Then I saw the room, a queer mirrored room.
Fear in the Night is directed by Maxwell Shane who also adapts from Cornell Woolrich's (AKA: William Irish) story titled "Nightmare". It stars Paul Kelly, DeForest Kelley, Ann Doran, Kay Scott & Robert Emmett Keane. Music is by Rudy Schrager and photography by Jack Greenhalgh. Plot finds bank teller Vince Grayson (Kelley) awoken from a nightmare where he kills a man in a mirrored room. Disorientated and sweaty, Grayson is further startled to find bruises on his neck and items about him that suggest that his nightmare was real. After confiding about the events to his brother-in-law, detective Cliff Herlihy (Kelly), it's presumed he's under stress and a good day out with the girls will do him wonders. But once the picnic with the girls is interrupted by a storm, Grayson finds himself leading the group to a house in the country. A house he doesn't know and a house he's sure he's never been to, but upon the discovery of a mirrored room it becomes evident that something very strange is going on.
Low budget across the board but not suffering too much for it, this is a cracking little film noir mystery neatly condensed into 72 minutes. Maxwell Shane's film is dealing in dreams and a protagonist caught in a circumstance without understanding, that's out of his control. Tormented not only by the events of what appears to be in his "dream", but also by the heavy cloud of befuddlement that follows him during daylight hours. He himself ponders if he is going insane? It's a good question, and one which Shane and Woolrich do well to not answer for the first half of the film as the atmosphere deliberately stays hazy. The tone of the narrative is aided considerably by Greenhalgh's photography, Schrager's music and also Shane's box of cheap, but hugely effective, tricks.
Much of the film relies on visuals to make points, even as we get a cool pulpy voice over from Grayson, the blurry shifting images say much more. So too does the use of mirrors, very Hitchcockian - with the actual mirrored room at the core of the story very disambiguation like. There are shadows involved for practically every interior shot - and even for much of the outdoor sequences as well, while the music comes from the realm of the haunted house pictures. The cast give variable performances, but there's nothing to hurt such a short movie. Lets just say that Kelley (in his first main role) fits the dazed requisite well and it's no bad thing that Doran & Scott don't get a lot of screen time. Kelly (Crossfire) is good value, making a believable copper, while Keane is wonderfully sedate and creepy (check out the candle sequence).
True enough there's problems that stop it being a "B" noir classic, such as the back screen shots and the afore mentioned less than stellar acting. Whilst the film would have benefited more by having a Gothic designed house as opposed to the white picket fence type that is used. But considering the budget and the time frame of the production, it's an admirable film that's easily recommended to noir and murder mystery fans.
Shane liked the story enough to remake it as "Nightmare" in 1956 with Edward G. Robinson & Kevin McCarthy as cop and protagonist respectively. A bigger budget and name actors it has, but the jury is still out on its actual worth. I'm happy with this version, thanks, even if the DVD print is old and scratchy. 7.5/10
