Screen legend James Mason stars in the classic British chiller The Night Has Eyes (1942) debuting on Blu-ray from ClassicFlix.
When the Carne House Secondary School for Girls closes for the holidays, schoolteacher Marian (Joyce Howard) and her colleague Doris (Tucker McGuire) decide to vacation on the Yorkshire moors—the same area where Marian’s friend Evelyn mysteriously vanished a year earlier.
While taking a shortcut on foot to their destination, a violent storm kicks up and the two women are forced to seek shelter in the home of composer-pianist Stephen Deremid (Mason), a recluse suffering from the shell shock he experienced fighting in the Spanish Civil War. Marian soon develops an attraction towards Stephen…but she also starts to suspect that he might have had something to do with Evelyn’s disappearance.
Adapted from the 1939 novel by Alan Kennington, The Night Has Eyes (A.K.A. Terror House and Moonlight Madness) showcases one of the earliest screen performances from James Mason (Odd Man Out, Bigger Than Life) who shines in his brooding portrayal as the enigmatic murder suspect, and is matched by British femme fatale Joyce Howard’s performance as the heroine determined to solve the mystery of her missing friend.
Skillfully written and directed by Leslie Arliss, Eyes is a spookily atmospheric thriller that benefits greatly from the haunting cinematography by Gunther Krampf (The Hands of Orlac, Pandora’s Box), who painstakingly worked for hours getting the right density on the artificial fog effects. Character greats Wilfrid Lawson and Mary Clare are particular standouts in a superb supporting cast.
STARRING: James Mason, Wilfrid Lawson, Mary Clare, Joyce Howard, Tucker McGuire, John Fernald, Dorothy Black