Nothing but the Night

Nothing but the Night
Nothing but the Night
	UK film poster
Directed by	Peter Sasdy
Screenplay by	Brian Hayles
Based on	Nothing But the Night; by John Blackburn
Produced by	Anthony Nelson Keys
Starring	Christopher Lee; Peter Cushing; Diana Dors; Georgia Brown
Cinematography	Kenneth Talbot
Edited by	Keith Palmer
Music by	Malcolm Williamson
Production; company	Charlemagne Productions
Distributed by	Fox-Rank Distributors
Release date	February 20, 1973 (United Kingdom);
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Nothing but the Night is a 1973 British horror film directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.^[1]

Synopsis[]

Three wealthy trustees of the Van Traylen fund, which supports a school for orphans on the Scottish island of Bala, are murdered, though their deaths are staged as suicide or accident. Three other trustees are on a bus carrying children from the school when the driver suddenly catches on fire, but he is the only one to die. One of the girls on the bus, Mary Valley (Gwyneth Strong), is taken to a London hospital, where she has strange seizures. A young psychiatrist (Keith Barron) and a tabloid journalist (Georgia Brown) interview the girl's mother (Diana Dors), hoping to enlist the aid of the hospital's senior member, Sir Mark Ashley (Peter Cushing). When the psychiatrist is killed, Ashley enlists the aid of friend and police inspector Colonel Charles Bingham (Christopher Lee). The two take their investigation to Bala. In the meantime, Mary Valley's mother also journeys to Bala, hoping to find her daughter, although she has come under suspicion for the murders of the trustees and an explosion on a boat near the island that apparently kills several others of the school's trustees. Ashley and Bingham eventually uncover the sinister truth behind the murders.

Cast[]

Christopher Lee as Col. Charles Bingham
Peter Cushing as Sir Mark Ashley
Diana Dors as Anna Harb
Georgia Brown as Joan Foster
Keith Barron as Dr. Haynes
Gwyneth Strong as Mary Valley
Fulton Mackay as Cameron
John Robinson as Lord Fawnlee
Morris Perry as Dr. Yeats
Michael Gambon as Insp. Grant
Duncan Lamont as Dr. Knight
Shelagh Fraser as Mrs. Alison
Kathleen Byron as Dr. Rose
Andrew McCulloch as Malcolm
Michael Brennan as Deck Hand

Production[]

A commercial failure, the film was the only production of Charlemagne Films, cofounded by Christopher Lee and Anthony Nelson Keys.

It was one of a number of horror films featuring Diana Dors.^[2]

Reception[]

Time Out London gave Nothing but the Night a negative review. The magazine stated "Something has obviously come fatally adrift with the film...The script seems mostly at fault, and often the acting is just that little bit over-emphatic, which doesn't help."^[3] Peter Nicholls also criticized the film: "Lacklustre performances all around in this confused, badly developed, laborious movie, especially from the children who are so important to the plot."^[1]

References[]

^ ^a ^b Fantastic Cinema : an illustrated survey. London : Ebury Press, 1984. ISBN 9780852233474 (p.206)
^ Vagg, Stephen (7 September 2020). "A Tale of Two Blondes: Diana Dors and Belinda Lee". Filmink.
^ "Nothing but the Night". Time Out Magazine. Retrieved 24 May 2020.

Sources[]

The Peter Cushing Companion by David Miller
Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and Horror Cinema, by Mark A. Miller

External links[]

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[fc-1] Fantastic Cinema : an illustrated survey. London : Ebury Press, 1984. ISBN 9780852233474 (p.206)

[bomb-2] Vagg, Stephen (7 September 2020). "A Tale of Two Blondes: Diana Dors and Belinda Lee". Filmink.

[3] "Nothing but the Night". Time Out Magazine. Retrieved 24 May 2020.

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