Night Watch (1973)

Elizabeth Taylor plays a woman who is a witness to murder...but whose?

Director:

Brian G. Hutton

Writers:

Lucille Fletcher (play), Tony Williamson (screenplay)

Stars:

Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Harvey, Billie Whitelaw

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Elizabeth Taylor	...	Ellen Wheeler
Laurence Harvey	...	John Wheeler
Billie Whitelaw	...	Sarah Cooke
Robert Lang	...	Mr. Appleby
Tony Britton	...	Tony
Bill Dean	...	Inspector Walker
Michael Danvers-Walker	...	Sergeant Norris
Rosario Serrano	...	Dolores
Pauline Jameson	...	Secretary
Linda Hayden	...	Girl in Car
Kevin Colson	...	Carl
Laon Maybanke	...	Florist
David Jackson	...	Wilson

Storyline

Ellen Wheeler (Dame Elizabeth Taylor), a rich woman, is recovering from a nervous breakdown with the help of her husband and a good friend. One day, while staring out the window, she witnesses a murder. But does anybody believe her?

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Plot Keywords:

shuttered window | banging shutters | grande dame guignol | giallo | british giallo | 

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Taglines:

You'll be seeing this nightmare every night for the rest of your life.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

During production of this movie, Laurence Harvey was hit in the face in a fight with his wife, Paulene Stone. He sustained a black eye, which he was afraid would prevent him from completing the movie leading to a breach of contract suit. Concurrently, Dame Elizabeth Taylor had to take time off for illness, resulting in the production being stopped, saving Harvey from what he expected.

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Quotes

Ellen Wheeler: Mr. Appleby, what on Earth have you been doing over there all the time?
Appleby: I've been preparing a bed for some new friends of mine. There's no substitute for preparation. You can't just stick things in the ground and expect them to grow. This soil is poisoned. That damned obscenity of a house takes so much of our sunshine away you're lucky to get anything to grow.

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Soundtracks

The Night Has Many Eyes
by George Barrie & Sammy Cahn

User Reviews

The Girl Who Cried Wolf

Elizabeth Taylor reunites with her Butterfield 8 co-star Laurence Harvey in Night Watch one of her only if not the only venture for her in the horror genre. It also has a bit of Hitchcockian tension in it as well.

In this film Taylor and Harvey are a married couple who have settled down in a very posh part of London. Harvey is her second husband, the first died in an automobile crash with his young mistress.

Soon after moving where they are Taylor spots strange goings on like dead bodies at the place next door. But every time the police in the person of Inspector Bill Dean is called there's no evidence of anything. A lot like Doris Day in Midnight Lace.

Both her husband and best friend Billie Whitelaw try to support Taylor, but it's no avail, she just gets worse and more hysterical and the police are just getting more and more fed up.

The film has certain parallels to Midnight Lace and also to Gaslight. But don't think you've guessed an ending even with those clues.

As so many aging Hollywood actresses of the 60s and 70s went into these kinds of films, some did more than others. Apparently Taylor was only satisfied to dip an ankle into this pool.

Apparently Harvey was desperately ill with the cancer that killed him and he does look gaunt. There is a revealing rear shot in a shower and I'm betting that is not Harvey's bare backside. He does look gaunt. He had an operation that took a lot of intestine out of him and production was stopped mid way according to the Citadel Film series book on the Films of Elizabeth Taylor.

The next door neighbor Robert Lang has a role in all of this. If you think you know what will happen in Night Watch, believe me you don't.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

10 August 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Night Watch

Filming Locations:

Bayswater, London, England, UK

Box Office

Gross USA:

$1,263,782

Company Credits

Production Co:

Brut Productions, Nightwatch Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1