Nightmare **** (1956, Edward G Robinson, Kevin McCarthy, Connie Russell, Virginia Christine) – Classic Movie Review 8394

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, and, helped by his cop brother-in-law 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.

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 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.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8394

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