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Dead of Night
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<p><i>Dead of Night</i> is a 1945 British <a href="/facts/Supernatural_horror_film/8LafM3yF">supernatural horror</a> <a href="/facts/Anthology_film/5jNPNkLK">anthology film</a> directed by <a href="/facts/Alberto_Cavalcanti/lFKe8dNH">Alberto Cavalcanti</a>, <a href="/facts/Charles_Crichton/fesutBdK">Charles Crichton</a>, <a href="/facts/Basil_Dearden/zKxsBx8K">Basil Dearden</a>, and <a href="/facts/Robert_Hamer/qNpuQcPt">Robert Hamer</a>. It stars <a href="/facts/Mervyn_Johns/WqPFnNyk">Mervyn Johns</a>, <a href="/facts/Googie_Withers/m7pIj54d">Googie Withers</a>, <a href="/facts/Sally_Ann_Howes/gGkI3DUh">Sally Ann Howes</a>, and <a href="/facts/Michael_Redgrave/929aATGd">Michael Redgrave</a>. Produced by <a href="/facts/Ealing_Studios/lM3QzlRe">Ealing Studios</a>, the film features five segments within a <a href="/facts/Frame_story/BBgDrsky">frame narrative</a> during which a group of guests assembled at a country manor who recount stories of their own individual <a href="/facts/Nightmare/EhJvEEc2">nightmares</a>. It is best remembered for the concluding story featuring Redgrave and an insane <a href="/facts/Ventriloquism/UjgAWjwA">ventriloquist</a>'s malevolent <a href="/facts/Ventriloquism/UjgAWjwA">dummy</a>. </p><p><a href="/facts/Eagle-Lion_Films/mwVhHRX4">Eagle-Lion Films</a> released <i>Dead of Night</i> theatrically in the United Kingdom on 9 September 1945. <i>Dead of Night</i> is one of the few horror films made in England during the 1940s, as horror films had been banned from production in Britain during <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a>. It was also one of the few horror efforts from Ealing Studios, who were primarily known for producing comedies. The film was greatly influential on the horror and anthology film genres, and is regarded by film critics and scholars as a classic. </p><p>Both of John Baines' stories were reused for later films and the ventriloquist dummy episode was adapted into the pilot episode of the long-running CBS radio series <i><a href="/facts/Escape_(radio_program)/lS0mQoaW">Escape</a></i>. </p>