Straight On Till Morning (1974)

Admirable film.

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Although Hammer's output from the 60s and 70s was dominated by splendid Gothic horrors, their filmography from that period also contained a number of lesser known psychological thrillers—titles that were no doubt produced to cash in on the success of films such as Hitchcock's Psycho and French chiller Les Diaboliques.One of the last such efforts to be produced by Hammer (before they turned their attention to making TV comedies into full-length features) was the intriguingly titled Straight on Till Morning, which somehow managed to combine murder with the more mundane elements of a 'kitchen sink' drama.Rita Tushingham stars as Brenda, a desperate, dowdy young woman who leaves her home in Liverpool to try and find love and happiness in London. After finding herself a job in a trendy boutique, and a room to rent at a work colleague's groovy pad, Brenda begins her search for a man, but finds attracting the attention of the opposite sex much harder than she thought it would be.When Joey (James Bolam)—the one man with whom Brenda might have had some luck with—winds up in bed with her blonde nympho flat-mate Caroline (the lovely Katya Wyeth), the distraught girl flees into the night where she chances upon a lost dog that belongs to Peter (Shane Briant), a wealthy young man who could be her Mr. Right. If only he didn't have homicidal tendencies, a bizarre hatred of beauty, and a very sharp Stanley knife...With this interesting story, exploitative content, and talented cast, Straight on Till Morning could have been superb, but the film's iffy editing (which irritatingly intercuts rapidly between scenes), combined with director Peter Collinson's frustrating decision to suggest his nasty violence rather than show us the goods, ultimately means that the film doesn't fulfill its potential.Still, even though the film isn't classic Hammer by any stretch of the imagination, it's worth checking out for the hilariously horrible 70s fashion and fun scenes of swinging London, Briant's incredible mop of blonde hair that steals every scene it's in, the hysterical moment when Tushingham goes into town to glam herself up only to return looking like a bad drag queen, and a couple of genuinely disturbing moments that include a surprisingly bleak finalé.5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

This one is perhaps Hammer's most incongruous film - a flashily-directed modern suspenser with pretensions; actually, the horror brand-name is only displayed at the very end (even if the credits themselves are unmistakable) - whereas the trailer proudly advertises it as "A Love Story From Hammer"! While the film features gratuitous nudity (virtually a Hammer mandate by this stage), in spite of a number of murders occurring throughout, it's surprisingly bloodless for this studio.Director Collinson's fragmentary style is appropriately disorienting at times and actually proves quite economical - for instance, in the course of the first couple of minutes, we get to know practically the entire back-story of the two protagonists - but it also becomes irritating very quickly! Rita Tushingham and Shane Briant are quite good in their roles, the former typically kooky and the latter effectively disturbed; lovely Katya Wyeth appears as Tushingham's colleague/room-mate, an unfortunate association which ends in her brutal murder.The title (and title tune) are inspired by "Peter Pan" and, in fact, the script makes several references to J.M. Barrie's popular tale: the leading characters call one another Peter and Wendy when their names are really Clive and Brenda; Briant is a bit the boy who never grew up, whereas Tushingham's relocation from humdrum Liverpool to Swinging London (cue some horrid 70s fashions and hairstyles) can be seen as the equivalent of the journey to Neverland. The film ends rather abruptly on a downbeat note.The Rita Tushingham Audio Commentary (moderated by Jonathan Sothcott), unsurprisingly, is not up to the level of tracks I've heard for other Hammer films - given the star's limited connection with the company. However, she displays a winning sense of humor throughout and her recollections prove engaging enough to make it a worthwhile listen nonetheless. Incidentally, here it's mentioned that STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING was released as the A feature in a double-bill with another Hammer thriller - FEAR IN THE NIGHT (1972) - which I also recently watched for the first time and is, ironically, the superior effort!

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.

Rita Tushingham is an intensely vulnerable actress. In her early classics, such as The Trap and A Taste Of Honey, directors used these distinctive qualities to capture cinematic eloquence. In this Hammer film, these traits become parodies of themselves, and as a result, Rita and those around her, are merely grotesque. This is especially true of the strikingly pretty psychotic for whom she falls, played indifferently by Shane Briant. For all its faults, the film does have two remarkably clever scenes, but they are no so good as to warrant exposing yourself to 90 minutes of this sewage.