Nightmare **** (1956, Edward G Robinson, Kevin McCarthy, Connie Russell, Virginia Christine) – Classic Movie Review 8,394

The 1956 American crime film noir Nightmare stars Kevin McCarthy as a New Orleans big-band clarinettist who has a nightmare in which he sees himself killing a man in a mirrored room.

Kevin McCarthy stars in producers William H Pine and William C Thomas’s 1956 little black and white film noir gem Nightmare as Stan Grayson, a jazz musician in New Orleans who wakes from a dream in which he killed someone in a mirrored room.

He wakes to find blood on himself, bruises on his neck and a key from the dream in his hand, and later, helped by his cop brother-in-law, police detective Rene Bressard (Edward G Robinson), discovers evidence to suggest that this was not simply a dream.

Writer-director Maxwell Shane brings all the imaginative touches needed to this chilling little story from the novel by Cornell Woolrich (writing as William Irish), with plenty of tension, an eerie mood, startling visuals and a steady, gripping pace.

McCarthy, best known for his lead role in the 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers, is a revelation playing the musician opposite the ever-watchable Robinson, cool and collected as McCarthy’s cop brother-in-law. Joseph F Biroc provides excellent moody photography and Herschel Burke Gilbert contributes a swinging jazz score.

Also in the cast are Virginia Christine as Mrs Sue Bressard, Connie Russell as Stan’s girl Gina, Rhys Williams, Gage Clarke, Barry Atwater, Marian Carr, Billy May and his Orchestra (as themselves), Meade Lux Lewis, Ralph Brooks, Jack Chefe, Sol Gorss, John Mitchum and Cosmo Sardo.

Billy May and His Orchestra perform as themselves and provide the theme song ‘Nightmare in New Orleans’.

Nightmare is a remake of Shane’s earlier Fear in the Night (1947).

Nightmare is directed by Maxwell Shane, runs 89 minutes, is made by Pine-Thomas-Shane Productions, is released by United Artists, is written by Maxwell Shane, based on the story by Cornell Woolrich (writing as William Irish), is shot in black and white by Joseph F Biroc, is produced by William H Pine, William C Thomas and Maxwell Shane, is scored by Herschel Burke Gilbert, and is designed by Frank Paul Sylos.

Filming began on 31 October 1955.

Release date: 11 May 1956.

The cast

The cast are Edward G Robinson as Rene Bressard, Kevin McCarthy as Stan Grayson, Connie Russell as Stan’s girl Gina, Virginia Christine as Mrs Sue Bressard, Rhys Williams as Deputy Torrence, Gage Clarke as Harry Britten, Marian Carr as Madge Novick, Barry Atwater as Captain Warner Meade Lux Lewis as Meade, and Billy May and His Orchestra as Themselves, Meade Lux Lewis, Ralph Brooks, Jack Chefe, Sol Gorss, John Mitchum and Cosmo Sardo.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8.394

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