Night Has a Thousand Eyes

William Irish aka George Hopley aka Cornell Woolrich (the latter appearing in the cast and credits,his real name) loved the subject so much that not only he wrote a short story but he also wrote a whole novel ,with the same characters .People complained that John Farrow sacrificed psychology to the plot.But it was not Woolrich's forte.His characters elude him,they are puppets ,not in his hands ,but in the hands of fate .This is his most revealing book:he did believe in the power of the stars (one of his short stories,one of his most desperate was called "no moon ,no stars"),he did believe that man's destiny is written before he lives and that he can't change it;the users who know about his miserable life remember that he spent his whole existence in a hotel room;he was gay but the only love he got was from his mother;he ended his life a disabled man ,diabetes leading to gangrene . John Farrow modified the book ,but he remained faithful to Woolrich's spirit;in the novel,it's the father of the girl who has got to die in a lion's jaws .Read it,even if you watched the movie,cause Woolrich's sense of tragedy has no equal in the Roman Noir.Only the ending is a bit embarrassing ,being somewhat contrived and adding a wrong track which weakened the intense emotion :too bad they did not keep the final lines between the girl and her friend. The opening scene on the railroad track can rival with the best films Noirs of the forties/early fifties,like those of Robert Siodmak (who took Woolrich's "phantom lady" to the screen) and Mitchell Leisen (whose "no man of her own" is a thousand times better than the pitiful FRench attempt called "J'Ai Epousé Une Ombre" ).Gail Russel,a relatively obscure actress has wonderful eyes which the director films in the scene in the car as bright as two stars in the night. The-man-who-can-predict-future was a secondary character in the book ,but Edward G.Robinson made it a winner;he added a guilt feeling ,which overwhelmed him and his performance was extraordinary all along the way;this part was tailor -made for him:remember Lang's "woman in the window" ,Duvivier' s "flesh and fantasy" or Siodmak's "the strange affair of Uncle Harry",all tormented characters who have perhaps done nothing and who are feeling guilt. A lot of bizarre details (the cushion,the gun which doesn't shoot,the flower under the shoe,the little boy on the street ,the strange music hall -a scene not unlike the contemporary adventure of Tintin:"Les Sept Boules DE Cristal") create a heavy atmosphere devoid of any providence.

I can't think of a film from any era that has a more captivatingly mysterious mood than this film. Ever since I saw it on TV in the early 60's, I've never forgotten it. John Triton (Edward G Robinson) is a clairvoyant with a phony act who begins to realize that he can predict the future for real. However, he feels this gift is more of a curse because, although he knows what will happen, he is never able to reverse the outcome. A troubled man, he withdraws into anonymity for 20 years. He returns when he predicts the death of an old friend, and then that of the man's daughter, Jean Courtland (Gail Russell). Eventually he tries to alter the course of the prediction, which also portends his own death. The seductive style of this film, told for much of its length in flashback, is due to inspired choices in script, direction, photography and music, and of course to Cornell Woolwich's original novel, although most of his plot and characters were jettisoned. What the film did retain was the novel's all-pervading mood. Like other films based on Woolwich's stories such as "Rear Window" and "Original Sin", not much beyond the original idea was ever retained. Most importantly, "Night Has a Thousand Eyes" has actors who draw you into the story and hold you there. As the story unfolds you feel that Edward G Robinson's character has gained painful wisdom - he is infinitely patient with all his doubters. Robinson is the focal point of the story and his mellifluous narration sweeps us along. The other person who gives this film depth is the beautiful and ethereal Gail Russell as Jean Courtland. Her performance has added poignancy when you know of the star's real fate - she died at 36 from self-doubt as much as from anything else. She always seemed to project a sense of sadness in her films. What a presence she had; she was always good, but especially so here. Look how much mood is generated with all the references to the stars above; John Triton predicts that Jean " will die at night, under the stars." Jean becomes haunted by the thought and feels the stars are, "Like a thousand eyes. Watching!" Although there are only a couple of shots of star-studded skies in the film, much of the story is set at night and we feel the presence of the stars all the time. Adding to the sense of something beyond the tangible is Victor Young's velvety score. The film has a measured pace, particularly Gail Russell and Edward G Robinson's delivery. Expatriate Australian director, John Farrow (Mia's dad), directed the film and much of its style must be down to him. The film was shot mainly on studio sets except for a very effective sequence in San Francisco. Odd that this film has been so hard to track down, it is simply one of the best of its kind, and is impossible to forget.

Triton (Edward G Robinson) has the gift of 2nd sight. He withdraws from life as his ability to foresee the future can be disturbing, especially when he sees people die. This happens on a few occasions but when he meets with his ex-partner's daughter Jean (Gail Russell), we have a countdown to her imminent death before the week is over. The place she will die is "under the stars". This film has a good story and a good cast. Elliott (John Lund) is pretty annoying as a doubter but by the end of the film he has changed his tune. The film starts well with a suicide attempt and we are then taken back in time through flashback sequences to understand the characters before returning to the present as we wait for the death of Jean. There are some omens we are told to look out for - a trampled flower, a gust of wind, a broken vase, lion's feet, some spoken words - and sure enough, they all come true until we arrive at the moment of death - 11pm. William Demarest has some funny lines as "Lt Shawn", the policeman in charge of stopping the tragedy from happening and the story is cleverly tied up. I wasn't too convinced by Gail Russell's ability to negotiate business deals - she seems far too fragile a character to be involved in the hard-edged corporate world. But so what. It's a good film.

