Night Must Fall | Adapted & Remade

Night Must Fall is a 1937 film adaptation of the Emlyn Williams play of the same name. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and adapted by John Van Druten. It stars Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, and Dame May Whitty. Whitty reprised her role from when the play was performed in London and in New York City. A handsome young Irishman charms his way into the household of a wealthy invalid, but her niece is suspicious of his motives.

Montgomery was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and Whitty for Best Supporting Actress.

It was remade in 1964 with the same title. It was directed by Karel Reisz from a script by Clive Exton and starred Albert Finney, Mona Washbourne, and Susan Hampshire, but was not as successful as the original film.

Night Must Fall the play was adapted into a radio play in March 1948 on the long-running radio drama series Suspense, with Robert Montgomery and Dame May Whitty reprising their original roles.

Listen to radio play...

A Broadway revival in the 1990s starring Matthew Broderick, essaying an Irish accent (as did Montgomery), rather than a Welsh one, performed respectably at the box office.

Joan Crawford Possessed Twice...'31 & '47 films

Did you know Joan Crawford stars in two successful films with exactly the same title--Possessed.

Possessed (1931) film directed by Clarence Brown, and starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable. The film is the story of Marian Martin, a factory worker who rises to the top as the mistress of a wealthy attorney. The screenplay by Lenore J. Coffee was adapted from the 1920 Broadway play The Mirage by Edgar Selwyn. Possessed was the third of eight cinematic collaborations between Crawford and Gable.

Possessed (1947) Warner Bros. feature film starring Joan Crawford, Van Heflin, and Raymond Massey in a tale about an unstable woman's obsession with her ex-lover. The screenplay by Ranald MacDougall and Silvia Richards was based upon a story by Rita Weiman. The film was directed by Curtis Bernhardt and produced by Jerry Wald. Possessed received one Academy Award nomination for Best Actress (Crawford).

Joanne Woodward plays the patient Eve then Sybil's doctor

The Three Faces of Eve is a 1957 book and film, loosely based on the true story of Chris Costner Sizemore, a woman who suffered from dissociative identity disorder.

The film stars Joanne Woodward, David Wayne, Lee J. Cobb, Nancy Kulp and Alistair Cooke.

Woodward — at the time a relative unknown in Hollywood — won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and later went on to play Dr. Cornelia Wilbur in the film Sybil.

Sally Field starred in the title role, with Joanne Woodward playing the part of Sybil's psychiatrist, Cornelia B. Wilbur. Based on the book Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber, the movie dramatizes the life of a shy young graduate student, Sybil Dorsett (in real life, Shirley Ardell Mason), suffering from dissociative identity disorder as a result of the psychological trauma she suffered as a child.

Psycho & Films about mental illness

Psycho is a 1960 suspense/thriller directed by auteur Alfred Hitchcock, from the screenplay by Joseph Stefano about a psychotic killer. It is based on the novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. It starred Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh as one of his victims.

The film's popularity has made it a common reference in popular culture.

Psycho has become one of the most recognizable films in cinema history, and is arguably Hitchcock's most well-known film. The iconic shower scene is frequently spoofed, given homage to and referenced in popular culture, complete with the violin screeching sound effects.

Films about mental illness

• Spellbound (1945)
• Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
• The Snake Pit (1948)
• Whirlpool (1949)
• The Three Faces of Eve (1957)
• Psycho (1960)
• David and Lisa (1962)
• Repulsion (1965)
• Play Misty for Me (1971)
• One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
• The Story of Adele H. (1975)
• Sybil (1976)
• Ordinary People (1980)
• Fatal Attraction (1987)
• Dead Ringers (1988)
• Camille Claudel (1988)
• Rain Man (1988)
• Awakenings (1990)
• Misery (1990)
• Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• Benny & Joon (1993)
• The Madness of King George (1993)
• This Boy's Life (1993)
• Shine (1996)
• As Good as It Gets (1997)
• Patch Adams (1998)
• Girl, Interrupted (1999)
• Fight Club (1999)
• Memento (2000)
• A Beautiful Mind (2001)
• I Am Sam (2001)
• Donnie Darko (2002)
• The Hours (2002)
• Spider (2002)
• "À la folie... pas du tout" (2002)
• Identity (2003)
• The Aviator (2004)
• Proof (2005)
• Mad Detective (2007)
• The Dark Knight (2008)

Hitchcockian Stuff

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was a British filmmaker and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in his native United Kingdom in both silent films and talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood. In 1956 he became an American citizen while retaining his British citizenship.

Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades. He remains one of the best-known and most popular filmmakers of all time.

Hitchcock cameo appearances

How to turn your boring movie into a Hitchcock thriller...

www.hitchcockfans.com

Alfred Hitchcock Geek

Hitchcock 14 Disc Box Set - Vertigo/ The Birds/ Rear Window/ Marnie/ Frenzy/ Topaz/ The Trouble With Harry/ Torn Curtain/ Psycho/ Family Plot/ Saboteur/ Shadow Of A Doubt/ Man Who Knew Too Much/ Rope [DVD]

Radio adaptation of Gaslight

Gaslight is a 1940 film based on Patrick Hamilton's play Gas Light (1938). It was released in the United States under the title Angel Street so that audiences would not confuse it with MGM's 1944 version, though both had essentially the same plot. The 1944 cinema Gaslight was released in England under the title The Murder in Thornton Square.

This 1944 version of the story was directed by George Cukor and starred Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotten, and eighteen-year-old Angela Lansbury in her screen debut. This remake had a larger scale and budget and lends a different feel to the material.

Gas Light the play was an immense hit on its release, and it remains one of the longest-running non-musicals in Broadway history. It remains a perennial favourite with both repertory and amateur theatre companies.

From the film's title, "gaslighting" acquired the meaning of ruthlessly manipulating an individual, for nefarious reasons, into believing something other than the truth.

• Radio adaptation of Gaslight April 29, 1946 on Lux Radio Theatre; 44 minutes, with Ingrid Bergman and Robert Montgomery (MP3)