FEAR IN THE NIGHT (1947)

Vince Grayson tells his brother-in-law, police detective Cliff Herlihy, about a nightmare he had that seemed very real: he was in an octagonal mirrored room with a man and a woman who were breaking into a safe. He and the man got into a fistfight and he stabbed the man to death. The woman ran off and Vince placed the man's body behind a mirrored door, locked it with a key, and left. What makes the dream particularly disturbing is when Vince wakes up, he has choke marks on his neck and he finds a key in his jacket. Cliff thinks he's just had a very bad dream and, to get his mind off of it, Cliff and his wife take Vince and his girlfriend out for a picnic. When a thunderstorm hits, they take refuge in an abandoned house and Cliff is horrified when he finds a room in the house that looks just like the room in his dream. A local policeman tells them the story of a murder in the house and Vince, certain that he's a killer, attempts suicide. Cliff saves him and slowly spins out a theory of his own involving hypnosis. Can Cliff lay a trap for the real killer before Vince goes off the deep end?

This is a solid film noir based on a story by Cornell Woolrich (best-known for writing the story on which REAR WINDOW was based, though most of his works are worth reading). The noir device of the average guy suddenly thrown into a maelstrom of darkness and guilt is the foundation for the whole plot, and DeForest Kelley (pictured), whom you undoubtedly know as Bones on Star Trek, does a nice job as the nervous young man. Paul Kelly is equally good as the cop, and in a bit of a departure for noir, there really is no femme fatale or even a romantic relationship—the ladies stay in the background except for a strange scene which establishes that Clif'’s wife has an over-the-top neurotic reaction to thunderstorms, giving them a reason to look for refuge and to find the murder house. Robert Emmett Keane, a familiar face from nearly 200 character roles, many uncredited, is the villain. The dark visual style is typical noir. If you can get past a few far-fetched plot points, you’ll enjoy this one. [Streaming]