389 Night Has a Thousand Eyes

[MichaelB]

NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES
(John Farrow, 1948)
Release date: 24 July 2023
Limited Edition Blu-ray (UK premiere)

Pre-order here.

Edward G Robinson (The Whole Town’s Talking, Tight Spot) and John Lund (A Foreign Affair) lead the cast of this tense and disturbing thriller from director John Farrow (A Bullet Is Waiting).

When clairvoyant John (Robinson) tells wealthy heiress Jean (Gail Russell, The Uninvited) that she will die within a week, her lover, Elliot (John Lund), is sceptical, believing John to be a con artist who is only after money. But, as the foretold night arrives, Jean waits in fear for her life...

Based on a novel by Cornell Woolrich (Rear Window), Night Has a Thousand Eyes is a pioneering fusion of film noir and psychological horror.


INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

• High Definition remaster
• Original mono audio
• Audio commentary with authors and critics Glenn Kenny and Farran Smith Nehme (2023)
• Tony Rayns on ‘Night Has a Thousand Eyes’ (2023): the writer and film programmer discusses the career of director John Farrow and his distinctive noirs
• Screen Directors Playhouse: ‘Night Has a Thousand Eyes’ (1948): radio play adaptation introduced and directed by Farrow, and starring Edward G Robinson and William Demarest, reprising their film roles
• Suspense: ‘The Man Who Thought He Was Edward G. Robinson’ (1946): playful original radio play tapping into Robinson’s distinctive persona, starring the man himself
• Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Jill Blake, archival interviews with actors John Lund and Gail Russell, an archival profile of screenwriter Jonathan Latimer, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and full film credits
• UK premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK
• All extras subject to change

#PHILE389B
BBFC cert: PG
REGION B
EAN: 5060697923582

[ryannichols7]

Glenn Kenny, Farran Smith Nehme, and Tony Rayns all on one disc is basically a dream team of contributors.

[therewillbeblus]

Great movie, and yet another KL disc to unload for an Indicator.. I saw that Glenn Kenny watched and awarded this a mediocre rating on LB earlier this week, so I don’t expect his portion to be full-on praise considering how easily he hands out five stars for fluff that hits him right. Anyways, my thoughts from the 40s list:

Night Has a Thousand Eyes: Talk about powerlessness! The supernatural premise feels bred from an episode of The Outer Limits or The Twilight Zone but with the kick of being an indisputable noir, and a dark one at that. With an emphasis on the state of absolute impotence superpowers without the ‘powers’ leaves a man, despite its fantastical elements this story feels rooted in reality, representative of how even with abilities the postwar male is lost. Robinson, always excellent, has a unique role with many opportunities to demonstrate the various shades of desperation and resilience the noir character affords. Oh and as a bonus straight out of left field, the terrific William Demarest graces us with his presence as a police lieutenant who is kind in his curtness, as one would and could only expect from him. One of the better noir discoveries this year, with the benefit of more mystery in where the story is headed due to its mystical plot elements begetting some narrative freedom. While the entire film is about fatalism, the ending is the most poignant use of the theme in any noir I’ve seen, with extra points for a solid minute of silent meditation on this idea before the fade to black, leaving the audience in complete discomfort and eliciting a shade of powerlessness of their own.

[Maltic]

Glenn Kenny, Farran Smith Nehme, and Tony Rayns all on one disc is basically a dream team of contributors.

I've not been a fan of the Smith Nehme solo tracks I heard (Murder by Contract and The Hunchback of Notre Dame come to mind), but the one she did with Kenny on Man of the West was very good. Maybe the conversational format suits her better.

I know I listened to them on So Dark the Night (Arrow), but I can't remember how well I liked it (or not). I do actually keep an LB list where I've ranked/rated commentaries on occasion. It has about 200 titles, but So Dark isn't on there...

[brundlefly]

Great movie, and yet another KL disc to unload for an Indicator.. I saw that Glenn Kenny watched and awarded this a mediocre rating on LB earlier this week, so I don’t expect his portion to be full-on praise considering how easily he hands out five stars for fluff that hits him right. Anyways, my thoughts from the 40s list:

Night Has a Thousand Eyes: Talk about powerlessness! The supernatural premise feels bred from an episode of The Outer Limits or The Twilight Zone but with the kick of being an indisputable noir, and a dark one at that. With an emphasis on the state of absolute impotence superpowers without the ‘powers’ leaves a man, despite its fantastical elements this story feels rooted in reality, representative of how even with abilities the postwar male is lost. Robinson, always excellent, has a unique role with many opportunities to demonstrate the various shades of desperation and resilience the noir character affords. Oh and as a bonus straight out of left field, the terrific William Demarest graces us with his presence as a police lieutenant who is kind in his curtness, as one would and could only expect from him. One of the better noir discoveries this year, with the benefit of more mystery in where the story is headed due to its mystical plot elements begetting some narrative freedom. While the entire film is about fatalism, the ending is the most poignant use of the theme in any noir I’ve seen, with extra points for a solid minute of silent meditation on this idea before the fade to black, leaving the audience in complete discomfort and eliciting a shade of powerlessness of their own.

