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Terror House More at IMDbPro »The Night Has Eyes (original title)
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| Index | 11 reviews in total |
13 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Saw this as a small child -- Remembered it for over 50 years, 29 January 2001
Author:
RICHARD T. MULLIN (mullinrt) from North East, Maryland - USA
By chance, one afternoon in the 1950s, I saw this film as a 4 year old on our first TV. I never forgot it. It takes place near some English moors. James Mason plays a man suspected of brutal murders. The two young teachers who stay at his house are caught up in the mystery. When the mystery is solved and the villain must pay, the moors play an important part in the very unnerving climax -- I remembered those death screams for years. When I finally saw it again, almost 50 years later, I was delighted to be frightened again. This of course was a very young James Mason who went on to have a very long varied career. He did his role justice and his co-stars were talented as well. The film is almost never shown on TV any more, but the film can be purchased from specialty suppliers -- it's worth looking for!
9 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Good film-Great ending, 7 April 2005
Author:
roxyroxy
"The Night Has Eyes" will always be one of my favorite British films of the 1940's. It seems to have been done on an incredibly low-budget (I would have liked for there to have been more interior sets of the house), but it works well and has a terrific surprise ending. James Mason, Joyce Howard and Mary Clare are all well cast in their roles and the direction is fine considering this film was probably shot within a specific time allowance. Oddly enough, when I saw this film on the television in Britain, the gruesome ending was trimmed considerably compared to the ending on American T.V. and video prints where it is much more horrific. I suppose that British censors considered the footage to be too grim and chopped it accordingly. The uncut print can be bought on VHS and DVD through Sinister Cinema.com.
7 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Better as a Romance, 11 December 2002
Author:
Space_Mafune from Newfoundland, Canada
A pretty young school teacher named Marian(played by the very lovely Joyce
Howard) sets out to investigate the disappearance of her friend Evelyn who
had vanished on the Yorkshire Moors a year before.
Soon however her and her American friend Doris(enlisted to accompany Marian)
get caught in an awful rainstorm but luckily happen upon an unlikely house
located in the vicinity.
A bizarre young man named Stephen Deremid(played by James Mason), a former
composer, offers them shelter for the night but warns the ladies to keep
their doors locked at night. We soon learn that Deremid fears he cannot
trust himself - fear he might unknowingly do harm to others following his
years of fighting in the Spanish war and being held in a prison camp. But
Marian soon finds herself in love with Stephen and sets out to help him at
any. However others have more ghoulish intentions for the couple.
This film works much better in its Romantic settings than it does in its
Horror ones. Character changes come rather abruptly and unexpectedly. The
Yorkshire Moors does make a creepy setting however--with the fog, muck, dead
trees and nothingness certainly contributing a sense of horror to the film.
The best thing to watch this one for is the romance...those expecting out
and out horror will find disappointment.
6 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Superb British romantic mystery set in the misty Yorkshire moors, 20 January 2008
Author:
robert-temple-1 from United Kingdom
This is a wholly satisfying romantic mystery tale, with excellent performances all round, well directed by Leslie Arliss, even though it was only his second film. James Mason delivers a powerful, brooding, mysterious performance as a tormented composer living a life of isolation in an ancient house in the moors, playing Schubert in the dark, surrounded by peat bogs, 'cut off from the world', and often flooded in. It is hard to believe that Mason made one of the worst films ever, with one of the worst performances ever ('Secret Mission'), in the very same year. Must be the directors. Mary Clare is amazingly eerie and haunting in her character role, and Joyce Howard is a charming, fresh-faced ingenue with eyes full of hope - frightened eyes, but hopeful. Wifred Lawson is a marvellous character study of a thicko in thrall to Mary Clare. Plenty of mist, lots of full moons, mysterious deaths, secret rooms, it's all there. Oh yes, and let's not forget the maidens in distress who conquer their fears for love, and the good time gal who wants to get back to town where 'all those delicious men in RAF uniforms' are. This really is a good one.
