Dead of Night
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Dead of Night (1945) is a British portmanteau (or compendium) horror film made by Ealing Studios, its various episodes directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer. The film stars Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers and Michael Redgrave. The film is probably best-remembered for the ventriloquist's dummy episode starring Redgrave.
Dead of Night stands out from British film of the 1940s, when few genre films were being produced, and it had a huge influence on subsequent British horror films most particularly the anthology films produced by Amicus in the 1960s and early 1970s. Both of the segments by John Baines were recycled for later films, and the possessed ventriloquist dummy episode was adapted as an episode of the long-running CBS radio series Escape. It was also used twice by the American television series The Twilight Zone, as well as serving as the basis for the William Goldman-scripted film Magic.
