Straight On till Morning | |
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Directed by | Peter Collinson |
Produced by | Michael Carreras |
Written by | John Peacock |
Starring | Rita Tushingham Shane Briant James Bolam |
Edited by | Alan Pattillo |
Production
company |
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Distributed by | EMI |
Release date
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9 July 1972 |
Running time
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96 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Straight On till Morning is a 1972 British thriller film directed by Peter Collinson and starring Rita Tushingham, Shane Briant, James Bolam, Katya Wyeth and John Clive. A reserved young woman finds herself attracted to a handsome stranger, unaware of his psychotic tendencies. It was made by Hammer Studios.
Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide describes the film as an "offbeat thriller, but not terribly effective", while Halliwell's Film Guide describes the film as an "unattractive suspenser, wildly directed,"
Brenda is a plain young woman who lives at home with her mother in Liverpool and enjoys writing fairy tales for children. One day she tells her mother that she is leaving home and moving to London in order to find a father for her yet unborn baby.
Arriving in London, she has some of her belongings knocked out of her hands by an attractive young man (Peter) who doesn’t give her a second look. She ends up living in a grubby bedsit before finding a job at a fashionable boutique (run by Jimmy Lindsay), and taking a spare room in a flat owned by one of her co-workers, Caroline specifically as she hopes to meet a man at one of Caroline’s many parties.
Peter, appears to live with an older, alcoholic woman. He invites her upstairs. She goes into his room and, unseen, starts screaming.
After discovering Caroline in bed with another co-worker that she was interested in (Joey), Brenda runs crying out of the flat and onto the streets. She comes across a scruffy dog, and sees its owner looking for it. Recognising the young man who had previously bumped into her (Peter), she picks up the dog and runs home with it. Unbeknownst to her, Peter sees her do so.
Back at the flat, Brenda washes the dog, and pretties it up with a bow. She then uses the address on the dog’s collar to take it back to Peter. He lets her in, and is nice to her, but upsets her when he insists she tell him why she took the dog. She finally admits that it was because she wanted to meet him, and have a baby with him. He suggests that she moves in with him.
While she has gone to get her belongings, Peter kills his dog with a utility knife, ostensibly because it is now pretty. Brenda lies to Caroline, telling her that she is moving in with her mother who is ill.