Monday 27 October 2008

NIGHT COMES TOO SOON/The Ghost of Rashmon Hall (1947)



The late Forties and early Fifties saw a proliferation of very low-budget supernatural movies, among them DEATH IS A NUMBER, CASTLE SINISTER and NIGHT COMES TO SOON. This latter title is better known as THE GHOST OF RASHMON (which, oddly, is not the name of the house in the film) and is based on the classic ghost tale The Haunted and the Haunters (which is also known as The House and the Brain). Produced by poverty row producer Harold Baim and starring sephulcre voiced Valentine Dyall, the film is crude in the extreme but charmingly effective in its own way. A young couple, desperate for a place to live, move into a deserted old manor only to discover the house is haunted. They call on a friend (Dyall) to help them investigate. Despite the poor acting and the very crudest of technical credits I happily admit to a slight tingling of the hairs (or what is left of them) on the top of my head. It remains little more than a curiousity but is not without interest. Rating **

3 comments:

said...

Hey, Baby Geea loved zweiback and when the director said, "Don't do that," she did it anywho and got the biggest laugh of the entire play.

Weaverman said...

Welcome tor. Don't quite get what you said but thanks for yor comment anyway.

Cerpts said...

You're absolutely right about the low budget crude quality of the film but I love it just the same. There's something about it that, when you're in the proper state of mind, can really get the hair standing on end (as you said). The very quietness of the film works to make the supernatural occurrences that much more powerful. The set up of the film as an actual ghostly tale spun by Valentine Dyall's character hits just the right note for me and that crumbly old house looks very creepy. Now I'm gonna have to go watch it, I think.