Truly Dreadful Film

Am I Missing Something?

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

In the classic vein of the noirish mystery thriller, The Night Has Eyes is "written and directed" by Leslie Arliss, who does such absolute wonders on the small sound stages at Welwyn Garden Studios, we never have the impression that this is anything else but an extremely high budget picture. Arliss is given marvelous assistance by art director Duncan Sutherland and perfectionist lighting cameraman Gunther Krampf. The stand-out cast is led by James Mason as the moody recluse, Mary Clare as his well-wishing housekeeper, Joyce Howard as the heroine, Tucker McGuire as her man-crazy friend, and playwright John Fernald (who collaborated with director Arliss on additional dialogue) in the first of only two appearances in front of the camera, as the helpful doctor. The beginning and end of the climactic sequence rate as two of the most unforgettable moments in world cinema.

I find "The Night Has Eyes", a very personal project by director-scenarist Leslie Arliss and producer and scenarist John Argyle, to be both a seminal and engrossing narrative. To me, it often appears to be an inexpensive but nevertheless effective adaptation of a mystery novel by Alan Kennington. And it is one whose several aspects have been copied and redone many times since. The center of the storyline is a reclusive young man. Injured in war, he has shut himself away in a Gothic-profile house on the edge of the Yorkshire moors. We find that he was a brilliant young composer but that he can no longer access his talent. There is a mystery as to why he regards it as necessary to quit mankind; and we find out about his reason through the agency of a young female teacher, who arrives at the house as a visitor and who with her girlfriend must remain there for several days. There is a "kicker" in her presence in the area; she is seeking the truth of the death of another teacher, her friend, who vanished in the area the year before. Upon these ingredients, Arliss constructs a rather claustrophobic-appearing but well-constructed tale. Revelation follows, revelation, relationships are shifted and changed by actions, words, discoveries and altered purposes. And when the teacher falls in love with the troubled hero, a chain f events is set in motion that ends with a satisfying and interesting conclusion of what I find to be great power. The actors to me are the strongest element in this moody and atmospheric piece from start to finish. Duncan Sutherland designed the low-budget production; Gunther Krampf did the cinematography and interesting music was composed by Charles Williams. Dorothy Black and Amy Dalby show to advantage as teachers in the film's earliest scenes; John Fernald plays a laid-back physician in fine comedic style with Tucker McGuire stealing scenes as a man- happy and sharp-tongued companion to the heroine. The other long roles in the mystery are played by pretty Joyce Howard, as Marian Ives, the teacher seeking her lost friend, Mary Clare as the enigmatic housekeeper to the hero, powerful Wilfrid Lawson as the hero's handyman, and James Mason as the troubled composer. It is Mason's utterly believable and beautifully-timed performance, as in so many other films, that unifies a merely-middling production. Howard is weak in charisma but quite satisfactory as a consort to the angst- ridden recluse; all the rest keep the intriguing psychological mystery moving very nicely, making for a well-acted film. "The Night Has Eyes" with a sufficient budget might have appeared to be a somewhat better as a realized work of cinema; but the main strengths of the script are very well brought out by the accomplished Mason and the rest of the cast as it is; and the simplicity of black-and-white presentation adds to the effectiveness of the characters and to the sense of importance that accompanies their motives and deeds.

One of your early critics has a point. Released in the days when the Censor's cert was "U" "A" or "H"for horrific, unusually on its first release "The Night Has Eyes" was given the "A" certificate in its released version. On a later reissue this was changed to "H" because of the ending,then considered excessive but has subsequently been used many times to greater effect. Around the same time,conversely, a reissue of "The Cat & The Canary" which was initially released with the "H" cert was reduced to"A" as part of a double feature with "Miracle of Morgan's Creek". The former thriller gained some popularity because of its theme music based on a romantic piano concerto by Charles Williams whose several compositions often enhanced a film's appeal such as in Billy Wilder's Oscar winner,"The Apartment" except that,unjustly(to my mind),for this film he was denied any screen credit,all of that going to Adolphe Deutch.

A pretty young school teacher named Marian(played by the very lovely Joyce Howard) sets out to investigate the disappearance of her friend Evelyn who had vanished on the Yorkshire Moors a year before. Soon however her and her American friend Doris(enlisted to accompany Marian) get caught in an awful rainstorm but luckily happen upon an unlikely house located in the vicinity.A bizarre young man named Stephen Deremid(played by James Mason), a former composer, offers them shelter for the night but warns the ladies to keep their doors locked at night. We soon learn that Deremid fears he cannot trust himself - fear he might unknowingly do harm to others following his years of fighting in the Spanish war and being held in a prison camp. But Marian soon finds herself in love with Stephen and sets out to help him at any. However others have more ghoulish intentions for the couple. This film works much better in its Romantic settings than it does in its Horror ones. Character changes come rather abruptly and unexpectedly. The Yorkshire Moors does make a creepy setting however--with the fog, muck, dead trees and nothingness certainly contributing a sense of horror to the film. The best thing to watch this one for is the romance...those expecting out and out horror will find disappointment.