Straight On Till Morning (1974)

One of my all time favorites.

Good concept, poorly executed.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

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.

Brenda leaves Liverpool, telling her mum she's pregnant, and gets a job in a boutique in London. She moves in with Caroline, but her set shuns her, because of her plain looks. She kidnaps a young man's dog, so as to get to know him while returning it. The young man turns out to be a psychopath with a penchant for killing beautiful things. He renames Brenda, and they start a strange relationship.....On first viewing its so reminiscent of Collinsons' Up The Junction, the way it's filmed, and the attitude of supporting characters, and Brenda's personality, so its familiar ground, quite strangely comforting, when you watch the opening act.But then during the second act, its changes rapidly, with some wonderful editing and camera-work, it's as if someone has given the camera to Ken Russell and said, 'off you go Ken, give us Blow Up mixed with Vertigo'.For a Hammer movie, its miles away from anything you'd expect them to do. Its as if your watching Henry: Portrait Of A Kitchen Sink Killer, and just added the working class element into a thriller.The main character of Peter is interesting, but its so reminiscent of David Hemmings you cannot but help to compare it to Blow Up.Its a curioso piece, very psychedelic in nature, but just loses its way toward the end.

The swinging sixties are coming to an end in swinging London but there are still some hang overs from the 1950s and still plenty of odd ball characters. Pregnancy outside of marriage was still much looked down upon and under the guise of the 'flower children' it was perfectly possible for even homicidal maniacs to not seem out of place. Rita Tushingham is as great as ever and this much under rated actress puts in one of her more endearing performances. Shane Briant is eerily convincing as the psycho and the rest of the cast including James Bolam are all fine. Some decent location shooting is always appreciated around this time and here we get a couple of boutiques and some very moody stuff around the then recently completed South Bank complex. Plenty of surprises and well worth catching as one of the most unusual hammer movies.

This one is perhaps Hammer's most incongruous film - a flashily-directed modern suspenser with pretensions; actually, the horror brand-name is only displayed at the very end (even if the credits themselves are unmistakable) - whereas the trailer proudly advertises it as "A Love Story From Hammer"! While the film features gratuitous nudity (virtually a Hammer mandate by this stage), in spite of a number of murders occurring throughout, it's surprisingly bloodless for this studio.Director Collinson's fragmentary style is appropriately disorienting at times and actually proves quite economical - for instance, in the course of the first couple of minutes, we get to know practically the entire back-story of the two protagonists - but it also becomes irritating very quickly! Rita Tushingham and Shane Briant are quite good in their roles, the former typically kooky and the latter effectively disturbed; lovely Katya Wyeth appears as Tushingham's colleague/room-mate, an unfortunate association which ends in her brutal murder.The title (and title tune) are inspired by "Peter Pan" and, in fact, the script makes several references to J.M. Barrie's popular tale: the leading characters call one another Peter and Wendy when their names are really Clive and Brenda; Briant is a bit the boy who never grew up, whereas Tushingham's relocation from humdrum Liverpool to Swinging London (cue some horrid 70s fashions and hairstyles) can be seen as the equivalent of the journey to Neverland. The film ends rather abruptly on a downbeat note.The Rita Tushingham Audio Commentary (moderated by Jonathan Sothcott), unsurprisingly, is not up to the level of tracks I've heard for other Hammer films - given the star's limited connection with the company. However, she displays a winning sense of humor throughout and her recollections prove engaging enough to make it a worthwhile listen nonetheless. Incidentally, here it's mentioned that STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING was released as the A feature in a double-bill with another Hammer thriller - FEAR IN THE NIGHT (1972) - which I also recently watched for the first time and is, ironically, the superior effort!

I say it is one of the most memorable Hammer films for me because I remember watching this film as a child. However, I didn't know its title, the actors/actresses names nor remember that it was a Hammer film, only that it was a rather tragic tale of a plain girl seeking a partner.After a week or so searching via a movie guide book I stumbled upon the title and acquired the movie to watch it all over again.It is an early 1970s film and not one that I would associate with Hammer, but is very good. I think of it as a tragic tale really. The serial killer, Peter (Shane Briant) is obviously a deeply troubled individual bothered by things of beauty which he feels he must kill. The "Plain Jane" tells her mother she is pregnant and goes off to London to search for the man who can make her pregnant, she finds him in Peter unfortunately for her. She's infatuated with him and both live in a fantasy world.She kidnaps his dog in order to get to know him. In its time this film was quite different from all the other films I've seen and I suppose it still is. Shane Briant is a very good looking actor, extremely blonde and it is easy to see why "Wendy" would become besotted with him.The ending is very sad and the tape recordings disturbing. The ending was probably a necessity to the film but nevertheless had Peter not decided to play the tape to her the ending wouldn't have had to be the way it turned out.In short I found the film remains one of my most memorable childhood memories, but isn't in the usual Hammer Horror league. It's difference is what makes it unique.