Nothing but the Night

Nothing but the Night is a 1973 British horror film directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.[1] It is based on the novel of the same name by John Blackburn.

Nothing but the Night
UK film poster
Directed byPeter Sasdy
Screenplay byBrian Hayles
Based onNothing But the Night
by John Blackburn
Produced byAnthony Nelson Keys
StarringChristopher Lee
Peter Cushing
Diana Dors
Georgia Brown
CinematographyKenneth Talbot
Edited byKeith Palmer
Music byMalcolm Williamson
Production
company
Charlemagne Productions
Distributed byFox-Rank Distributors
Release date
  • February 20, 1973 (1973-02-20) (United Kingdom)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Synopsis

Three wealthy trustees of the Van Traylen fund, which supports a school for orphans on the Scottish island of Bala, are murdered, though their deaths are staged as suicide or accident. Three other trustees are on a bus carrying children from the school when the driver suddenly catches on fire, but he is the only one to die. One of the girls on the bus, Mary Valley (Gwyneth Strong), is taken to a London hospital, where she has strange seizures. A young psychiatrist (Keith Barron) and a tabloid journalist (Georgia Brown) interview the girl's mother (Diana Dors), hoping to enlist the aid of the hospital's senior member, Sir Mark Ashley (Peter Cushing). When the psychiatrist is killed, Ashley enlists the aid of friend and police inspector Colonel Charles Bingham (Christopher Lee). The two take their investigation to Bala. In the meantime, Mary Valley's mother also journeys to Bala, hoping to find her daughter, although she has come under suspicion for the murders of the trustees and an explosion on a boat near the island that apparently kills several others of the school's trustees. Ashley and Bingham eventually uncover the sinister truth behind the murders.

Cast

Production

A commercial failure, the film was the only production of Charlemagne Films, cofounded by Christopher Lee and Anthony Nelson Keys.

It was one of a number of horror films featuring Diana Dors.[2]

Reception

Time Out London gave Nothing but the Night a negative review. The magazine stated "Something has obviously come fatally adrift with the film...The script seems mostly at fault, and often the acting is just that little bit over-emphatic, which doesn't help."[3] Peter Nicholls also criticized the film: "Lacklustre performances all around in this confused, badly developed, laborious movie, especially from the children who are so important to the plot."[1]

References
  1. Fantastic Cinema : an illustrated survey. London : Ebury Press, 1984. ISBN 9780852233474 (p.206)
  2. Vagg, Stephen (7 September 2020). "A Tale of Two Blondes: Diana Dors and Belinda Lee". Filmink.
  3. "Nothing but the Night". Time Out Magazine. Retrieved 24 May 2020.

Sources
  • The Peter Cushing Companion by David Miller
  • Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and Horror Cinema, by Mark A. Miller


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