''Face in the Night'' is a 1957 British
crime film
Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...
directed by
Lance Comfort
Lance Comfort (11 August 1908 – 25 August 1966) was an English film director. In a career spanning over 25 years, he became one of the most prolific film directors in Britain, though he never gained critical attention and remained on the ...
and starring
Griffith Jones,
Lisa Gastoni
Lisa Gastoni (born 28 July 1935) is an Italian film actress. Gastoni was named "Best Italian Actress of the Year, 1966" as she received both the Nastro D'Argento Award and the Golden Globe Award from Italy's Foreign Press Association.}
Biograp ...
and
Vincent Ball
Vincent Martin Ball OAM (born 4 December 1923) is an Australian retired character actor of radio, stage and screen, active in the industry for nearly 55 years (with a brief return) firstly in Britain and then his native Australia. He has also ...
. It was based on the novel ''Suspense'' by prolific crime writer Bruce Graeme. The film was released in the U.S. as ''Menace in the Night''.
Plot
A young woman witnesses a mailbag robbery that ends with a dead
postman
A mail carrier, mailman, mailwoman, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, or letter carrier (in American English), sometimes colloquially known as a postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), is an employee of a post ...
, but she is intimidated into not coming forward.
Cast
*
Griffith Jones ... Rapson
*
Lisa Gastoni
Lisa Gastoni (born 28 July 1935) is an Italian film actress. Gastoni was named "Best Italian Actress of the Year, 1966" as she received both the Nastro D'Argento Award and the Golden Globe Award from Italy's Foreign Press Association.}
Biograp ...
... Jean Francis
*
Vincent Ball
Vincent Martin Ball OAM (born 4 December 1923) is an Australian retired character actor of radio, stage and screen, active in the industry for nearly 55 years (with a brief return) firstly in Britain and then his native Australia. He has also ...
... Bob Meredith
*
Eddie Byrne
Eddie Byrne (31 January 1911 – 21 August 1981) was an Irish actor.
Career
His stage work included many appearances with Dublin's Abbey Theatre, and also work with the National Theatre in London.
Outside Ireland he is probably best known ...
... Art
*
Victor Maddern
Victor Jack Maddern (16 March 1928 – 22 June 1993) was an English actor. He was described by ''The Telegraph'' as having "one of the most distinctive and eloquent faces in post-war British cinema."
Life and career
Born in Seven Kings, ...
... Ted
*
Clifford Evans ... Inspector Ford
* Joan Miller ... Victor's Wife
*
Leonard Sachs
Leonard Meyer Sachs (26 September 1909 – 15 June 1990) was a South African-born British actor.
Life and career
Sachs was born in the town of Roodepoort, in the then Transvaal Colony, present day South Africa. He was Jewish. He emigrated to ...
... Victor
*
Leslie Dwyer
Leslie Gilbert Dwyer (28 August 1906 – 26 December 1986) was an English film and television actor.
Career
He was born in Catford, the son of the popular music hall comedian Johnny Dwyer, and acted from the age of ten and appeared in his firs ...
... Toby
*
Jenny Laird
Phyllis Edith Mary Blythe (13 February 1912 – 31 October 2001), known professionally as Jenny Laird, was a British stage, film and television actress.
Early life and education
Born in Manchester, Laird and her parents moved to the south, an ...
... Postman's Widow
* Angela White ... Betty Francis
*
Barbara Couper
Barbara Couper (1903–1992) was a British stage, film and television actress. She made her stage debut in 1925 and played leading roles at Stratford in the 1930s. Her screen work included several films and much television.
Selected filmography ...
... Mrs. Francis
*
Andre Van Gyseghem ... Bank Manager
*
Marie Burke
Marie Burke (born Marie Rosa Altfuldisch, later Holt, 18 October 189421 March 1988) was an English actress of stage, cinema and television. She appeared in over 40 films between 1917 and 1971, and appeared in TV series between 1953 and 1969.
B ...
... Auntie
Critical reception
Allmovie
AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne.
History
AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...
wrote, "this British crime quickie reads rather better than it plays"; while ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' wrote that the film is "hampered by some less-than-impressive camerawork"; but
Sky Movies
Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema ...
noted "a crisp thriller, economic in length but correspondingly fast in pace and actionful."
References
External links
*
1957 films
1957 crime drama films
1950s thriller films
British black-and-white films
British crime drama films
British thriller films
Films based on British novels
Films directed by Lance Comfort
Films scored by Richard Rodney Bennett
Films with screenplays by Norman Hudis
1950s English-language films
1950s British films
{{1950s-crime-film-stub