Night without Sleep **½ (1952, Gary Merrill, Linda Darnell, Hildegarde Neff) – Classic Movie Review 12,384

Gary Merrill stars in the 1952 film noir mystery thriller Night without Sleep as a crazed composer who has blackouts and fears he has killed one of the three women in his life during a drunken stupor the night before.

Director Roy Ward Baker’s 1952 20th Century-Fox film noir mystery thriller film Night without Sleep is based on a story by Elick Moll, and stars Gary Merrill, Linda Darnell and Hildegarde Neff.

Gary Merrill stars as a crazed composer who experiences blackouts and fears that he has killed one of the three women in his life during a drunken stupor the night before. They are his actress friend Julie (Linda Darnell), his mistress Lisa (Hildegarde Neff), and his wife Emily (June Vincent).

Night without Sleep is a competent if contrived and artificial psychodrama sifting via extended flashbacks through a drunkard’s mind. Unfortunately, the subject matter is treated with a touch too much of the melodramatics to convince fully, though the acting is capable and the sting in the story’s tale is effective.

Night Without Sleep was a working title for a different 1952 20th Century-Fox film, Don’t Bother to Knock, another film noir mystery film directed by Roy Ward Baker, that time starring Richard Widmark, Marilyn Monroe and Anne Bancroft.

The cast are Gary Merrill as Richard Morton, Linda Darnell as Julie Bannon, Hildegarde Neff as Lisa Muller, June Vincent as Emily Morton, Hugh Beaumont as John Harkness, Joyce MacKenzie as Laura Harkness, Donald Randolph as Dr Clarke, Mae Marsh, Louise Lorimer, William Forrest, Steven Geray, Bill Walker, Ben Carter, and Mauri Lynn.

Night without Sleep is directed by Roy Ward Baker, runs 77 minutes, is made and released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Frank Partos and Elick Moll, is shot in black and white by Lucien Ballard, is produced by Robert Bassler, and is scored  by Lionel Newman and Cyril J Mockridge.

It was released on 26 September 1952 in New York City.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,384

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