Night Into Morning (1951)

How sad is this?

Fresh and Exciting

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Ray Milland had plenty of experience coming off as a drunkard in this 1951 film from his 1945 Oscar winning performance in "The Lost Weekend."As an English professor, College secretary Nancy Davis, runs in to inform him in front of the class that his house exploded. Of course, in this type of situation, he would have been called out privately. He is devastated by the loss of child and his wife.Milland is again terrific as always. While he descends into heavy drinking, he is still able to maintain his position, though he becomes an embittered and quite nasty at times. As the secretary who is sympathetic to his plight, because she lost her husband to World War 11, Nancy Davis is marvelous here and it's probably by far the best performance she has given on screen. John Hodiak plays a member of the faculty who is involved with Davis, but feels threatened by her overly sympathetic embrace of the Milland character.It is only when he is involved in a car accident helped by his not being sober does Milland come to grips with the problem and speaks in a memorable way to his outgoing class at term's end.

I can't imagine the studio believed this dour exercise about a man's unrelieved grief over the loss of his family would make money. Judging from the post-war release date, this was likely part of MGM's effort to refashion a more daring image from its pre-war Andy Hardy wholesomeness.A key problem, as I see it, is that the haughty Prof. Ainley (Milland) is not much different emotionally before the tragedy than after. Thus it's rather hard to work up much sympathy for his loss, since his grief can only be guessed at. Now this absence can be rationalized as refusing to take an easier way out. Making him cold and unsympathetic both before and after means having to find sympathy for even a hard case. Still, it does detract from identifying with him for the great bulk of the movie. It also makes the awkward Hollywood ending that much more implausible.In the central role, Milland does a good job at showing little emotion and making himself haughty. I assume we're supposed to identify instead with the likable Prof. Lawry (Hodiak) who remains a generous friend throughout, even if he does suspect Ainsley's designs on his girl. But pity poor Jean Hagen's affection-starved "Girl next door" who's awkwardly dropped in one moment only to be spurned the next. Good thing that fine little actress, the non- glamorous, Nancy Davis Reagan is on hand to lend genuine realism.Except for the predictable Hollywood ending, the movie may be an earnest effort at dealing with a common human problem. But, in my view, it's simply too flawed to really register. Maybe that's why it's become so obscure.

A realistic look at the sorrow and despair that most human beings suffer after a sudden and horrific loss. This is a mature Ray Milland who suffers the loss of his wife and son in a home explosion. His grief is so raw that it overwhelms even those of us watching his spiral into darkness. He finds solace in alcoholic slumber only to wake and find it was not a dream but stark reality. This is not the story of an alcoholic as in his award winning role as Don Birnam in the Lost Weekend. Birnam was lost because of his disappointment in himself, not in grief over the loss of his loved ones. Milland once again proves he was a terrific actor, who could swing from crazy comedy to the depths of reality. Only after Nancy Kelly, who has also suffered a loss, comes to find him on the ledge of a building ready to jump, does he finally break down the shield of false bravado. An outstanding performance from Milland again.

Ray Milland reprises his drunken "Lost Weekend" routine in this typical drama about a professor who mourns the accidental death of his wife and 10-year-old boy, and then instead of adequately grieving over the loss, takes to drowning his sorrows in the bottle and becomes an alcoholic. His two best friends who care about him constantly try to set him on the straight and narrow path. I found this to be pretty standard with predictable results, with a stagnant plot that really doesn't go anywhere. What set this above average and worth one look is the good performance from Milland as well as a young Nancy Davis (Reagan) as one of the thoughtful friends who's devoted to him and can relate, having lost a spouse herself. **1/2 out of ****