Straight On Till Morning

1974 "She wished the night would never end... How could she know the morning would never come?"
Straight On Till Morning
5.7| 1h36m| R| en| More Info
Released: 01 August 1974 Released
Producted By: Hammer Film Productions
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Brenda, a timid, withdrawn woman, meets Peter, a man she believes is finally the love of her life. However, little does Brenda know that Peter is a vicious serial killer.

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Radish4ever Brenda is extremely timid and has low self esteem. She see's herself as ugly and is desperate to fall in love and have a baby. She leaves her Mothers and vacates to London to search for her Prince. She meets Peter and thinks she has met the man of her dreams and he seems to be infatuated with her too.It would be unfair to give too much away; you should see this film, recommended. An unusual diversion from Hammer, who was still making Dracula & Frankenstein films at the same time, this is a gem though and as always, Hammer don't disappoint. They sure can make films whatever genre they do.Although this is a girl meets guy who is not what he seems type of film, it's not your average body at the bottom of the stairs that keeps getting up, or a big fire that kills the bad guys off, I suggest Halloween or a clichéd horror for that. This film is intelligent and well written, although does tend to be ambiguous.Rita Tushingham and Shane Brent were both excellent and the former gives an audio commentary on the DVD if you look around carefully. Look out for James Bolam too.9 out of 10, good old Hammer films.
christopher-underwood The swinging sixties are coming to an end in swinging London but there are still some hang overs from the 1950s and still plenty of odd ball characters. Pregnancy outside of marriage was still much looked down upon and under the guise of the 'flower children' it was perfectly possible for even homicidal maniacs to not seem out of place. Rita Tushingham is as great as ever and this much under rated actress puts in one of her more endearing performances. Shane Briant is eerily convincing as the psycho and the rest of the cast including James Bolam are all fine. Some decent location shooting is always appreciated around this time and here we get a couple of boutiques and some very moody stuff around the then recently completed South Bank complex. Plenty of surprises and well worth catching as one of the most unusual hammer movies.
musicbymartin Many people cite "To The Devil, A Daughter" as being Hammer's attempt at modernising, but this title does a pretty good job of it, too. While watching it I was struck by the similarities with other kitchen sink dramas (most of which would have been made 5 years before this). Star Rita Tushingham was in a couple of those earlier films herself. Aspects of "Billy Liar", "Peeping Tom" and "Poor Cow" meld into this bleak, nihilistic morality tale for the early 70s.Tushinghams character (she uses three different names throughout the movie) leaves humdrum Liverpool to find a father for her baby. Falling in with a trendy boutique crowd in London, she ends up moving in (very quickly) with a shady stranger. It turns out he hates beautiful things, and this is why he likes Rita (and he kills his own dog when Rita adds a pretty bow).The movie is fast paced and low on gore (but has a lots of disturbing scenes of psychological intensity). It is very unlike the other, more famous Hammer films - it's set in modern times and plays on modern sensibilities; it does away with mythos and superstition and has a very real and very human "bad guy"; the villain in question will get away with it because of his looks and charm and - oh, yeah, this is definitely not a film with a happy ending . . .
The_Void If, like me, you like your Hammer films to feature vampires and things that go bump in the night, you're likely to be disappointed with this film. After the first few minutes, I wasn't expecting Straight on Till Morning to be any good, but things do pick up; and once they do, the film does become interesting and represents a more than decent seventies offering, even if it isn't what we've all come to expect from Hammer studios. The film is set and shot in London and features a typically British seventies style, as the fashions and set design are very true to the period. The film plays out more like films such as 10 Rillington Place than your average Hammer Horror fare, and focuses on Brenda; a shy, irritating and naive girl who goes to live in London after telling her mother that she's pregnant. She moves in with the pretty Caroline, but begins to feel lonely and while out walking one night, spots a dog that she decides to kidnap. Upon returning the dog to her owner, the rather odd looking Peter, and telling him why she did it; he asks her to move in and she accepts. However, she doesn't realise that her new housemate is actually a vicious psychopath...Straight on Till Morning isn't particularly violent or bloody, but that isn't to say that the film isn't disturbing. Most of the film's nastiness is implied, and while I wouldn't have minded seeing Shane Briant's silly hairstyle psycho going on the rampage with a Stanley knife, the way that director Peter Collinson ('Fright', 'The Italian Job') goes about implementing these scenes does give the film more of a poignant edge. The lead role goes to Liverpudlian actress Rita Tushingham, and for me she's just a bit too irritating. She fits the film perfectly by the way she looks and acts, but I found it very difficult to care about what happens to her due to the fact that I had to cringe during her every scene. Shane Briant is the other side of the offbeat central duo, and the most memorable thing about his appearance in the film is his haircut - which is ridiculous to say the least! This does, however, make his role all the more intriguing...as I never thought that someone who looks so silly would be capable of murder! The ending is a bit forced, but its fun enough getting there; the atmosphere is claustrophobic and the relationship between the leads is never boring. Overall this isn't a great Hammer film - but it's a different one and I enjoyed it.