trpdean Doris Day is the reason to watch this - it's as if she truly became her character - and she IS terrified by the creepy threats made from disembodied strange voices when outside, from the telephone when inside ... and is being driven mad. The plot of this mystery is ... ok ... like the plot of most TV mysteries (say an average TV movie) but the difference is that Day IS this woman - and it's very unsettling - and worth seeing. Day in fact swore never again to take on a suspense movie - it almost gave her a nervous breakdown!Other benefits from this movie - it's lavish - you're looking at a quite upper middle class English couple in late 1950s, early 1960s London - the clothes, the settings, the furniture and accents - are all appealing. Rex Harrison, Myrna Loy, Herbert Marshall, John Gavin, Roddy McDowall comprise a big and fine cast. Day's character is NOT at home - but in London, a foreign land, she's relatively newly married to Rex Harrison, she's not feeling the utter security she might in other circumstances - and then awful things threaten. It's easy to like the movie - if you start to watch it, you'll finish it. I enjoy Rex Harrison, Myrna Loy, Herbert Marshall and John Gavin in all they've done done You'll enjoy it - but don't expect something GREAT.

leethomas-11621 Saw this when it was first released, so movie has some nostalgic value for me. Its scenes of fogs, broken lifts, shadows on billowy curtains in the dark and the terrifying ending all stayed with me. It remains an incredibly well-photographed film and memorable for the presence of Doris Day too.

Spikeopath Midnight Lace is directed by David Miller and adapted to screenplay by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts from the play Matilda Shouted Fire by Janet Green. It stars Doris Day, Rex Harrison, John Gavin, Myrna Loy, Roddy McDowall and Herbert Marshall. Music is by Frank Skinner and cinematography by Russell Metty.Kit Preston (Day) is being stalked, but she can't get anyone to believe her. Is she going mad?The "woman in peril" thriller has always proved popular since the advent of film, Midnight Lace may not have the class or menace of something like Gaslight, but it's a splendid mystery thriller yarn. Pic sets its goals out from the start, as the delightful Miss Day is pursued through the pea souper fog by person unseen. Then the phone calls start, a weird voice at the end of the line issuing less than complimentary advice, but nobody is sure if she is really suffering these harassments.So, enter a whole ream of suspects from weasels and schemers to the unbalanced and the too suave to be true, red-herrings now rule the roost and it's great fun. As things progress Kit's hysteria goes up a notch at a time until it's all out psychological bedlam. The big reveal is not exactly a surprise, but the enjoyment was in getting there. Unfortunately the production loses points for some sloppy editing and poor design for the London setting, the latter rendering the already fanciful story a fake feel that's hard to shake off; the theatrical origins evident for sure.Still, Harrison and Day can pretty much sell these characters in their sleep, and they are backed up by Gavin and Loy enjoying themselves. It makes up for what it doesn't have in atmospherics or freshness of formula, with honest to goodness entertainment values. 7/10

bkoganbing The last of Doris Day's dramatic roles came with her being the terrorized wife in Midnight Lace. Henceforth she did nothing but comedies and musicals.Not that she wasn't good in dramatic parts. Doris did well in Love Me Or Leave Me, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Storm Warning, and Julie. But in Midnight Lace she does pull all the stops out as a woman who seems to have attracted a stalker. In fact she meets the stalker in a fog bound London park near her home who threatens to kill just before the opening credits.Doris is practically a newlywed, married to Rex Harrison a London businessman who is concerned but never is quite there enough to offer support. Even her visiting aunt Myrna Loy is thinking Doris has lost a step or two in her ladder. The only one who seems to believe her is John Gavin who is boss of a construction job next door. He's even a bit creepy himself because he knew who she was without any introduction.The Man Who Knew Too Much was probably her best dramatic role and it was done for the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock. But the Hitchcock film that Midnight Lace is best compared to is Dial M For Murder with Grace Kelly being the stalking victim there. Even the Scotland Yard inspector is the same in both films, John Williams.By the way Williams unravels the truth behind the harassing phone calls in a most unusual way that the perpetrator never took into account.The mood of Midnight Lace is somber and tense and Doris, Rex, and the rest of the cast perform their roles to perfection.