Night Was Our Friend

NIGHT WAS OUR FRIEND has to be one of the most ill-conceived British thrillers I've so far watched. Believe it or not, this was a film made and funded by a union, but it's rather obvious that they had little resources because essentially the whole thing takes place within a single room. One of the few things of interest about it is that it was directed by Michael Anderson, later of THE DAM BUSTERS fame.

The script was written by one Michael Pertwee, who also has a small acting role. He was Jon Pertwee's elder brother. The film starts off with a court case before telling the thrust of the tale in flashback. It's essentially a love triangle between Elizabeth Sellers (stuck with a dull character who you can't believe two men would fight over), her stiff-upper-lip suitor Ronald Howard, and missing husband Michael Gough.

I'm a big fan of Gough and he was the biggest draw for me. His eye-rolling and theatrical performance is the most fun part of the film. Sadly, the rest of it is very dull and talky, never building any excitement or suspense throughout the running time. NIGHT WAS OUR FRIEND makes one hour feel like three.

The story Michael Gough tells of how he ended up the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Brazilian jungle (when Brazil had one) is more interesting than this flashback-bound, sitting-room bound, constipated English murder/suicide 'mystery'. Which is hilarious if you're in the mood, and silly enough.

Ronald Howard, looking uncannily like Prince Harry, clips his vowels like a manicurist on meth. Michael Gough does the full Royal Court Theatre floppy-haired loony, and Elizabeth Sellars works rilly rilly hard too. The mother-in-law (Marie Ney) steps in and out of the sitting room at just the right moments, gives her lines, and then goes back to the green room, sorry, to bed. All it really lacks is Basil Rathbone.

Not so much 'directed' as filmed. Almost certainly better as a radio play, because there's nothing to look at. Ironic, considering it was produced by the Association of Camera Technicians (now Bectu) trade union's film company. Using stock incidental music, and it shows.

Ten years before the immortal 'Konga' Michael Gough had already returned home psychotic after crashing his plane in the jungle in this bizarre little melodrama whose title quotes 'The Aeneid', adapted from his own play by Michael Pertwee (who plays one of the jurors).

A lot happens in barely an hour's running time - although most of it we are told about rather than actually shown - and because it is framed in flashback we know much of what is going to happen but not how it will come to pass. The final rabbit pulled out of the hat to provide the 'surprise' conclusion is a surprise only to the audience, not the characters, since we've been deliberately kept in the dark about its existence right up to the rather abrupt conclusion.

Elizabeth Sellars is found not guilty of murdering her husband. The movie then tells the bulk of its story in flashback. Her husband, Michael Gough, was missing for some years. She fell in love with Ronald Howard. Then Gough reappears, having escaped from deep in South America. Miss Sellars loyally calls off the affair, but Gough appears to be at least mildly cracked, and she grows more and more miserable.

Michael Anderson's direction cannot conceal this being a staged play, nor can he control his actors, who give very deliberate and stagey performances. Cinematographer Gerald Gibbs tries to vary the camera set-ups, but there are enough two-shots of people talking to make the story's origins evident.

Recently I bought The Renown Crime collection Volume 7 and generously it offers 12 British crime films dating from an important period of film history, the double bill, and most of these films were supporting films to the main feature. They were not meant to be great, but some have survived remarkably well ( I reviewed ' Where Has Poor Mickey Gone ? ) from this boxset, and that film has its merits, but a few of them like ' Night Was Our Friend ' and ' The Secret Tunnel ' ( all made on a shoestring ) are well worth the fairly humble price of the collection. Sadly I see poor ratings for this faithfully adapted play by Michael Pertwee and contrary to what has been said about it, it is intelligently written, and very well acted. The director was Michael Anderson before he made films such as the first screen version of ' 1984 ' and he chose his actors well. The trio in the lead roles are the very fine Elizabeth Sellars, Michael Gough and Ronald Howard. Sellars has been acquitted for murder, but she still insists she is guilty. In flashback we see the unfolding events leading up to her arrest, and yes, it is filmed more or less in one room, and it is claustrophobic and effective that way. There is also a lot of dialogue, but then perhaps we have been too dumbed down by action films and simplistic dialogue to appreciate it. Marie Ney is in support and she too is excellent to watch, but I must single out Elizabeth Sellars who is in my opinion a great actor ( she played the role of the house master's wife in the original London production of ' Tea and Sympathy ) and how generally ignored she was by film directors. In this film she is superb and fully in control of her role. It is not a masterpiece, but it is a finely directed film and it is worth buying the Renown collection to see it. And I repeat the film quickie was important both to audiences and directors during a long period of the invaluable double bill.