- Maxwell Shane's Fear in the Night is proof that even a lesser film noir can still be plenty of fun to watch. Its creative hallucination effects, a memorable mirrored octagonal room, and an overexaggerated portrayal of hypnosis are all just interesting enough to prop up an otherwise lackluster mystery. The story revolves around a banker named Vince (DeForest Kelley), who had a vivid dream of murdering someone in the aforementioned mirrored room. More troubling is his discovery the next morning of a key and button that figured prominently in the dream, not to mention those thumb-sized bruises on his neck. Vince is hesitant to mention his problems to girlfriend Betty (Kay Scott) or sister Lil (Ann Doran), instead confiding in his stalwart policeman of a brother-in-law, Cliff (Paul Kelly).
- The rest of the film is basically just Cliff and Vince trying to sort out what happened, with Vince's occasional fainting spell or suicide attempt thrown in just to keep things interesting. My favorite scene involves the world's most miserable country picnic where none of the characters speak to one another, nobody seems to be having any fun, and then it starts raining. Eventually, we discover that the cause of Vince's problems was an unexpected dose of hypnotism involving a character (Robert Emmett Keane) we only meet in the last fifteen minutes, but the fact is, you should not watch Fear in the Night because you want a well-constructed mystery thriller. You watch to see a very young DeForest Kelley slowly lose his mind on camera, all while narrating the entire experience to the audience. If I ever watch this film again, I'll make sure to pair it with Spellbound and Whirlpool, two other films featuring criminals who wield pop psychology and hypnotism as weapons. This film isn't nearly as good as those other two, but it's still a hoot to watch.
- This was DeForest Kelley's first feature-length film. It was also the first film directed by Maxwell Shane.
- Based on a short story by Cornell Woolrich.
