Nothing but the Night
Nothing but the Night is a 1973 British horror film directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.[1]
| Nothing but the Night | |
|---|---|
 UK film poster | |
| Directed by | Peter Sasdy |
| Produced by | Anthony Nelson Keys |
| Screenplay by | Brian Hayles |
| Based on | Nothing But the Night by John Blackburn |
| Starring | Christopher Lee Peter Cushing Diana Dors Georgia Brown |
| Music by | Malcolm Williamson |
| Cinematography | Kenneth Talbot |
| Edited by | Keith Palmer |
Production company | Charlemagne Productions |
| Distributed by | Fox-Rank Distributors |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Synopsis
Three wealthy trustees of the Van Traylen fund, which supports a school for orphans on the Scottish island of Bala, are murdered, though their deaths are staged as suicide or accident. Three other trustees are on a bus carrying children from the school when the driver suddenly catches on fire, but he is the only one to die. One of the girls on the bus, Mary Valley (Gwyneth Strong), is taken to a London hospital, where she has strange seizures. A young psychiatrist (Keith Barron) and a tabloid journalist (Georgia Brown) interview the girl's mother (Diana Dors), hoping to enlist the aid of the hospital's senior member, Sir Mark Ashley (Peter Cushing). When the psychiatrist is killed, Ashley enlists the aid of friend and police inspector Colonel Charles Bingham (Christopher Lee). The two take their investigation to Bala. In the meantime, Mary Valley's mother also journeys to Bala, hoping to find her daughter, although she has come under suspicion for the murders of the trustees and an explosion on a boat near the island that apparently kills several others of the school's trustees. Ashley and Bingham eventually uncover the sinister truth behind the murders.
Cast
- Christopher Lee as Col. Charles Bingham
- Peter Cushing as Sir Mark Ashley
- Diana Dors as Anna Harb
- Georgia Brown as Joan Foster
- Keith Barron as Dr. Haynes
- Gwyneth Strong as Mary Valley
- Fulton Mackay as Cameron
- John Robinson as Lord Fawnlee
- Morris Perry as Dr. Yeats
- Michael Gambon as Insp. Grant
- Duncan Lamont as Dr. Knight
- Shelagh Fraser as Mrs. Alison
- Kathleen Byron as Dr. Rose
- Andrew McCulloch as Malcolm
- Michael Brennan as Deck Hand
Production
A commercial failure, the film was the only production of Charlemagne Films, confounded by Christopher Lee and Anthony Nelson Keys.
It was one of a number of horror films featuring Diana Dors.[2]
Reception
Time Out London gave Nothing but the Night a negative review. The magazine stated "Something has obviously come fatally adrift with the film...The script seems mostly at fault, and often the acting is just that little bit over-emphatic, which doesn't help."[3] Peter Nicholls also criticized the film: "Lacklustre performances all around in this confused, badly developed, laborious movie, especially from the children who are so important to the plot." [1]
References
- Fantastic Cinema : an illustrated survey. London : Ebury Press, 1984. ISBN 9780852233474 (p.206)
- Vagg, Stephen (7 September 2020). "A Tale of Two Blondes: Diana Dors and Belinda Lee". Filmink.
- "Nothing but the Night". Time Out Magazine. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
Sources
- The Peter Cushing Companion by David Miller
- Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and Horror Cinema, by Mark A. Miller
