Night Was Our Friend

1951 film

December 1951 (1951-12)

Running time

61 minutesCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglish

Night Was Our Friend is a 1951 British drama film directed by Michael Anderson and starring Elizabeth Sellars, Michael Gough and Ronald Howard. The title references a line from Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid.

Plot

A young woman is acquitted of the murder of her husband, who died in suspicious circumstances. The film then goes into flashback to portray the events leading up to his death. Sally Raynor's aviator husband Martin has been missing for two years and is believed dead, during which time she has fallen in love with a local doctor, John Harper, whom she plans to marry. When Martin unexpectedly returns from Brazil still alive, she decides to give up the doctor and go back to her life with Martin, although their marriage had not been a happy one. Over the next six months his erratic behaviour, brought on by his ordeal, makes Sally believe he is insane. A close friend of the family, Arthur 'Glan' Glanville, also realises this, as does Dr John Harper and the family's housekeeper. Martin's mother also sees his strange behaviour, but chooses to ignore it. On one of his wild nighttime walks, he attacks someone, a man who only survives by chance. Glan finds evidence of this and tells Sally, saying they must immediately get Martin treatment in a mental hospital, to prevent him being sent to jail. Sally asks Martin to agree to treatment, but the thought of losing his freedom, as happened in Brazil, terrifies him, and he begs her to help him by finding another way. Sally plans to kill him with an overdose of sleeping tablets to protect him from society's punishment, but can't go through with it. Instead, he commits suicide, but Sally is charged with his murder. Glan believes she is innocent, but Martin's mother, despite having seen her son attacking Sally, believes she is guilty. Although innocent of his death, Sally is haunted by guilt and, even after a jury clears her of murder, she is hesitant to marry the doctor she loves.

Cast

Elizabeth Sellars as Sally Raynor
Michael Gough as Martin Raynor
Ronald Howard as Dr John Harper
Marie Ney as Emily Raynor
Edward Lexy as Arthur Glanville
Nora Gordon as Kate
John Salew as Mr Lloyd
Cyril Smith as Rogers the Reporter
Cecil Bevan as Clerk of the Court
Felix Felton as Foreman of the Jury
Linda Gray as Spinster
Edie Martin as Old Lady Jury Member
Roger Maxwell as Colonel
Michael Pertwee as Young Man

Production

The film was made by ACT Films as a B Movie intended to be released on the lower-half of a double bill. Based on a play by Michael Pertwee the film was made at the Viking Studios in Kensington.^[1] The film's sets were designed by art director Duncan Sutherland. It was considered above average for a B film, and was shown on the Odeon circuit of cinemas and also given a release in the United States. Anderson went on to be one of the leading British directors of the decade with films such as Around the World in Eighty Days.