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. ***. 

DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK

Marilyn Monroe

DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK (1952). Director: Roy Ward Baker. Based on the novel "Mischief" by Charlotte Armstrong.

Eddie Forbes (Elisha Cook Jr.) is an elevator operator at Manhattan's McKinley Hotel who wishes he had never let his niece, Nell (Marilyn Monroe), babysit for the young daughter of guests Peter and Ruth Jones (Jim Backus and Lurene Tuttle of The Manitou). For Nell has been disturbed ever since the man she loved died at sea in a plane crash. It doesn't help that she encounters a pilot named Jed Towers (Richard Widmark), whose girlfriend, Lyn (Anne Bancroft of Gorilla At Large) told him to take a hike because she not only feels they have no future but finds him essentially cold. Confusing Jed with the dead man, Nell becomes increasingly unraveled and things look more and more dangerous for her and the little girl (Donna Corcoran) and possibly Jed as well ... Marilyn Monroe is given a pretty tough assignment to play an emotionally disturbed, indeed mentally ill woman in this, and her performance ranges from some quietly effective moments to the occasionally embarrassing one; but all in all she's good and may even manage to wrangle a tear or two from some viewers. Bancroft and Widmark are excellent, and there is also notable work from young Corcoran, as well as Verna Felton (the stern maid on I Love Lucy) and Don Beddoe, as a nosy hotel guest and her husband. Gloria Blondell is a nightclub photographer, Jeanne Cagney plays a telephone operator, and Michael Ross [Attack of the 50 Foot Woman] is the house dick.  The ending to this is rather moving, and none of the major characters are untouched by the experience. This was released by Twentieth Century Fox with big-name leads, but it's essentially a "B" movie with a short running time. 

Verdict: Sad story of a grieving, neurotic woman disguised as a competent little thriller. ***. 

AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS

AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS (1973). Director: Roy Ward Baker.

Charles Fengriffen (Ian Ogilvy) brings his bride Catherine (Stephanie Beacham) to his ancestral home and discovers that rumors of a curse upon the family are quite true. Catherine keeps seeing a severed hand roaming about and encounters a sinister woodsman in a hovel nearby who seems to know more than he's telling. It all goes back to a terrible act performed many years before, but now servants and friends of the Fengriffens are paying the price, not to mention poor Catherine. The performances help put over this so-so horror film, with Beacham in top form, getting fine support from Ogilvy, Peter Cushing as the shrink Dr. Pope, Patrick Magee as the family physician, and Geoffrey Whitehead as Silas, the Woodsman and his ill-fated ancestor. Herbert Lom also appears and is as striking as usual as Charles' ancestor, Henry, whose evil actions began the curse.

Verdict: You may not scream through this but it holds the attention. **1/2.

THE VAULT OF HORROR

Glynis Johns and Terry-Thomas

THE VAULT OF HORROR (1973). Director: Roy Ward Baker.

After the success of their Tales from the Crypt, Amicus decided to release this follow-up featuring more adaptations of 1950's E.C. horror comic stories. The framing device has five men entering an elevator and winding up down in a sub-basement lounge, where they tell each other of horrible dreams -- or prophecies -- that they've had. Rogers (Daniel Massey), who is looking for his sister (played by real-life sister Anna Massey) for nefarious purposes, uncovers a nest of vampires in a small town in "Midnight Mess." Glynis Johns [Personal Affair] has had more than she can stand of her neat freak, belittling husband (Terry-Thomas) and takes action in "A Neat Job," from the gruesomely amusing story from the first issue of ShockSuspense Stories. "This Trick'll Kill You" features Curt Jurgens [The Mephisto Waltz] and Dawn Addams [The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll] as a team of magicians who even resort to murder to steal tricks away from Indian fakirs, with back-firing results. Michael Craig [Doctor in Love] and Edward Judd [First Men in the Moon] make a "Bargain in Death," an insurance scam in which one of them pretends to be dead -- but of course there are horrible complications. "Drawn and Quartered" features an artist (Tom Baker) who uses voodoo and paintings depicting scenes that come true to get even with several people who cheated him out of his rightful acclaim and fortune. Superior to Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror is very entertaining, creepy and, at times, delightfully ghoulish.

Verdict: Good anthology horror film. ***.

ASYLUM

Barbara Parkins being prepared for chop chop routine

ASYLUM (1972). Director: Roy Ward Baker.

