Agatha Christie's Endless Night (1971)

Studio: Starz/sphe Release Date: 04/08/2008 Product Description

A faithful interpretation of a sinister and powerful story

This 1970's movie is based on Agatha Christie's powerful and chilling novel of the same name--and apart from a few minor details, very little has been changed, which is pleasing as this is one of the Queen of Crime's most perfect stories and to monkey about with it would have been both unforgivable and unnecessary. The story is told in the engaging and direct voice of Mike, a young man who loves beauty but is too poor to realise his dreams--until the daty he meets beautiful, elfin Ellie who turns out to be an American heiress. The pair fall in love, marry and go to live on their lovely property, Gipsy's Acre, which Mike loves almost as much as he loves Ellie. For a time, it seems like Paradise--but the snake is already there, and soon, things begin to unravel. When death strikes suddenly, nothing will ever be the same again..
Born to sweet delight or endless night: that is at the heart of this haunting, frightening and extraordinary story, and the film faithfully recreates that atmosphere of foreboding and doom, as well as the sense of the fragility of beauty and happiness. Though at times it's a trifle hammily acted(i'd have given this film 4 and a half stars if I could--the half taken away for some rather leaden acting at times) the story is so powerful it overcomes that, and the result is a film that's not only watchable but quite haunting as well. May 9, 2008

Christie Meets Hitchcock

This was a pleasant surprise. I've always liked Agatha Christie's unusual 1968 novel, but I'd never seen this 1972 British film version. Many critics (and fans) have given the movie high marks over the years, so I bought the DVD. Now I'm a fan, too.

ENDLESS NIGHT isn't your typical Christie "whodunnit," but a dark, creepy psychological suspense story. Writer/director Sidney Gilliat, who worked with Hitchcock on THE LADY VANISHES and also made the wonderful GREEN FOR DANGER, was obviously influenced by the Master in his approach to it. The result is like a dream collaboration between Christie and Hitchcock, the two giants of suspense. We have the sinister house in the sinister small town, the Hitchcock blonde (a surprisingly good Hayley Mills, of all people), the flashbacks to childhood trauma, and the shocking twist ending. On top of that, we have one of the final musical scores from Hitchcock's favorite composer, Bernard Herrmann.

Hitchcock students, pay close attention to those flashbacks at the icy lake (SPELLBOUND), the scenes in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (VERTIGO), and that wooden sign with the big eye painted on it that reads "Thou, God, see'st me." And check out the final scenes (PSYCHO).

No, ENDLESS NIGHT isn't as wonderful as any of those films, but it's one of the better "homages" to Hitchcock I've ever seen, and one of the better Christie adaptations, too. Try it. April 4, 2008

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