Endless Night (1972) Reviews

• Most Odd

  chuffnobbler2007-05-28

  British Lion made some great films: Don't Look Now and The Wicker Man leap to mind immediately. Great cult films that pack a real punch, dealing with weird subject matter and huge twisting plots. Endless Night was made by British Lion at around the same time as these better-known films; accordingly, it's the least Agatha Christie-ish Agatha Christie you'll ever see. A definite tinge of Hitchcock in some sequences, and Bernard Hermann's weird, eerie music helps. There are some nice, eerie, disjointed flashbacks and some strange and sinister dreamy sequences. Hayley Mills gives life to a bland character, lumbered with an iffy accent and someone else's singing voice. Britt Ekland is luminous and lusty as ever. Hywel Bennett is really rather suave, in his own way. The house, Gypsy's Acre, is a real Bond Villain's Lair: a monstrosity of hidden swimming pools and groovy furniture. The foul creation of a seedy Swedish architect. Despite this, Hywel and Hayley seem happy ... until Britt moves in with them. The storytelling gets a bit unclear at the end, where it is clearly stated that one character did not exist and is merely specifically employed to scare and unsettle people. Poison is the cause of death of a character, but not mentioned by the coroner. As a result of this, I found the last ten minutes of the film rather baffling. It seemed that the film's desperation to be strange and creepy led it to contradict itself. Or maybe I missed the point? Guaranteed 100% Miss Marple Free, there's glamour and sinister overtones, taking the film into totally new territory for Agatha Christie.

• Too slow to really be a thriller, but oddly interesting with terrific twist

  DrLenera2004-07-28

  Endless Night is one of those movies that is hugely flawed, and yet it sticks in the mind unlike many more polished movies. Extremely slow paced for much of it's length and with several sequences that feel almost unnecessary, and even a few which just seem wierd, the film than delivers a true knock out of a twist which makes one realise how well the story has been constructed. For this reason, in some respect it's more satisfying to watch the second time even if one is no longer surprised, because one can notice all the little clues that have been put in ,and many of the previously mentioned unnecessary or wierd bits seem more essential. There is, though, one huge red herring that seems rather pointless. This was the last of the Hywell Bennett/Hayley Mills collaborations for the Boulting Brothers and it is possibly their most interesting. Cast are all excellent ,including George Sanders in one of his final roles, and this is just as well since the film is indeed extremely talky. The alternately eerie and romantic Bernard Herrmann score is very memorable, although they could have made sure Mills' singing voice [obviously dubbed] sounded like her normal voice. Many will be unsatisfied with this film ,but try it if you fancy a somewhat different kind of thriller, even it's only really a thriller in the final half hour!

• Gripping, unusual Agatha Christie mystery. Splendid on all counts.

  sdiner822003-08-08

  One of the rare, gratifying occasions when a mediocre book is transformed by experts into a first-rate, memorable movie. "Endless Night" was one of Agatha Christie's last novels--also one of her least satisfying. A macabre romance about a wealthy young American heiress (the glorious Hayley Mills in a mesmerizing, haunting performance) who falls in love with and impulsively marries her sexy albeit mysterious chauffeur (the wonderfully versatile Hywell Bennett who teamed with Ms. Mills in two previous films, the tender comedic drama "The Family Way" and the still-shocking psychosexual thriller "The Twisted Nerve"). The happy lovebirds build their dreamhouse (still an architectural wonder) in England's remote Lake District (lusciously photographed in stunning Technicolor), away from the prying eyes of her avaricious relatives, and their tenderly rendered love story seems headed for a deserved happy ending--until the final reel suddenly reveals a totally unexpected twist that I guarantee will astound even the most astute mystery buff, and leave the hapless viewer in a state of shaken anxiety and sadness. Such an unusual denoument didn't work on the printed page; on film it's a bona fide shocker, thanks to the mastery of its two leads, a knockout turn by the stunning Britt Ekland (as one of Ms. Mills' parasitic relatives), the expert direction by Sidney Gilliatt, and the magificently eerie soundtrack by Bernard Herrmann, no less. "Endless Night" was never released theatrically in the U.S. Properly promoted, it would have made a boxoffice killing. I caught its American premiere on a pay-cable station, expecting nothing (the book was hopeless) and, much to my amazement, finding myself enthralled by this classy artistic treat. Psychological thrillers don't come any better than "Endless Night," which lulls the viewer into a state of bliss not unlike its romantic leads--until the startlingly savage twist ends the film with a disturbing (and heartbreaking) resonance. Hywell Bennett and the grown-up Hayley Mills were two of the finest (not to mention comeliest) young British actors of the late '60s and early '70s, and "Endless Night" might well be their most memorable hour-and-a-half. A must-see for mystery buffs; highly recommended for everyone else.

• Very entertaining

  halfcolombian2002-08-05

  I don't agree at all with the poor reviews of this movie. I first saw this movie years ago and it stayed in my mind and finally I had the pleasure of finding it on dvd so I ordered it. It's probably my favourite dvd I have so far. It's a low-budget movie but yet it's a movie with a lot of class. The actors give great performances, above all Hayley Mills, and Bernard Herrmans score is sensational. It's a beautiful production and at times it made me think of "vertigo", and not only because herrman wrote the theme to that movie too. I love this movie! Sure they could make a billion dollar remake of it with a lot of stars but it still wouldn't beat this. It's a piece of art.

• Not so great if you're an Agatha Christie fan

  Beady-El2003-01-02

  I won't say it's a bad film, but I have to believe the liberties taken with the adaptation of the story go well beyond the nudity and modern setting. (I will say that the house with the remote-controlled indoor swimming pool in the living room was a bit over the top.) I will confess that I did not guess the direction the plot would take, but what was so disappointing was the profusion of loose ends and entirely pointless characters. Agatha didn't usually write them that way - everyone ended up with a role in the outcome of the story. Here we are presented with in-laws, neighbors, family friends, and a mysterious old woman --- all of whom have nothing at all to do with the resolution of the story. Most of them could have been omitted entirely and the story would have been essentially unchanged. My DVD even featured an editing error: about 10 seconds of the film repeat precisely (when the girl's parents are observed getting back into their car to leave.) There is also a broken window that is never explained, a ghostly appearance that is never accounted for or revisited, a car is observed to take an unusually long to get somewhere - but we are never given the significance. An architect seems to know things the audience does not -- yet no explanation is offered of how he knows them. Like Agatha's best writing, characters and clues and complications pile up... but then they are inexplicably thrown away in favor of an unexpected, yet rather anticlimactic resolution.