- Actors: Mervyn Johns, Michael Redgrave, Roland Culver, Mary Merrall, Googie Withers
- Directors: Alberto Cavalcanti, Basil Dearden, Charles Crichton, Robert Hamer
- Writers: Angus MacPhail, E.F. Benson, H.G. Wells, John Baines
- Format: Box set, PAL
- Language English
- Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3 - 1.33:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: PG
- Studio: Ealing studios
- DVD Release Date: 8 Sep 2003
- Run Time: 77 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B0000AGVOD
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 99,085 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details |
Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
While horror conventions may change from generation to generation, there are ideas that will scare us no matter what time period we inhabit. Dead of Night is a classic horror anthology that effectively plays on those timeless fears. Mervyn Johns stars as a man who has been summoned to a house with a group of strangers he has never met but has seen in his dreams. As they convene, he predicts certain events will happen as they do in his dreams and when they do, the other guests relate their own experiences with the supernatural, including tales of a possessed mirror, a sinister ventriloquist's dummy and an eerie premonition of death. Throughout the group meeting, the protagonist fears something horrible will happen to him and we are left to wonder what it might be. The film's final, revelatory sequence offers an unexpectedly horrific surprise. It may have been made in 1945 but Dead of Night is still spooky. --Bryan Reesman
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Ealing Classics Collection presents four films from the great British studio, which, unlike the two sets devoted to Ealing Comedy, have at first glance little in common. Apart from many of the same names before and behind the cameras, what really connects Went the Day Well? (1942), Dead of Night (1945), Nicholas Nickleby (1947) and Scott of the Antarctic (1948) is Ealing's commitment to well-written, high-quality drama realised with the best possible production values.
British patriotism at its best links Went the Day Well? with Scott of the Antarctic. The former is a wartime propaganda morale-booster that doesn't shirk from showing the cost of the conflict, but provides genuine excitement as a small German advance force take over a Midlands village--a plot later reworked in The Eagle Has Landed (1977). Director Alberto Cavalcanti handles events with neo-documentary efficiency and William Walton's score cannot fail to stir. No less a composer than Vaughan Williams scored Scott, delivering one of the finest in film history, while Ealing spared no expense on Technicolor location filming. The result is occasionally too tableau-like and historically inaccurate--the mini-series Shackleton (2002) is more commendable in this respect-–but remains a gripping and ultimately very moving drama.
The darker side of life is explored by Cavalcanti in a suitably stark version of Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby, a film unfortunately overshadowed by David Lean's double whammy of Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948). Here Derek Bond is fine as Nicholas and a superb supporting cast, including Cedric Hardwicke and Stanley Holloway, ensure this is a first-rate production. Dead of Night offers one of the earliest examples of the anthology horror film, all wrapped in a decades-ahead-of-its-time framing narrative that nightmarishly twists reality inside-out. Most famous is the sequence with Michael Redgrave as a ventriloquist possessed by his own dummy, an idea later expanded to feature length with Anthony Hopkins in Magic (1978). Still unsettling six decades on, this all-time horror classic is only marred by a terrible comedy golf skit.
On the DVD Ealing Classics presents each film on its own DVD without extras. All four are in the original 4:3 ratio, in black and white, apart from Scott of the Antarctic. The audio is functional mono, and, while dialogue and sound effects are very clear, the music tracks are often distorted.
Picture quality is very variable, with Went the Day Well? being taken from an excellent print. Dead of Night, though, is constantly beset by small sparkles, with much more serious print damage being in evidence, making this a very below-par presentation for such a classic film. Nicholas Nickleby ranks somewhere in between, with a print showing various forms of constant but minor damage and offering a rather indistinct image in the darker scenes. The big budget Technicolor of Scott of the Antarctic is a little muted and the many snow scenes show a considerable amount of grain, but otherwise the print is in very good condition. --Gary S Dalkin
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
88 of 88 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
As mentioned before this truly is a British Classic and it is great that it has been made available on DVD. The film shows just what can be accomplished with minimal special effects and budget yet still come across as totally captivating and in some parts downright nerve tingling.
Where this DVD suffers tho is in its presentation which is shoddy and shows a total lack of care, appreciation and understanding of the product.
The transfer is from the original VHS release from over 10 years ago now and it has in no way been properly remastered or restored. As to be expected the image is softer than you expect for new transfers and there are many blemishes and frame splices and cuts from the old print. These can be forgivable however the sound is atrocious. Wooly, muffly, distorted and heavily dampened down to eliminate the inherent hiss of the RCA original this audio really lets the film down.
I will say tho that it is slightly better than the even worse print that Channel 4 has shown in the past!
A great pity.
Where this DVD suffers tho is in its presentation which is shoddy and shows a total lack of care, appreciation and understanding of the product.
The transfer is from the original VHS release from over 10 years ago now and it has in no way been properly remastered or restored. As to be expected the image is softer than you expect for new transfers and there are many blemishes and frame splices and cuts from the old print. These can be forgivable however the sound is atrocious. Wooly, muffly, distorted and heavily dampened down to eliminate the inherent hiss of the RCA original this audio really lets the film down.
