. Since the film consists of many flashbacks, the audience has to wonder if one of these ladies will wind up dead or not. 

Merrill with Linda Darnell

Night Without Sleep is full of over-familiar noir elements, but manages to entertain in spite of it. The acting is good all around, although it's not easy to be sympathetic to the somewhat unlikable Morton, who can be a self-righteous jerk. Cast in a role all too typical for her, Vincent is adept as the always-in-control wife, Knef is appealing in her vulnerability as Lisa (even if it's hard to root for her), and Darnell displays her usual star power as the surprisingly naive and even somewhat gullible Julie. Others in the cast include Hugh Beaumont as Merrill's friend, Donald Randolph as the psychiatrist, and Steven Geray as a restaurant owner. 

Verdict: Noir flick holds the attention and is well-acted. ***.