DEAD OF NIGHT / Ealing Studios Limited - 1945

Hello everbloody, we gots another Moldie Oldie Monday classic flick coming at'choo! ...Gesundheit!! DEAD OF NIGHT is the granddaddy of all British horror anthologies and predates movies like DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS, TORTURE GARDEN, TALES FROM THE CRYPT, VAULT OF HORROR, TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS and THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD by about 20 years, and utilized four directors!!

The story goes like... Walter Craig, played by Mervyn Johns, an architect, goes to the country for a weekend but it seems he's been there and met the same people before in a recurring dream. Each of the five other guests then tells a story about their own encounter with the supernatural...

This long movie clocks in at 103 minutes. When released in America, it was trimmed down to 77 minutes with two complete stories deleted!!!

The music is by Frenchman Georges Auric, Georges had a hefty total of 124 composing credits between 1930-78! A few other titles he worked on are MYSTERIES OF PARIS, STORM, GAMBLING HELL, SMALL KIDNEYS, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, SILENT DUST, THE QUEEN OF SPADES, THE SPIDER AND THE FLY, THE LAVENDER HILL MOB, MOULIN ROUGE, ROMAN HOLIDAY, FLESH AND DESIRE, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1956), THE CRUCIBLE and SERGEANT X OF THE FOREIGN LEGION!

The clock on the slab says it's time to start tonight's Eariffic Earclip! Translated it means, here's lil' Dungeon helper pal, Rufus The Gnat, to push that big red 'GO' button once again, so wif'out any further delay... Here's DEAD OF NIGHT!

Here's everybloody at the country inn, all snuggled inn and ready to tell some stories about their experiences with the supernatural.

The story about the haunted mirror is fun but is said to have messed with the minds of a lot of kids. When looked into, it shows a different place than where it's hanging!

Okay, now the girls!

This one's for you Eegah!!.. Pip, pip, and cheerio, old bean!

This guy loses a bet playing a round of golf, so he walks into a water hazard and drowns himself!

Of course, "The Ventriloquist's Dummy" with Michael Redgrave is the pick of the litter. Here, he tells the police about his involvment with a missing person, a Mr. Hugo Fitch... In the 1964 flick DEVIL DOLL with Bryant Haliday, the dummy/missing person's name is Hugo Novik!! I guess Hugo's a good name for dummies!

Here's Maxwell and his dummy Hugo on stage, they seem like a happy couple.

This is American born singer Elisabeth Welch as Beulah, who you will hear in the soundclip!

This one would get the kids good I bet, a biting dummy!!!

Take that, you freakin' knotholehead!

In 1954, Danny Kaye starred as a ventriloquist in the comedy, KNOCK ON WOOD! ...Coincidence?

At the end, Walter is caught in another nightmare with more insidious playmates.

Boy, if you weren't paying attention, you might think the last 3 stills were from CARNIVAL OF SOULS! Speaking of COS, we have a color version we'll be featuring one of these days on Friday Night Drive-In, here at The Dungeon!

Good old 'Hugo' comes out smelling like a rose!

Walter gets the last word. Oh crap, it was a comedy!

Ghoulnight Everbloody!..