The Night My Number Came Up
| The Night My Number Came Up | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Directed by | Leslie Norman |
| Produced by | Michael Balcon |
| Written by | R. C. Sherriff |
| Starring |
Michael Redgrave Sheila Sim Alexander Knox Denholm Elliott |
| Music by | Malcolm Arnold |
| Cinematography | Lionel Banes |
| Edited by | Peter Tanner |
|
Production
company |
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| Distributed by |
General Film Distributors (UK) Continental Film Distributors (US) |
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Release date
|
1955 (UK) |
|
Running time
|
94 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Night My Number Came Up is a 1955 British supernatural drama film directed by Leslie Norman with the screenplay written by R. C. Sherriff. The plot is based on a real incident in the life of British Air Marshal Sir Victor Goddard; his journal being published in The Saturday Evening Post, 26 May 1951. The film stars Michael Redgrave, Sheila Sim and Alexander Knox. This was Sim's final film before her retirement from acting.
A senior Royal Air Force officer (Michael Redgrave) is at a dinner party in Hong Kong at which one of those present, (Michael Hordern), talks about a dream he had in which the Air Force Officer and a group of 12 companions are flying from Bangkok in a Dakota which crashes on a rocky shore. The Air Marshal is due to fly to Tokyo the following day, but is not disturbed because many of the details differ from his planned voyage, including using a different kind of aircraft, a Consolidated Liberator.
When problems ground the original aircraft, a Dakota airliner is substituted, the same one in the dream, and a number of other passengers arrive to make the entire crew and passengers match the dream's number of 13. Moreover, as the flight proceeds circumstances change so that eventually all the details correspond to the dream including the aircraft crashing on a rocky shore in Japan.
The Night My Number Came Up was made by J Arthur Rank at the Ealing Studios.
Leslie Norman said he found the original magazine article and suggested it become a film. He wrote a synopsis and sent it to Michael Balcon, who agreed to make the film - although he refused to let Leslie Norman write the script (which Norman wanted to do) and insisted R.C. Sheriff get the job. Norman later said "I don't think R.C. Sheriff added anything to it."
Part of the film was shot in Hong Kong, particularly Kai Tak Airport. Norman said he was "pretty pleased with" the film but felt "Ursula Jeans was a weak link".
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Wikipedia