The Night Has Eyes

The Night Has Eyes
The Night Has Eyes
	1949 US re-release film poster
Directed by	Leslie Arliss
Written by	Leslie Arliss ; John Argyle
Based on	The Night Has Eyes by Alan Kennington
Produced by	John Argyle
Starring	James Mason; Wilfrid Lawson ; Mary Clare ; Joyce Howard
Cinematography	Günther Krampf
Edited by	Flora Newton
Music by	Charles Williams
Distributed by	Pathé Pictures International
Release date	1 June 1942
Running time	79 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Night Has Eyes, released in the United States as Terror House by Producers Releasing Corporation and re-released in the US by Cosmopolitan Pictures in 1949 as Moonlight Madness, is a 1942 British thriller film directed by Leslie Arliss starring James Mason, Joyce Howard, Wilfrid Lawson, Mary Clare.^[1] and Tucker McGuire. It is based on the 1939 novel of the same title by Alan Kennington.

Plot[]

Two young teachers travel to the Yorkshire Moors where their friend disappeared a year before. Before long they have encountered the man they believe to be her murderer.^[2] That night, they become stranded in the house where they are staying when a violent storm breaks out.

Cast[]

James Mason - Stephen Deremid
Wilfrid Lawson - Jim Sturrock
Joyce Howard - Marian Ives
Mary Clare - Mrs. Ranger
Tucker McGuire - Doris
John Fernald - Doctor Barry Randall
Dorothy Black - Miss Fenwick
Amy Dalby - Miss Miggs

Critical reception[]

Leonard Maltin called the film an "OK mystery";^[3] Allmovie called it a "taut British chiller" ;^[4] and TV Guide wrote "though melodramatic and soundstage-bound, Terror House is still quite effective and eerie. Fog covers almost every exterior; cinematographer Gunther Krampf spent long periods getting the artificial fog at just the right density...The final film was almost too effective, and after initially getting an A rating from the British censor and being booked on the biggest cinema circuit in Britain, the rating was suddenly changed to H (for "Horrific"), making it off-limits for anyone under 16 years of age. The big circuits had a policy of showing only A films, so the independent cinemas became the big winners, getting an excellent thriller starring Mason, Britain's top leading man at the time."^[5]