When Dr. Martin (Robert Powell) applies for a job at an institution for the mentally disturbed, he is told by Dr. Rutherford (Patrick Magee of Dementia 13) that the head of the institution, Dr. Star, has recently become a patient. He challenges Martin to figure out which of the people upstairs could be the good doctor, and each in turn relates his tale of horror. In "Frozen Fear" a man (Richard Todd of Stage Fright) chops up his wife, but the wrapped pieces come to life and attack both him and his mistress (Barbara Parkins of The Mephisto Waltz). In "The Weird Tailor" a poor tradesman (Barry Morse) is offered money to make a suit from strange material for a man (Peter Cushing) mourning his son. "Lucy Comes to Stay" is a rather obvious split personality story with Charlotte Rampling [The Verdict] and Britt Ekland as two sides of the same woman. In "Mannikins of Fear" Dr. Byron (Herbert Lom) creates little mechanical men that he can control with his mind and that have brains and internal organs inside them. Scripted by Robert Bloch, Asylum is an entertaining picture, although Baker directs without any style or panache. Most of the acting is fine, with a superb Morse and Cushing taking top honors in the second story. Rampling, who is usually the Ice Princess Supreme, is actually warm and winning playing a psychopath  -- go figure! From Amicus films, not Hammer.

Verdict: Fun horror flick. ***.

DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE

Martine Beswick & Ralph Bates

DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE (1971). Director: Roy Ward Baker.

"I take it all back about Dr. Jekyll being impervious to women -- and he is busy tonight!"

This interesting movie starts with Robert Louis Stevenson's story, adds a sex twist, and throws in murderers and grave robbers Burke and Hare, and even the Jack the Ripper killings -- and pretty much muffs it. Dr. Jekyll (Ralph Bates) hopes to discover the secret of immortality, and he thinks he's found it in the glands of females, but when he can't get enough of the ladies' corpses he improvises. In other words, the movie hardly examines the differences between good and evil when Henry Jekyll is pretty much a rotter even before he turns into "Sister" Hyde. Jekyll's formula has him growing breasts and turning into a woman (Martine Beswick) who masquerades as Jekyll's sister. "My brother isn't quite himself of late," she says. A brother and sister (Lewis Fiander; Susan Brodrick) who live downstairs are each intrigued by the siblings on the floor above. Bates and Beswick are fine -- the latter doesn't get nearly enough to do, however -- but while the movie is entertaining, it doesn't fulfill its potential at all. Beswick played a good gal in Thunderball while Bates made a splendid Victor Frankenstein in Horror of Frankenstein (1970). Baker directed everything from A Night to Remember about the Titanic to Bette Davis in The Anniversary.

Verdict: An intriguing disappointment with a great idea. **1/2.

THE ANNIVERSARY

THE ANNIVERSARY (1968). Directed by Roy Ward Baker.

"We've all got our little idiosyncracies."

In this fascinating and grotesque black comedy that seems to have improved with time, Bette Davis has a ball spoofing herself and playing the monstrous widow-with-an-eye-patch, Mrs. Taggart. Each year the family -- owners of a shoddy construction business -- must get together to celebrate -- if that's the word -- the death of Mrs. Taggart's late husband, and each year Mrs. T spars with her children and in-laws, especially the female members. Henry (James Cossins) is an unapologetic transvestite and fancier of women's undergarments while brother Terry (Jack Hedley) lets his mother control his life. The youngest son, Tom (Christian Roberts), has a bit more gumption, and each year brings along a fiancee that Mrs. T insists he has no intention of marrying. This year the young lady is Shirley (Elaine Taylor), who is nearly as domineering as the feisty widow and gives as good as she gets. The Anniversary is bolstered by some excellent dialogue and a series of well-developed if pathetic characters crying out beneath the humor. Mrs. T is so horrible at times -- she tells Terry and his wife that their children have been in an accident when no such accident occurred -- that she often seems more of a unnatural force for the others to play against than a real human being, but that only adds to the film's undeniable impact. Fine acting helps put the whole thing over, with Davis in good form and Taylor and Sheila Hancock (as Terry's furious, near-desperate wife) almost stealing the picture from Davis -- but everyone is wonderful.

Verdict: If nothing else, it's certainly different! ***1/2.

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER (1958). Roy Ward Baker.

A Night to Remember takes a more detached, clinical view of the Titanic tragedy than other cinematic versions, and while there are vignettes of various characters, we never get to know any of them very well. There is much more detail concerning the final fates of the people left aboard the ship -- scrabbling frantically as the ship begins to tilt, jumping into the frigid water, and so on -- and we see the squabbling on some of the lifeboats as people argue as to whether or not they should go back to pick up survivors. Certain moments are unsparing, such as when a pair of newlyweds are apparently crushed by the falling smokestack. But while the final scenes in Remember are harrowing and horrifying -- and you can't help but be moved by them -- they lack the human drama, and therefore, the emotional intensity, of the Webb/Stanwyck Titanic. Furthermore, the actor who plays the ship's designer essays it in a stoic, completely unreal manner, and certain scenes, such as Isadore Strauss and his wife deciding to stay on the ship together, lack the impact of their counterparts in the original.

Verdict: Enough to make you take a plane. **1/2.