A commentary where two people argue over the film's merits is always a nice change of pace from those tongue-baths where praise is heaped on something structurally unsound. I don't know what Kenny's problems with this may be (and *** is at least not no stars), but for me it's a movie that suffocates in its second half. Fatalistic Robinson is of course great, but both the premise and the structure trap us in a stage-bound murder mystery play beset by inane complications and I feel I've seen enough ironically fulfilled prophecies (most probably made after this, maybe none better than "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose") to shrug at any ultimate result. You can argue that form=function, but there's literally no place to go, and throughout you can feel Farrow and Seitz overcompensating, desperate to move the camera. There's a breakneck dolly through a police station that screams, "Whee! We're not stuck in that mansion for a scene!" The first time Robinson goes to the mansion to warn the woman, there's a crane shot that follows him to the front door, picks him up again on the terrace, and then follows him to... nowhere, basically, as the jib hits its limit. Comically useless. Again, form=function, and being stuck in a well-worn, stifling situation could definitely be seen as an expression of being powerless in the face of fate. But luckily it's a fate through which you can fast-forward.

Before that, though, it's dandy. The backstory is keen (and IIRC the whole first half of the movie after the shock open is basically three people at a table, which we escape through flashbacks), the slow build-up of guilt is palpable, and it's always nice to see Angel's Flight/Bunker Hill. Maybe if he'd gone into a lengthy, thorough explanation of that piano con-- not as understandable or as visual as its counterpart in Nightmare Alley -- he'd have kept me entertained and tragedy at bay.

[therewillbeblus]

A commentary where two people argue over the film's merits is always a nice change of pace from those tongue-baths where praise is heaped on something structurally unsound. I don't know what Kenny's problems with this may be (and *** is at least not no stars)

I agree on the value of commentaries like that. For him, that feels like a mediocre rating, considering how he typically issues star ratings on that platform with a lot of generosity, but I look forward to hearing what he likes and doesn't like about it

[ChunkyLover]

I've not been a fan of the Smith Nehme solo tracks I heard (Murder by Contract and The Hunchback of Notre Dame come to mind), but the one she did with Kenny on Man of the West was very good. Maybe the conversational format suits her better.

Personally, I wasn't really a fan of their MoC commentaries they did during that time ("Man of the West", "Wild River", and "The Gang's All Here"). I also couldn't stand Kenny's constant "um"s.

[Maltic]

The Gang's All Here - true, I remember that one being perhaps a bit light on substance, although still worthwhile. As I recall, they were accompanied by an acquaintance/devotee/biographer of Alice Fay on the track. That can be a little grating imo, even when the person is a very capable critic, e.g. Alan Jones on the Argento releases. Downright insufferable in that genre are Paul Seydor and 3 others guys gushing over "Sam" on a number of the Peckinpah films.

[EddieLarkin]

I also couldn't get through Wild River, but Kenny and Nick Pinkerton on 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T were great.

[domino harvey]

Definitely a film ripe for rediscovery. My write up from the Noir List:

Night Has a Thousand Eyes (John Farrow 1948) Melancholy borderline-horror film concerning phony vaudeville psychic Edward G Robinson who miraculously develops the skills he'd long been faking, only to learn that seeing the future brings with it a morose responsibility for the ills it delivers. The second half of the film, with skeptical police detective William Damarest doing his best to stay doubtful as Robinson attempts to save the life of his ex-fiancee's daughter via a series of random signals that naturally begin to transpire, is predictable but also infused with a sad inevitable drive forward, ending with one of the more touchingly downbeat endings I've seen from this genre. Recommended.

[reaky]

It gets classified as a noir, but this story of a phony clairvoyant who finds his foresight to be real and encroaching is more in line with doomy, swoony 40s modern gothics like Pandora and the Flying Dutchman and Val Lewton’s films. It also anticipates Hilary Mantel’s Beyond Black.

John Farrow has a scattered filmography, but this and his other films in this vein, (The Big Clock, Alias Nick Beal and Where Danger Lives) have a magnificently gloomy quality that reminds me of Tourneur.

[MichaelB]

Final specs:

[MichaelB]

Night Has a Thousand Beavers.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

This sold out over the weekend but Indicator now have a pre-order page for the next edition.