Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Prismark10 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.

dbdumonteil 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.

Mr_Ectoplasma "Endless Night" follows working-class freewheeling chauffeur Michael (Hywel Bennett) who falls in love with a billionaire heiress Ellie (Hayley Mills). The two marry, and build a large estate on property in the English countryside known as Gypsy's Acre, which is purported by locals to be cursed land. After Ellie's relative Greta (Britt Ekland) arrives to stay, a series of bizarre events unfold, including ominous encounters with an elderly gypsy woman who roams the property.Based on the Agatha Christie novel, director Sidney Gilliat takes the meat of Christie's novel and puts unique twinges on it that are reminiscent of Hitchcock (Bernard Herrmann's spooky score understates this). The film is admittedly slow, especially in exposition, and there are few quote-unquote thrills to be had, but I found this film strangely compelling in spite of its odd pacing.There is a consistent sense of unease that permeates nearly every scene, although it's difficult to put your finger on what is exactly the cause. The photography in the film is fantastic, capturing the rolling landscapes and the cloudy skies surrounding the manor; this is punctuated by subtle scares that come in the form of various figures lurking below on the hillsides or in the woods, almost like indistinct figures in a painting. The film is at times reminiscent of English Gothic in its aesthetics, even though the house itself is very much "retro '70s" in both style and furnishings. Solid performances from Hywel Bennett and Hayley Mills really shine here, with Mills being especially memorable as a good natured girl who happens to be a billionaire ("world's sixth richest!"). Britt Ekland is also great as the stalwart and fawning relative— her performance really comes full circle in the finale, which provides her the bulk of the role's dynamics, and she handles it fabulously. The conclusion to the film is fairly routine by contemporary standards, although I can honestly say that I didn't see the plot twists coming, so props to Christie and the filmmakers' handling of the material— I was definitely had by the film.Overall, "Endless Night" is an enjoyable and well-acted picture that seems to have been forgotten in time. It is too slow to qualify as a full-blooded thriller, but there are tinges of a British psychothriller here with some genuinely bizarre and eerie moments that stand out among effective cinematography and a disquieting score. In spite of the film's lackluster pacing, it is unexpectedly transfixing, and manages to hold one's attention until the head twisting finale. 7/10.

midge56 SPOILERS!!! I recommend watching this movie BEFORE reading spoilers or the book, due to unexpected twists & surprise events.The story and plot were quite exceptional which caught me completely by surprise, twice. There is a haunting quality to this story. An unusual role for Hayley Mills which draws you in, despite the negatives.The Director did not do justice to this story. Hayley Mills, playing the role of a young, wealthy "American" girl in Britain (with her British accent) was absurd. A simple change of lines in the script would have fixed the problem by altering nationality and her point of origin without negatively impacting the film.I adore Hayley Mills so it was quite an unexpected shock when she suddenly met with her demise in the film. Hayley was indeed anorexic but this was the "Twiggy" era where "thin was in." However, wardrobe shouldn't have selected open-chest dresses where her ribs were so prominent.The "Dream house" was oddly inappropriate for the setting and the feel of the film. It was like one of those "ultra modern" Frank Lloyd Wright designs. This big, white, modern art house was a blotch against the backdrop of the quaint, beautiful English country setting. Even with the fun and exorbitant features of automated walls, floors, hidden pools… the house (for this setting) was gaudy and tastelessly offensive to most of the viewers.The continuity was hard to follow. It jumps around between flashback narration, different time-lines, visual hallucinations, audio hallucinations, dream states, things that made no sense and various events and scenes where you have trouble following which part goes with what scenario. The ending of the movie seemed to be cut off in mid sentence and left unfinished. You definitely have to watch it more than once to track the nuances of this storyline.Hywell (Michael) was quite complex in this role. The behavior of his character seemed to run hot and cold for no apparent reason. Thus, his character was quite puzzling until the very end of the movie when the sinister secrets of his past deeds were revealed. It was certainly a shock to learn what his character had done to his new wife and his dark affiliation with their houseguest.The nude scenes with Ekland were completely unnecessary. They cheapened an otherwise classy suspense story. It seemed rude and disrespectful in a Hayley Mills movie. I don't blame Agatha for her reaction. It was a trashy thing for the director to do and didn't fit with the film any more than the gaudy house. Agatha should have retained more control over the movie adaptation.The film editor did a terrible cutting job as the scenes jumped suddenly from one event to the other without transition. The worst case was when the glass door was shattered and the scene instantly cut from the shattering glass to a neighbor on the edge of the porch attacking the new owner. As it was cut, the neighbor was directly outside when the glass was shattered so he would have seen or heard what smashed the glass. His reactions made no sense. There needed to be some kind of transition of time, events and occurrence to separate the flow of the scenes.Santonix, the dying architect character had terrible dialogue written for his lines, which were confusing to say the least. Most of his lines made no sense, even after watching the film more than once. Lines such as: "You should have gone the other way" "You let her take possession" "Have you any idea where you are going" and "I can't reach you" were in drastic need of improvement. They didn't make sense and were crammed together without context or flow. It also implies his character knew about the fiendish murder plot and did nothing to stop it... other than his few odd lines of dialogue. The actor genuinely appeared sickly in real life. I was surprised to find he is 83 years old.Dubbing the singing voice for Hayley was a terrible choice. The singers voice was too mature for the very young Hayley and did not come close to matching her distinctive voice. They could have had the singing in the background of the film without depicting Hayley as the singer. It is very disturbing hearing this heavy voice coming out of Hayley.It was sad to learn George Sanders killed himself 5 months before this movie was released. He was quite excellent in his role, as usual. It is a shame he didn't appreciate the talent and popularity he had. It was reported that the costly effects of a minor stroke had affected his speech, stamina and certain abilities like playing the piano. Some of the effects were said to have been noticeable in his final film, Psychomania. The stroke effects, depression, drinking and loss of properties were mentioned as reasons for his final decision.I was also surprised to learn this movie had not been released in the US. It explains why I had never heard about this Hayley Mills movie. Apparently, it received a poor response in the UK. I'm not surprised. Hayley was a Disney star and a household name. I doubt the audience was ready to see her character murdered in a dark role like this and likely would not have been received well. Most problems were due to the director, dialogue and editing... Certainly no fault of the actors or Agatha's story which were all excellent.It is still a great story with a marvelous cast and well worth watching... more than once. It is a surprising storyline with unexpected twists and turns.