Dead of Night (BBC, 1972)

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antnield
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2005 1:59 pm
Location: Cheltenham, England

Dead of Night (BBC, 1972)

#1 Post by antnield » Sat Jul 27, 2013 3:58 am

DEAD OF NIGHT (DVD)

Films by Don Taylor, Robert Holmes and John Bowen

After years of unavailability, the three surviving episodes from the legendary BBC horror anthology series, Dead of Night, finally comes to DVD. Originally screened on BBC 2 in 1972, and rarely seen since, Dead of Night has been highly sought by fans of the BBC and British Horror for decades.

In The Exorcism - perhaps the most terrifying of the episodes four wealthy, middle-class friends (Clive Swift, Edward Petherbridge, Anna Cropper and Sylvia Kay) gather for a Christmas dinner in a country cottage only to find that the past will not rest while they feast.

In Return Flight the professionalism of an experienced and respected airline pilot (Peter Barkworth) is placed under scrutiny when he encounters the ghostly apparition of a WW11 Lancaster bomber.

In A Woman Sobbing a middle-class wife (Anna Massey - Peeping Tom) becomes increasingly paranoid when her nights are interrupted by the terrifying and unexplained sound of a female crying in one of the rooms in her new house.

Special Features

- First time on DVD for this rare and classic BBC TV horror series
- All three remaining episodes on one disc
- Fully illustrated booklet with original essays
October 28th

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GaryC
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:56 pm
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Re: Dead of Night (BBC, 1972)

#2 Post by GaryC » Sat Jul 27, 2013 4:29 am

The Exorcism has certainly been seen since - the BBC repeated it a few years ago. I'd previously seen a showing at the National Film Theatre some years before then.

I don't know why they did it, but in the last couple of months of 1972 the BBC really gave horror fans a feast: the seven Dead of Nights in November and December, then the M.R. James adaptation [iA Warning to the Curious on Christmas Eve and The Stone Tape (originally intended as an eighth Dead of Night but in the end broadcast separately) on Christmas Day. It's just a pity that four Dead of Night stories no longer exist.

I'm definitely looking forward to this.

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MichaelB
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Re: Dead of Night (BBC, 1972)

#3 Post by MichaelB » Tue Oct 01, 2013 5:48 am

Full specs announced:
Dead of Night
The surviving episodes from the classic BBC series

After years of unavailability, the three surviving episodes from the legendary BBC horror anthology series Dead of Night finally come to DVD as part of GOTHIC: The Dark Heart of Film. First screened on BBC2 in 1972, Dead of Night offered a series of highly personal takes on psychological disturbances, often related to contemporary social anxieties. Rarely seen since its original broadcast, the Dead of Night series has been highly sought by fans of classic TV and British horror for decades.

The Exorcism - a film by Don Taylor

In what is perhaps the most terrifying of the episodes four wealthy, middle-class friends (played by Clive Swift, Edward Petherbridge, Anna Cropper and Sylvia Kay) gather for a Christmas dinner in a country cottage, only to find that the past will not rest while they feast.

Return Flight - a film by Rodney Bennett

The professionalism of an experienced and respected airline pilot (Peter Barkworth) is placed under scrutiny when he encounters the ghostly apparition of a Second World War Lancaster bomber.

A Woman Sobbing - a film by Paul Ciappessoni

A middle-class wife (played by Anna Massey - Peeping Tom, Frenzy) becomes increasingly paranoid when her nights are interrupted by the terrifying and unexplained sound of a female crying in one of the rooms in her new house.

Special Features
• Gallery of stills from the missing episodes;
• Downloadable scripts for the missing episodes (PDF);
• Illustrated booklet featuring essays and biographies by Lisa Kerrigan, Oliver Wake, Derek Johnston and Alex Davidson.

Product Details
RRP: £19.99 / cat. no. BFIVD996 / Cert 15
UK / 1972 / col / English language, with optional English hard-of-hearing subtitles / 150 minutes / DVD9 / PAL / Original aspect ratio 1.33:1 / Dolby Digital mono audio (320 kbps)

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RossyG
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Re: Dead of Night (BBC, 1972)

#4 Post by RossyG » Sat Oct 05, 2013 6:09 am

A film by...?

More like a multi-camera, vision-mixed videotaped TV show by...

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MichaelB
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Re: Dead of Night (BBC, 1972)

#5 Post by MichaelB » Sat Oct 05, 2013 6:26 am

I've seen plenty of all-digital productions described as "a film by"!

In fact, I'd be more exercised about the fact that the writers aren't mentioned at all - this is more down to convention than anything sensible, but while the director is usually credited as the sole "author" of a film, when it comes to television (and especially 1970s British television) the person who had that distinction was usually the writer.

In the case of The Exorcism, this was indeed Don Taylor, but Robert Holmes and John Bowen deserve nods for the other two.

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RossyG
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Re: Dead of Night (BBC, 1972)

#6 Post by RossyG » Sat Oct 05, 2013 3:49 pm

Yes, I think writers could get more praise. An original screenplay could only have come from one person, but there are dozens of directors who could potentially film it well.

Giving the director top billing is like saying a conductor is more important than a composer.

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Dead of Night (BBC, 1972)

#7 Post by knives » Sat Oct 05, 2013 4:58 pm

While television is obviously very different from movies your analogy still doesn't really hold up as a director (or television) has a different relationship in presenting the script than a conductor does music. Certainly within television even back in the '70s a director with a particularly strong quality could alter the affect of even a great and thorough script (here I'm looking back a decade at stuff like The Twilight Zone). While I haven't seen the television versions yet I assume that as much as Nigel Kneale is the author of Quatermass whoever was directing a particular serial had some small degree of effect on the ultimate outcome and deserves some authorship credit, even if not as much as Kneale.

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MichaelB
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Re: Dead of Night (BBC, 1972)

#8 Post by MichaelB » Mon Oct 14, 2013 2:55 am


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manicsounds
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Re: Dead of Night (BBC, 1972)

#9 Post by manicsounds » Thu Oct 31, 2013 10:41 am


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antnield
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Re: Dead of Night (BBC, 1972)

#10 Post by antnield » Thu Oct 31, 2013 10:50 am


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