Story of movie Nightmare 1956 Film : Nightmare is a 1956 American film noir crime film directed by Maxwell Shane starring Edward G. Robinson, Kevin McCarthy and Connie Russell.
| Nightmare | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Maxwell Shane |
| Produced by | Howard Pine William C. Thomas |
| Screenplay by | Maxwell Shane |
| Based on | And So to Death 1941 story by Cornell Woolrich |
| Starring | Edward G. Robinson Kevin McCarthy Connie Russell |
| Music by | Herschel Burke Gilbert |
| Cinematography | Joseph F. Biroc |
| Edited by | George A. Gittens |
Production company | Pine-Thomas-Shane Productions |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
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Running time | 89 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The story is based on a novel by William Irish (aka Cornell Woolrich). The book also became a 1947 film, Fear in the Night, made by the same writer-director . Nightmare had been the original title of Fear in the Night.
Screenplay
New Orleans big band clarinetist Stan Grayson (Kevin McCarthy) has a nightmare in which he sees himself in a mirrored room, killing a man. He awakens to find blood on himself, bruises on his neck, and a key from the dream in his hand.
Grayson goes to his brother-in-law, police detective Rene Bressard (Edward G. Robinson), about the problem but is dismissed. Later, the two men go on a picnic in the country with Grayson's girlfriend and sister. Grayson leads them to an empty house, the house of his dream, when it begins to rain. They are shocked to see that the house has a mirrored room just like in his dream. After it is found out that a murder did indeed take place, Grayson becomes Bressard's number one suspect.
Grayson, stressed out and suicidal, protests his innocence, which makes Bressard dig deeper. That leads to them finding out about a hypnotist in Grayson's building who apparently set up the musician for murder.
- Edward G. Robinson as Rene Bressard
- Kevin McCarthy as Stan Grayson
- Connie Russell as Gina, Stan's Girl
- Virginia Christine as Mrs. Sue Bressard
- Rhys Williams as Deputy Torrence
- Gage Clarke as Harry Britten
- Marian Carr as Madge Novick
- Barry Atwater as Capt. Warner
- Meade Lux Lewis as Meade
- Billy May and His Orchestra as Themselves
The film was the first production of Pine-Thomas-Shane Productions, a new incantation of Pine-Thomas Productions. Pine-Thomas had been based at Paramount from 1940 to 1954. They made a contract with United Artists, but William H. Pine died. The company was renamed Pine-Thomas-Shane to reflect the contribution of long-time screenwriter Maxwell Shane; the "Pine" was Howard Pine, William Pine's son. The film was meant to be the first of three films PTS would made for United Artists, other being Lincoln McEever and The Mountain Has No Shadow.
Billy May and His Orchestra perform in this version as themselves. They also provided the theme tune, Nightmare in New Orleans.
Even though Robinson was not the hypnotist in the film, he was promoted as such in the film's movie posters.
Filming started 31 October 1955.
The New York Times called it "a modest melodrama with some crooked turns but neat performances." The Los Angeles Times called it "draggy".
- List of American films of 1956
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