I will say tho that it is slightly better than the even worse print that Channel 4 has shown in the past!
A great pity.
59 of 59 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Great film but, as other reviewers have noted, this transfer is very poor. You will get a much better transfer if you buy the region 1 Dead of Night/The Queen of Spades double release available from amazon marketplace sellers or from amazon.com.
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I've seen this classic film almost every time it's been shown on TV for the last 30 years, and it's great to be able to have a permanent copy for one's DVD library. Perhaps because the TV prints have always been poor, I'm not so bothered about the print quality as others seem to be (although the sound is rough in places). Sure, this deserves to have the full restoration business done, but that is very expensive, and I've been disappointed in the past with some American issues of classic films (NTSC to PAL conversion?) so I haven't tried that avenue. Yet.
To the film itself. I am concerned that younger viewers coming new to this film may have unreasonable expectations; it has dated certainly, having a very middle-class 30's/40's Englishness about it that may put some viewers off straight away. This of course would be a terrible shame. Ealing Studios themselves did it no favours by having as a poster (reproduced on the DVD box) a depiction of some weird monster- completely misleading as these are human, psychological, tales.
Over the years, I've asked people what their favourite of the five (six?) separate stories is. Although everyone remembers Michael Redgrave's fine performance with the ventriloquist's dummy, it is The Mirror which is remarked on more than you might expect. This is I think the deepest tale in terms of character development, and we really get drawn into the drama gradually unfolding. I've also always had a soft spot for the delightful Naunton/Wayne golf sequence, a gentle comedy in the middle of the film - giving us a breather before we get inexorably dragged towards that astonishing climax; as surreal as anything you will see in British cinema.
At its current preposterously low price I would snap this up. A better U.K. transfer may come along some day, but this will do in the meantime.
So go on, join Mervyn Johns, and visit Pilgrim's Farm.
Again.
To the film itself. I am concerned that younger viewers coming new to this film may have unreasonable expectations; it has dated certainly, having a very middle-class 30's/40's Englishness about it that may put some viewers off straight away. This of course would be a terrible shame. Ealing Studios themselves did it no favours by having as a poster (reproduced on the DVD box) a depiction of some weird monster- completely misleading as these are human, psychological, tales.
Over the years, I've asked people what their favourite of the five (six?) separate stories is. Although everyone remembers Michael Redgrave's fine performance with the ventriloquist's dummy, it is The Mirror which is remarked on more than you might expect. This is I think the deepest tale in terms of character development, and we really get drawn into the drama gradually unfolding. I've also always had a soft spot for the delightful Naunton/Wayne golf sequence, a gentle comedy in the middle of the film - giving us a breather before we get inexorably dragged towards that astonishing climax; as surreal as anything you will see in British cinema.
At its current preposterously low price I would snap this up. A better U.K. transfer may come along some day, but this will do in the meantime.
So go on, join Mervyn Johns, and visit Pilgrim's Farm.
Again.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Another Ealing Boxset!
I've a number of Ealing boxsets, now and not duplicating titles is getting more difficult. As the new price (now) is silly money, I got a secondhand one at a much more reasonable... Read more
Published 22 days ago by Tim Kidner
Night terrors thrill to the bone
One of my very favourite films, this portmenteau is a classic and in my view the very best of its genre. I have watched it umpteen times and it never fails to thrill. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Skylady
Dead of Night
Dead of Night [DVD]
This brought back memories of cold dark nights telling ghost stories round the fire. It has some very spooky aspects. Read more
This brought back memories of cold dark nights telling ghost stories round the fire. It has some very spooky aspects. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Oliver
Redgrave's performance is a knockout!
"Dead of Night" is a classic 1940's supernatural thriller that has managed to retain most of its chills in spite of the passing years. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Scadhog
The Original and Greatest Horror Anthology
Only just watched this, after seeing such great reviews all over the place. It certainly doesn't disappoint and never gets dull. Read more
Published 4 months ago by D. M. Davison
Another Ealing classic
I was pleased to find this old classic on DVD as it's a film I could only vaguely remember. It's a very good psychological horror. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Steve
DEAD OF NIGHT
What can you possibly say? This is a CLASSIC that inspired such films as DOCTOR TERRORS HOUSE OF HORRORS!!! Well acted and photographed!!!!!! Classic!!!!!
Published 4 months ago by Richard Ekstedt
" Dead Of Night "
I will agree that the rating by many critics that " Dead Of Night " that it is one of the finest examples of British cinema . Read more
Published 7 months ago by Malc Burton
A Horror Film?
I first saw this film as a child and found it scarey. Rewatching it as an adult I was still disturbed by the final story contained in the film. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mrs. E. Walton
The genuine article
The horror potmanteau that spwaned them all which, today, is still the best. Five short stories and a linking narrative, varying from dark to light to very dark. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Shrewlord
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
