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Night Comes Too Soon
The Ghost of Rashmon Hall
UK 1948
produced by Harold Baim for Federated Film Corporation
directed by Denis Kavanagh
starring Valentine Dyall, Anne Howard, Alec Faversham, Howard Douglas, Beatrice Marsden, Arthur Brander, Anthony Baird, Frank Dunlop, David Keir, Monti DeLyle, Nina Erber, John Desmond
screenplay by Pat Dixon, based on the story The Haunters and the Haunted by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, special effects by Ray Densham
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Due to a presently horrible housing market, young couple John (Alex
Faversham) and Phyllis (Anne Howard), desperate for a place of their own,
only too happily purchase pretty dilapitated Rammelsham Hall - which, once
fixed up, proves to be a rather pretty place. But then John and Phyllis
begin to see ghosts, and John does some research and finds out that 200
years ago, Rinaldo Sabata (Monte DeLyle), who built the mansion, killed
his wife Marianna (Nina Erber) after catching her with a sailor (John
Desmond), and since then the three of them are doomed to repeat the tragic
events back then night after night after night. John asks for the
expertise of Dr. Clinton (Valentine Dyall), who spends one night at
Rammelsham Hall with him. And at the next morning after some spooky
events, they find a cursed saucer that apparently binds the spirits to the
house - and after accidently breaking it, the haunts are gone. Months
later, John and Phyllis have invited a few guests to their house, and
together with Dr. Clinton they relay their ghost story ... to be met with
utter doubts - that is until Dr. Clinton disappears into thin air ... Quite
obviously made on a budget to fill the lower bill of a double feature,
this is actually a rather clumsy film: For one it's not really
well-written, with most of the dialogue being very on-your-nose, and
little in terms of narrative arc - a mere straight line is much more
likely. Plus there's little substance to the characters, and a bland
direction that gives them little to do doesn't help here. And yeah, the
directorial effort often seems to borrow from silent cinema, which by 1948
appears to be awfully out of time. That said, there's still quite some
nostalgic value to the film, but not nearly enough to save it from plain
dullness.
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