Moviecut—Night Must Fall

source: Night Must Fall

Night Must Fall

This movie has the worst sound track I have ever heard. Over loud march like horns that screech through your ears into your head and make your nose bleed. The movie didnt grab me either It's OK but I didnt get pulled in

Even after 55 years Albert Finney's performance as the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde womanizer who can turn into a deranged psychotic killer at the slightest of conversations is not to be missed. I think this film is an under rated classic and in the same realm as Psycho. A must see if you enjoy thrillers.

Just watched this film on TCM. Quite enjoyable and not as bad as I'd heard from reviews I'd read over the years. My only problem was that I was expecting to understand more about Finney's character by the end of the film (ie: what lead to his psychotic behaviour, what had gone wrong in his childhood...that kind of thing), but never got any deep insight at all. Which for me made him rather a 1 dimensional screen psycho - and therefore the film was not as interesting as it should have been. And the end of the movie was a ..."so what?" affair. Did I miss something? Or was I expecting a movie with more depth than it actually had?

This remake of the 1937 film of the same name has one big drawback: a broad performance by Albert Finney as the stereotypical Mad Welshman. Turn the sound down and you'll enjoy a lovely looking film shot by Freddie Francis, who remains one of the great living cameramen (see his work for David Lynch in the magnificent "The Straight Story"). Everything about this film LOOKS great, and there's good acting by Mona Washbourne (as usual) but Finney doesn't know how to turn it off. A pity, considering he was just coming off Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, where he played an equally outrageous character to perfection.

This remake of a 1937 Robert Montgomery movie is just as eerie as the original. Albert Finney does a great job conveying a momma's boy character who turns even more pathological as the film progresses. As true for many better British films, the supporting characters are well cast and perfectly matched to their respective parts.

To each his own taste, but I have to disagree with the other review of this movie. I love Albert Finney's performance as a psychopath who has the gift of perceiving the innermost needs of those he meets and then molding his own personality to take advantage of those needs. (I don't know anyone from Wales, nor do I know what a stereotypical "mad Welshman" is.) He and Mona Washbourne play off each other superbly. I do agree with the other review's assessment of the cinematography, and especially love the lighting. To see Finney in TOM JONES (previous) or TWO FOR THE ROAD (following), although he is young, his face does have character and expression lines - he is human. The lighting in this movie smooths his face to make it seem devoid of affect; you feel that his reactions to the people and the world around him spring not from human emotion but from insanity. If you're an Albert Finney fan I definitely recommend viewing this movie and making your own judgment.

Night Must Fall is all about a guy who has got a split personality. It contains elements of typical British Cinema, weird music, strange people and an artistic approach towards cinematography. A very good thriller, but unfortunately not recognized as such by the general public.