This was the last film directed by Sidney Gilliat. It is a shame it was such a misfire. The film is an adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel. This is important, because as I watched this I kept on thinking when would the mystery start?Michael Rogers (Hywel Bennett) is a working class chauffeur who ends up falling for a rich American girl, Ellie Thomsen (Hayley Mills) dubbed the sixth richest woman in the world. Micheal always had an eye for a mansion in the countryside, his dream comes true once he marries Ellie, She funds the building of the mansion from a Swedish architect. However the land is supposedly cursed by the gypsies and their are strange visitations.Life should be blissful for Michael, but Ellie's family disapprove of the marriage. They think Michael is a social climber who only married Ellie for her money. The family's charming lawyer 'Uncle Andrew' (George Sanders) offers to buy off Michael. When Ellie's friend Greta (Britt Ekland) arrives to stay, it causes friction as Greta and Michael dislike each other.Wedded bliss does not last long for Michael as someone dies but even then there is no mystery because it is just a tragic incident.The film is dreadful. It goes on at a leisurely pace with endless scenes of the countryside. The acting is flat even from Bennett. Only Sanders shows some spirit in what was one of his final roles.The biggest problem is whether the film is supposed to be a murder mystery or a supernatural mystery? The reveal only comes in the last 15 minutes. The casting of Britt Ekland who was a sex symbol in the 1970s might give the viewer of clue as to where the film is heading.

This is a special case in Agatha Christie's canon .She reportedly wrote it in six weeks and ,coming back to "Roger Acroyd" style ,told her story in the first person by chauffeur Mike ;this is one of her most depressing books ,and the last line is unforgettable,echoing Blake's poem which is mentioned as a foreword.A character ,Ellie's friend Claudia,is ruled out.The detective plot is not unlike that of "death on the Nile",without the exoticism,but with more emotion.The writer also found inspiration in some of her old own short stories "the dream house" (1926) and mainly "the case of the caretaker" (1942 )in which the curse of an old shrew (the character of the movie resembles Christie's depiction) is included.Gilliat worked with Hitchcock as a screenwriter and it shows,not only because Herrmann wrote the score;the pictures of the seaside and the magnificent Gypsy's Acres landscape recall some early scenes in "Vertigo" .So does Mickael's museum visit.There are good ideas in the directing :the "four seasons " dream house ,very modern ,in which Ellie sings her baroque aria ;the death of the architect in the hospital;the characters on the painting,coming to life for the final trial ;it seems that -Hitchcock's influence again- the director wanted an ending à la "psycho" .The stars of "the family way" are here again:Mills and Bennett ; the cast also includes Lois Maxwell (everybody knows as Moneypenny) and George Sanders in his last part.Remade as a MTV work in which Miss Marple -who solved "the case of the caretaker" I mention above -appears .Christie reportedly did not like the hot sex scene.

There are not enough bad adjectives to describe how horrible this film is. Regardless of how faithful it is to Ms. Christie's book, the film is terrible. The acting stinks. The scenery is so fake in many scenes that the only enjoyable part of the movie is laughing at how bad the backgrounds are. There is no emotional bond developed to any of the characters. Except for basic instincts of humanity, I couldn't have cared less if all of the characters died. Finally, there is no twist at the end as other reviewers have indicted that there is. If anyone did not see the ending coming, they were too distressed by the horrible acting to pay attention to the story. There is a reason the movie was not released in America - it's abysmal! I wish that I could charge the producers for the lost hour and one-half of my life. I would rate it as a negative infinity if I could.

I had heard of this film but had not taken the time to watch it for many years. After all it does have one of the great George Sander's final performances(albeit brief and rather tame)to recommend it. I finally sat down and was actually pleasantly surprised and not surprised it is not better known too. A newly married couple move into their newly constructed home called Gypsy something built by a great Greek architect who is dying(unconvincingly played by a Swede I might add). The young man, played rather nicely by young(then) Brit Hywel Bennett, is a poor, job to job fellow who enjoys beautiful things. He meets a young, attractive American, also played nicely by Haley Mills, who turns out to be one of the richest women in the world. The two meet, fall in love, move in to their dream house, and then the girl dies. Why? What happens to her? Is it her family that is concerned of their inheritance? Is it the young man? It is the strange family friend - played with her usual aplomb and sexiness by Britt Ekland? Only sitting through the movie will make me divulge(not really even that I suppose). Endless Night is a bit plodding at times. But - it is strangely watchable even though so little happens AND the ending - for me - could be seen a mile away. There is Bernard Herrmann's haunting score. There is Sidney Gilliat's workmanlike though not astonishing direction. But the acting by a cast of British stalwarts helped me stay focused despite the somewhat muddled script, the unlikely transitions, and the plot holes. The leads are all pretty good, but then you get folks like Madge Ryan(Who's Killing the Great Chefs of Europe), Lois Maxwell - very good here(James Bond's Moneypenny), Peter Bowles(To the Manor Born), and people like Ann Way and Patience Collier who you know you know but don't know what they were in at the moment. Then there is Mr. Sanders. This is generally seen as his second to last film(his last being the bizarre horror film about a frog demon and death-wielding motorcyclists)before killing himself from what he referred to as "boredom." He still looks suave and sounds great despite looking pretty old here. He has really two good scenes and makes the most of what he is given to do. Endless Night is an entertaining little thriller with some selling points despite some obvious weaknesses.