Terreur dans la nuit

Elizabeth Taylor reunites with her Butterfield 8 co-star Laurence Harvey in Night Watch one of her only if not the only venture for her in the horror genre. It also has a bit of Hitchcockian tension in it as well.

In this film Taylor and Harvey are a married couple who have settled down in a very posh part of London. Harvey is her second husband, the first died in an automobile crash with his young mistress.

Soon after moving where they are Taylor spots strange goings on like dead bodies at the place next door. But every time the police in the person of Inspector Bill Dean is called there's no evidence of anything. A lot like Doris Day in Midnight Lace.

Both her husband and best friend Billie Whitelaw try to support Taylor, but it's no avail, she just gets worse and more hysterical and the police are just getting more and more fed up.

The film has certain parallels to Midnight Lace and also to Gaslight. But don't think you've guessed an ending even with those clues.

As so many aging Hollywood actresses of the 60s and 70s went into these kinds of films, some did more than others. Apparently Taylor was only satisfied to dip an ankle into this pool.

Apparently Harvey was desperately ill with the cancer that killed him and he does look gaunt. There is a revealing rear shot in a shower and I'm betting that is not Harvey's bare backside. He does look gaunt. He had an operation that took a lot of intestine out of him and production was stopped mid way according to the Citadel Film series book on the Films of Elizabeth Taylor.

The next door neighbor Robert Lang has a role in all of this. If you think you know what will happen in Night Watch, believe me you don't.

Based on a play by the brilliant Lucile Fletcher ("sorry wrong number" ,who gave Barbara Stanwyck one of her best roles, "80 dollars to Stanford" ...) , this is a good thriller with many red herrings. The heroine is seeing things (in the night ,horrified, she sees a dead body ) ,and as she has a tormented past ,she might sink ,slowly but inexorably ,into complete madness.Or is it a set up? Her husband is considerate,but there is another woman in the house ,and she may be his lover : do they want to have her sent to a sanatorium? One of talented Laurence Harvey's last part :he was to die prematurely of cancer shortly after.Billie Whitelaw is ideally cast as a disturbing woman (see "the omen") which might (or might not) be dangerous.

An underrated thriller.

I love this movie starring La Liz(looking more beautiful & glamorous than ever,the handsome Laurence Harvey and Billie Whitelaw.All good actors,good writing in a suspenseful thriller.It all takes place at the big Wheeler house.Liz playing an insomniac who thinks she witnesses a murder across the way at the old abandoned house next door.Or did she?Is it just her nerves working on her?Is she going crazy and needs to see a shrink like her husband and best friend seem to think?It's a good scary movie for a Saturday night.Pop lots of popcorn and curl up under a heavy blanket & enjoy!The costumes are gorgeous,the music good and the sets and atmosphere are really wonderful.Based on the play.I also love the song at the end!Highly recommended.

...and Elizabeth Taylor freaking out!

Night Watch from 1973 is based on a Broadway play that starred Joan Hackett. Taylor is Ellen Wheeler, married to her busy husband John (Laurence Harvey). They currently have Ellen's best friend Sarah (Billie Whitelaw) visiting. Sarah is having a clandestine affair and sneaks out to meet him.

One night, during a storm, Ellen swears she saw a murder victim in the old house across the way. Raising her suspicions is the fact that the man (Robert Lang) who lives in the guest house is digging what looks like a grave. The next day, trees have been planted on it. Ellen's past comes into play here, as she keeps remembering an incident from years ago.

The police, however, can't find anything; Ellen then sees another murder victim and lives in a state of hysteria, paranoid and suspicious of everyone and everything. Her husband has a psychiatrist friend (Tony Britton) speak with her, and it's decided it is best if she goes away for a little rest.

This is a fun movie, where it seems there is always a horrible storm raging. It contains elements of some other films, as mentioned above. Taylor, who at this point was making a lot of schlock, does a fine job as the unstable Ellen.

I did know how this ended ahead of time, having seen part of it ages and ages ago, so I didn't have the twist-ending thrill others have had. Nevertheless, it was very entertaining.

One of Taylor's better films from this period - in the hands of better director, it could have been much stronger, since the story and cast are strong. As it is, it's worth watching.

Just bought NIGHT WATCH and watched it tonight when it arrived. I don't think I've seen it since, say, I was a teenager and it was on the late show!

But it's a Taylor film no one talks about.

I actually think it's great, in its way (but, as with every Laurence Harvey movie he does with Taylor, I always want to re-cast him with James Mason).

Anyway, yes, I think it's a smidgen underrated. And has a nice, London-y, shrouded early-'70s melancholy flavor and that neo-Victorian early-'70s thing what with the dark wood and the plush velvet-y furniture and the Tiffany lamps and the overgrown plants and deep shadows and the sprinkling of harpsichord in the score and the occasional fish-eye lens.

Great twist ending, too!