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
A Brooding Hero Beautifully-Played by James Mason; a Fine "B" Mystery, 1 January 2008
Author:
silverscreen888 from United States
I find "The Night Has Eyes", a very personal project by director-scenarist Leslie Arliss and producer and scenarist John Argyle, to be both a seminal and engrossing narrative. To me, it often appears to be an inexpensive but nevertheless effective adaptation of a mystery novel by Alan Kennington. And it is one whose several aspects have been copied and redone many times since. The center of the storyline is a reclusive young man. Injured in war, he has shut himself away in a Gothic-profile house on the edge of the Yorkshire moors. We find that he was a brilliant young composer but that he can no longer access his talent. There is a mystery as to why he regards it as necessary to quit mankind; and we find out about his reason through the agency of a young female teacher, who arrives at the house as a visitor and who with her girlfriend must remain there for several days. There is a "kicker" in her presence in the area; she is seeking the truth of the death of another teacher, her friend, who vanished in the area the year before. Upon these ingredients, Arliss constructs a rather claustrophobic-appearing but well-constructed tale. Revelation follows, revelation, relationships are shifted and changed by actions, words, discoveries and altered purposes. And when the teacher falls in love with the troubled hero, a chain f events is set in motion that ends with a satisfying and interesting conclusion of what I find to be great power. The actors to me are the strongest element in this moody and atmospheric piece from start to finish. Duncan Sutherland designed the low-budget production; Gunther Krampf did the cinematography and interesting music was composed by Charles Williams. Dorothy Black and Amy Dalby show to advantage as teachers in the film's earliest scenes; John Fernald plays a laid-back physician in fine comedic style with Tucker McGuire stealing scenes as a man- happy and sharp-tongued companion to the heroine. The other long roles in the mystery are played by pretty Joyce Howard, as Marian Ives, the teacher seeking her lost friend, Mary Clare as the enigmatic housekeeper to the hero, powerful Wilfrid Lawson as the hero's handyman, and James Mason as the troubled composer. It is Mason's utterly believable and beautifully-timed performance, as in so many other films, that unifies a merely-middling production. Howard is weak in charisma but quite satisfactory as a consort to the angst- ridden recluse; all the rest keep the intriguing psychological mystery moving very nicely, making for a well-acted film. "The Night Has Eyes" with a sufficient budget might have appeared to be a somewhat better as a realized work of cinema; but the main strengths of the script are very well brought out by the accomplished Mason and the rest of the cast as it is; and the simplicity of black-and-white presentation adds to the effectiveness of the characters and to the sense of importance that accompanies their motives and deeds.
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
walking on quicksand, 27 April 2006
Author:
RanchoTuVu from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico
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.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
formative movie for me, 20 May 2010
Author:
HoldMyEarrings from United States
Of all the movies I love, none has had a wider ranging impact than this one. I saw it on late night TV when I was 9, Halloween night, at a sleepover where everyone else was sleeping. I had nothing to do and couldn't figure out how to change the channel on the TV, so I was sitting there grumpily watching something random when this... strange movie came on. It was in black and white, but the people in it were beautiful, as were the clothes, the sets, everything. I was transfixed. I told my mother about this movie rapturously, and when it came on again a couple of years later she woke me at 2:00 in the morning so we could watch it together (my mother understands what it is to love a film). For many years Stephen was my tortured masculine ideal, and I married a man who definitely fits the James Mason physical type. Luckily, he has a sunny temperament and a stronger chin, so I feel like I got the best of both worlds! This movie also led me into the genre of Gothic literature, which was a major component of my reading life for a long time, and I still enjoy. Thank you to the people who made this film with love. They'll never know what it's meant to me.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Very good old dark house mystery romance with atmosphere to spare, 1 June 2008
Author:
dbborroughs from Glen Cove, New York
James Mason stars in the story of two women who go off to try and find out what happened to a friend of theirs a year before when she went off across the moors. While out on the moors the girls get caught in a rain storm and are forced to take shelter in an old dark house where James Mason, a slightly off center composer lives. What happens after that is the movie and frankly its a great deal of fun and worth looking for. This is really an Old Dark House movie-the girls come upon the house when its all dark and shadowy, and you can feel the danger lurking in every shadow. I loved how this film took twist after twist and spun off in new directions that kept you guessing as to what may have happened to the friend and what may happen to the two girls. if you like old dark house movies or really good thrillers this one is for you.
Two of the Most Spine-Chilling Moments in Film Noir!, 7 November 2008
Author:
John Howard Reid (rastar330@yahoo.com.au) from Sydney, Australia
In the classic vein of the noirish mystery thriller, The Night Has Eyes is "written and directed" by Leslie Arliss, who does such absolute wonders on the small sound stages at Welwyn Garden Studios, we never have the impression that this is anything else but an extremely high budget picture. Arliss is given marvelous assistance by art director Duncan Sutherland and perfectionist lighting cameraman Gunther Krampf. The stand-out cast is led by James Mason as the moody recluse, Mary Clare as his well-wishing housekeeper, Joyce Howard as the heroine, Tucker McGuire as her man-crazy friend, and playwright John Fernald (who collaborated with director Arliss on additional dialogue) in the first of only two appearances in front of the camera, as the helpful doctor. The beginning and end of the climactic sequence rate as two of the most unforgettable moments in world cinema.
2 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Trivia, 30 October 2006
Author:
mail-671 from United Kingdom
One of your early critics has a point. Released in the days when the Censor's cert was "U" "A" or "H"for horrific, unusually on its first release "The Night Has Eyes" was given the "A" certificate in its released version. On a later reissue this was changed to "H" because of the ending,then considered excessive but has subsequently been used many times to greater effect. Around the same time,conversely, a reissue of "The Cat & The Canary" which was initially released with the "H" cert was reduced to"A" as part of a double feature with "Miracle of Morgan's Creek". The former thriller gained some popularity because of its theme music based on a romantic piano concerto by Charles Williams whose several compositions often enhanced a film's appeal such as in Billy Wilder's Oscar winner,"The Apartment" except that,unjustly(to my mind),for this film he was denied any screen credit,all of that going to Adolphe Deutch.
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