This picture clearly is a classic noir picture. It is deadly serious, almost depressing. The Edward G. Robinson character is well-defined. His sadness and guilt over his "gift" is quite convincing. He is a man torn by his ability to foresee tragic events. His face is often contorted and Robinson's craggy face further emphasizes his angst. His raspy voice further emphasizes his sadness. The role is a tour de force for Robinson (who often portrays this type of internally focused, incredibly gnarled individuals). The role reminds me a bit of his portrayal of Barton Keyes in Double Indemnity - the little man who agonizes over the death of Dietrichson. Unfortunately, there is no femme fatale. Gail Russell is saccharine sweet, although prettier than in some of her other noir roles.

Edward G. Robinson was not fond of this film. In his posthumous unfinished memoirs he said of Night Has A Thousand Eyes he said it was pure hokum. Robinson did this one as Burt Lancaster used to say 'for the poke'. I don't think it was all that bad, but definitely could have used room for improvement. Sweethearts John Lund and Gail Russell seek out Robinson who was an old friend of her parents. Back in the day all three were involved in a phony mind reading act when Robinson started showing psychic powers for real. A tip on a horse and another tip on a burgeoning oil field made Russell's father Jerome Cowan a rich man. Robinson who is scared of these new and unwanted abilities just leaves it all to go into obscurity leaving Cowan to marry Virginia Bruce who dies in childbirth bearing Russell as Robinson predicted. Now however Russell is feeling strangely threatened and seeks out Robinson. After this however the plot gets truly muddled. The first half of the film is the best and the second half bad, so much so you would think it was two different films spliced together. Some mediocre directing is compensated for by the performances of Robinson and Russell. For Gail it was more of the same as she did in The Uninvited. Fans of both of these players will probably like it more than Edward G. Robinson apparently did.

The movie's a riveting excursion into the occult. In fact, the production pulls off the difficult trick of making occult happenings seem almost plausible, something Hollywood rarely cares about doing. Robinson's turn is first-rate as a stage magician suddenly burdened with the power of pre-cognition. Watching Triton (Robinson) slowly succumb to the terrible reality of foreseeing the future amounts to a dramatic triumph. He has no control over these pre- visions and they're almost always of dark happenings, especially when involving the sweetly vulnerable Jean Courtland (Russell). The climax is a stunner as the clues to Jean's bleak future slowly come true, while there seems no alternative to fate having its evil way. This is one of the darkest of noirs, both literally and figuratively. Generally, the lighting is too shadowy to catch the ethereal Russell's pale blue eyes, a feature that would have added to the overall mood. It's also nicely ironic that the real occult would step into the life of a magician who only pretends to conjure other dimensions for the delight of paying audiences. It's like a punishment for presuming to toy with the surreal. I also like the way others remain militantly skeptical since that would be a natural reaction. In my book, the movie's clearly underrated by the professionals and I'm not sure why. If the production's got an overriding flaw, I can't find it, though I could have done with less of the theramin whose eerie sound is like gravy on soup. Nonetheless, for me, the overall result is one of the best to deal with a topic that's usually made hokey as heck by Hollywood, and that's besides having one of the most intriguing titles in movie annals.

"Night Has a Thousand Eyes" from 1948 is a real gem of a noir starring Edward G. Robinson, Gail Russell, John Lund, William Demarest, Jerome Cowan, Virginia Bruce, and Charles Bickford. Part of the story is told in flashback - in the first scene, Jean (Russell) tries to kill herself and is saved by her fiancee (John Lund). They meet Triton (Robinson) in a restaurant, and when talking with them, he gives them his background - which involved both of Jean's parents (Cowan and Bruce). Together, they had a mind-reading act. Triton begins to get disturbing visions, sometimes on-stage, even at one point telling an audience member to leave because her son is in danger. Turns out, he was. These visions disturb him terribly, and he leaves the act and his two partners behind. They marry and have Jean. Now he has come to believe that Jean is in danger of being murdered, and he is desperate to stop her. The police don't believe several of his predictions that came true - they think he is in collusion with someone - until one event convinces them that he may be onto something. Really terrific film with a short running time of 77 minutes. This film was made four years after "The Uninvited," and Gail Russell looks to have aged ten years, her alcoholism already becoming acute. She is still lovely. Robinson is wonderful as a confused man who doesn't understand why he has a "gift" if it's not doing any good. Written by Cornell Woolrich, who wrote "Rear Window." HIghly recommended. I love movies like this!

Most people are more familiar with Bobby Vee's pop hit of 1962 than the original film, although they both make rather irrelevant use of such a terrific title. Playing like a quickie rehash of Edmund Goulding's haunting gothic melodrama of the previous year, 'Nightmare Alley' - but with a more pronounced supernatural element - the film not very convincingly spans twenty years while John Farrow's restless camera and John Seitz's superb deep focus photography serve simply to heighten the sense of rather cramped theatricality as people stand around and talk. The action is rendered more garrulous still by the first half of the film being played out in flashback with Robinson narrating, before proceeding to an abrupt (but still talky) conclusion.

I saw this movie as a 16 year old, and have only seen it once since, but I found it to be a spooky and suspenseful tale. Edward G. Robinson does his usual superb job of acting, and I liked Gail Russell in it very much.

A jewel in the rough. A small little movie with a great Edward G. Robinson. The loneliness of Triton is played with a big intensity by him. Story, actors and shooting of the film is both, film noir and drama of loneliness and being lost, quite as it is Woolrich's credo in a lot of his novels and screen adaptations. This is one of its best. Eight points.