La notte ha mille occhi

Cornell Woolrich aka William Irish is not read much these days but lives on courtesy of films derived from his novels, most notably by Hitchcock, Truffaut, Siodmak, Tourneur and Delannoy.

Most probably taken from the title of a poem by Frances William Bourdillon, his 'Night has a Thousand Eyes' is only one of two works written by Woolrich under the name of George Hopley and is a decidedly disturbing tale of predestination.

Alas, even by Hollywood standards this version, capably directed by John Farrow, has little to do with the original, even to the extent of changing the fateful hour from midnight to eleven! It becomes in effect a film of two halves, the first infinitely better than the second and weakened by a contrived ending.

What is does have in its favour is the superlative chiaroscuro cinematography by John F. Seitz and the presence of one Edward G. Robinson. The character of the psychic tortured by his terrible gift of prophecy has been fleshed out here and Mr. Robinson is magnificent in the role. By all accounts he was none too keen on the finished product but heaven only knows what he thought of his next foray eight years later into Woolrich territory, 'Nightmare', a totally unnecessary remake by Maxwell Shane of his own 'Fear in the Night'.

The police procedural element of the novel has been trimmed down and we have a great turn by William Demarest as a befuddled detective. John Lund is well cast as a dullard for whom every phenomenon has to have a rational explanation whilst Gail Russell is suitably appealing as a character sorely in need of protection.

Before 'Film Noir' there was 'Roman Noir' and Mr. Woolrich takes us into the realms of what one astute observer has termed 'Paranoid Noir'. His view of a cruel and malignant fate from which there is no escape is more than somewhat unsettling, especially to advocates of free will. One thing of which we can be certain, the clock is ticking for us all........

I saw "Night Has a Thousand Eyes" after a double feature of "Flesh and Fantasy" and "Destiny" at a film noir festival in Chicago. Those first two films don't feel at all like noirs and weren't at all what I was in the mood for, so "Night Has a Thousand Eyes" felt like a palate cleanser. It's not the most noir of noirs, but it was much closer to the kind of thing I was looking for.

Plus Edward G. Robinson is just the best. He's so good in this, and Gail Russell is quietly mesmerizing as well. This movie has a great sense of humor, and if it all feels a little far fetched, well don't most film noir plots? The audience I saw this with had a lot of fun with it, me included.

Grade: B+

Cornell Woolrich is best recalled (in movies) for the film version of one of his best tales, REAR WINDOW. However other stories of his, written under his real name or as "William Irish", became film. THE LEOPARD MAN, one of the first of Val Lewton's B-feature productions, was based on one of his stories. So is THE NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES.

Edward G. Robinson is a clairvoyant who worked with Jerome Cowan in a mentalist act. Only one problem - Robinson discovers he actually can predict the future. Unfortunately, in Woolrich's realistic view of the seen and unseen world, having a psychic power is not necessarily good. Robinson can foresee good things (he forsees that Cowan's buying into a potential oil field operation will make millions), but he also sees tragedy frequently. The woman he loves (the third person in the act) wants to marry him, but he suddenly refuses - he sees problems about her pregnancy. She marries Cowan - and dies giving birth to the daughter who becomes Gail Russell. Robinson soon discovers he cannot stop tragedy. When he warns a newsboy to be careful going home, he tries to reassure the boy by giving him a large tip. The boy starts running home, and gets hit (and presumably killed) by a car.

Robinson has contacted Cowan to warn him that he should not go flying. Cowan's plane crashes and he is killed. Robinson than contacts Russell to try to help her. Her boyfriend John Lund, at first, rejects Robinson's warnings, but as they uncannily come true becomes increasingly convinced that Robinson not a faker. But Detective William Demerest (in a curious mixed role, half serious and half comic) is not sure - it seems somebody tampered with the wiring of Cowan's plane.

So the movie progresses - is Robinson legitimately psychic, and trying to help Russell, or is he the evil genius in some plan to get control of the fortune. And as Cowan was in the middle of a major oil merger when he died, many others are interested in knowing the truth...or hiding it.

This film, for some reason, always gets mediocre reviews in the New York Times movie reviews. Actually it's quite compelling, and far more inviting a story about sixth sense powers than many more important, and expensive productions. I feel that it is close to Robinson's most sympathetic role, and the conclusion of the film certainly makes it almost Shakespearean in it's tragic denouement.

"Night Has a Thousand Eyes" from 1948 is a real gem of a noir starring Edward G. Robinson, Gail Russell, John Lund, William Demarest, Jerome Cowan, Virginia Bruce, and Charles Bickford.

Part of the story is told in flashback - in the first scene, Jean (Russell) tries to kill herself and is saved by her fiancee (John Lund). They meet Triton (Robinson) in a restaurant, and when talking with them, he gives them his background - which involved both of Jean's parents (Cowan and Bruce). Together, they had a mind-reading act.

Triton begins to get disturbing visions, sometimes on-stage, even at one point telling an audience member to leave because her son is in danger. Turns out, he was. These visions disturb him terribly, and he leaves the act and his two partners behind. They marry and have Jean.

Now he has come to believe that Jean is in danger of being murdered, and he is desperate to stop her. The police don't believe several of his predictions that came true - they think he is in collusion with someone - until one event convinces them that he may be onto something.

Really terrific film with a short running time of 77 minutes. This film was made four years after "The Uninvited," and Gail Russell looks to have aged ten years, her alcoholism already becoming acute. She is still lovely.

Robinson is wonderful as a confused man who doesn't understand why he has a "gift" if it's not doing any good.

Written by Cornell Woolrich, who wrote "Rear Window."

HIghly recommended. I love movies like this!

The movie's a riveting excursion into the occult. In fact, the production pulls off the difficult trick of making occult happenings seem almost plausible, something Hollywood rarely cares about doing. Robinson's turn is first-rate as a stage magician suddenly burdened with the power of pre-cognition. Watching Triton (Robinson) slowly succumb to the terrible reality of foreseeing the future amounts to a dramatic triumph. He has no control over these pre- visions and they're almost always of dark happenings, especially when involving the sweetly vulnerable Jean Courtland (Russell). The climax is a stunner as the clues to Jean's bleak future slowly come true, while there seems no alternative to fate having its evil way.

This is one of the darkest of noirs, both literally and figuratively. Generally, the lighting is too shadowy to catch the ethereal Russell's pale blue eyes, a feature that would have added to the overall mood. It's also nicely ironic that the real occult would step into the life of a magician who only pretends to conjure other dimensions for the delight of paying audiences. It's like a punishment for presuming to toy with the surreal. I also like the way others remain militantly skeptical since that would be a natural reaction.

In my book, the movie's clearly underrated by the professionals and I'm not sure why. If the production's got an overriding flaw, I can't find it, though I could have done with less of the theramin whose eerie sound is like gravy on soup. Nonetheless, for me, the overall result is one of the best to deal with a topic that's usually made hokey as heck by Hollywood, and that's besides having one of the most intriguing titles in movie annals.