"Night Must Fall" 1937 Surprisingly Rewarding Viewing

 

I'm a big fan of Golden Age Hollywood movies. I've seen so many of them that it's hard for me to find a good one that I haven't already seen, and even more rare for me to find one that I hadn't heard of, and didn't already know the plot to. When you already know the reviews and the plot, even of a movie you haven't already seen, that eliminates the pleasure you get from surprise. The local library had the DVD of "Night Must Fall" from 1937. Not only had I not seen it, I'd never heard of it.
 
"Night Must Fall" surprised me. It's a murder mystery, so I can't say too much about it, but, yes, it was very worth seeing.

 

Those not familiar with, and appreciative of, Golden Age movies might dismiss "Night Must Fall" as beneath them. It is black and white, with the pre-wide-screen aspect ratio. That is, the image you see is more of a square than a rectangle. The images don't extend far out to the right and left.

 

"Night Must Fall" was filmed on a soundstage that stands in for an English cottage surrounded by woods. The viewer knows that this really isn't a cottage, and those aren't really woods. The trees aren't trees and the rivers aren't rivers. It's all MGM magic. When watching a soundstage movie, you must willingly suspend that disbelief.

 

Star Robert Montgomery, who was born in New York, attempts a weak Irish accent. Connecticut-born Rosalind Russell makes no attempt to sound English at all. Dame May Whitty, making her Hollywood debut at age 72, is clearly English and sounds it. Merle Tottenham, Kathleen Harrison, in minor roles, were both English. Alan Marshall was from Australia but sounded English to me.

 

"Night Must Fall" is a murder mystery with sexual and perverse undertones, but, given the Production Code, there is no gore and no violence at all. There's very little action. The film consists mostly of talk and significant eye movement. There are hammy moments. The musical score emphasizes points, and actors gasp and stare into space in melodramatic ways.

 

In spite of all the aesthetic differences between 1937 and 2022, "Night Must Fall" was, for me, very worth watching. I was fascinated to see what the screenplay by John Van Druten would do with the set-up: a woman has been murdered in an English village. The residents of the cottage discuss this murder and go about their quiet lives.

 

Elderly, wheelchair-bound invalid Mrs. Bramson lives with two domestic serving women and her niece, Olivia. A man name Danny arrives and charms Mrs. Bramson so thoroughly that she invites him to live with her and attend to her needs. The police stop by and ask if the cottage residents have seen anything unusual. There's been a murder and a headless corpse has been found.

 

I can't really say much more than that so as not to spoil the plot. I can say that Robert Montgomery's character, Danny, as written, is fascinating. It's interesting to know that a screenwriter in 1937 would even conceive of such a character. Montgomery's performance is amazing. I never thought to see such a performance in a B movie made in 1937. In spite of the gore-and-violence-free production, "Night Must Fall" really did give me the creeps and frightened me, especially in its closing scenes. "A critical success, Night Must Fall was named the best film of the year by the National Board of Review. Robert Montgomery also received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role," reports Wikipedia. The film was not a huge commercial success, though. I think it was ahead of its time.