The Night Has Eyes (1943)

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

THE NIGHT HAS EYES is a British psychological drama set on the desolate Yorkshire moors. There are shades here of WUTHERING HEIGHTS, of course, but the film is closer in spirit to the likes of REBECCA and BLUEBEARD and all of the popular Gothic romance novels that have been written over the years. The story sees a mild-mannered schoolteacher stranded in a remote home during a flood, only to fall in love with the war veteran living there. Dark events of the past inevitably surface, and the rest of the narrative is concerned with solving the mystery. The direction is atmospheric and the film is notable for featuring the great James Mason in an early role; very good he is too.

This has to be a strong contender for the worst film ever made despite the talent on display, in fact had the raspberries been invented back then this would have competed in every department - writing, directing, acting. On the strength of this film alone director Leslie Arliss makes Ed Wood look competent. It's interesting to take a look at what the cast were up to around the same time; in that same year, 1942, James Mason appeared in Hatter's Castle in which Bobby Newton gave a tour de force performance in the lead, and Wilfred Lawson - a memorable Doolittle in Pygmalion four years earlier, played the eponymous Handel in The Great Mr. Handel (it seems no one thought it odd to celebrate a German composer in the middle of the second World War). That is immaterial in this ripe peace of cheese in which Lawson and Mary Clare are committed to convincing James Mason he's mad in a sort of Gaslight on a low flame. See it, buy it even, on the basis that it's so bad it's good.

Schoolteacher Joyce Howard (Marian) takes her man-hungry teacher friend Tucker McGuire (Doris) on a holiday to the Yorkshire moors where their friend and work colleague Evelyn disappeared one year ago. They get caught in a storm and seek refuge in a house in the middle of nowhere where James Mason (Stephen) lives. Hold on, though, Mason is a bit weird and not particularly pleasant. Could he have something to do with the disappearance of Evelyn? Once housekeeper Mary Clare (Mrs Ranger) and gardener Wilfrid Lawson (Sturrock) turn up, we have a full house and it's a good cast. Apart from doctor John Fernald (Dr Randall) who is a bit of a creep. The film has tense moments and is shot in an atmospheric location that keeps you gripped. You may well change your mind a few times as to who is the most sinister character.I've visited the Yorkshire moors and it is exactly like that in terms of weather conditions. The film gives you the sense of a "Wuthering Heights" experience. It's grey and it's bleak and it's treacherous. And James Mason lives there. Something weird is definitely going on.

Two young school teachers (Joyce Howard and Tucker McGuire) venture out to the Yorkshire moors to find out what happened to one of their colleagues who went out there and never came back. The joke is that she met someone and fell in love. Arriving in a convincing looking torrential rainstorm, they slog through the mud, lucky to avoid the deadly bogs, and encounter a brooding James Mason, who plays a shell-shocked veteran of the Spanish Civil War, and who reluctantly lets them spend the night in his country house on the conditions that they lock the bedroom door, and leave the following morning. McGuire is the party girl while Howard plays the sincere and serious part, a nice match for the troubled Mason. Forced to stay more time because of the impassable conditions, Howard and Mason begin to fall in love. Mason's caretakers are two ruthless opportunists played by Mary Clare and Wilfrid Lawson, both of whom are outstanding in their evil roles. The idea that they have convinced Mason that he's a dangerous mental case seems a bit flimsy, but their sinister portrayals are anything but, aided by the shadowy lighting that illuminates their facial closeups. When we find out what really happened to the missing teacher, that she met up with these two, and that the lovely Joyce Howard is next, it creates a tenable level of menace. The final scene on the darkened moors with the treacherous bogs is right out of the textbook.