Peril & Distress: Endless Night / Picture Mommy Dead 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Peril & Distress: Endless Night / Picture Mommy Dead 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 23, 2025

Bert Gordon's "Picture Mommy Dead" (1966) and Sidney Gilliat's "Endless Night" (1972) arrive on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include two archival audio commentaries by critics Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger and vintage trailer. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

PICTURE MOMMY DEAD

A decade later, Picture Mommy Dead could have turned out a pretty dark, quite possibly even controversial film, similar to What the Peeper Saw. It tackles that kind of risqué material and suggests developments that in the 1970s would have been a fair game to put completely uncensored on the big screen. However, its stars perform as if they are in a similar film produced between the late 1940s and early 1950s, and this is an unmissable disconnect that creates various problems, all of which combined make the melodrama appear awfully dated.

Sometime after the tragic death of her mother, teenager Susan Shelley (Susan Gordon) is released from a psychiatric asylum and reunited with her father, Edward (Don Amiche), and former governess-turned-stepmother, Francene (Martha Hyer). However, before they can begin living as a family, Susan meets her late mother’s lawyer (Wendell Corey), who reveals that she has inherited a fortune that can be shared with her father under strict conditions. The news instantly disappoints Francene, who has an ambitious plan for the future.

As Susan’s recovery continues, Francene conjures up a new scheme to bypass Edward and his complicated relationship with his daughter. She approaches her former lover (Maxwell Reed), who still works for Edward, and manages to convince him to help her trick Susan into revealing where she has hidden her late mother’s priceless diamond necklace.

Bert Gordon’s camera spends a lot of time following the emotionally unstable teenager, but the real star of his film is unquestionably Hyer. She looks stunning, at times almost like a European countess who has unexpectedly become involved in a soap opera, and her performance generates all that is good in the film. Unfortunately, the good is overwhelmed by a lot of mediocre material, so reaching the predictable finale becomes quite the endurance test.

ENDLESS NIGHT

I don’t think I had ever seen Endless Night before. If I did, it must have been a very long time ago and for some reason I forgot all about it, but this would be very unusual considering that it is from the ‘70s, which is my favorite cinematic decade. The most likely scenario is that somehow I ignored the film, or perhaps had it mixed up with another film and never realized that I hadn’t seen it.

So, I sat down to view Endless Night the other night and right from the get-go I knew that I would enjoy it quite a bit. It is based on the novel of the same name by Agathe Christie, but unless you know the novel very well, it is actually quite difficult to tell. The main reason why is the manner in which Sidney Gilliat shoots his adaptation of the original material, which basically suppresses the classic period suspense Christie’s work promotes and instead gives his film a modern edge. As a result, at one point, it really begins to look like Gilliat might be on track to pull off the same trick Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up does. (Do you recall what Blow-Up does? It spends a lot of time pretending that it is focused on a complex murder mystery, but it is actually a very clever and very chic time capsule).

Immediately after the opening credits disappear, Gilliat begins following Hywel Bennett’s character, Michael Rogers, who is constantly looking for a new job. He is not a putz or a troublemaker, just a free spirit that has plenty of ‘exciting’ new ideas clogging his mind -- like mingling with city millionaires at prestigious auctions and raising the prices of exotic items they are after while working as a limo driver -- which always end up costing him his job. He knows and his mother worries about him, but it is the way he likes living his life and never does anything to change it. Then one day, while in the countryside, Michael meets Ellie (Hayley Mills), a very, very rich American girl and, initially without realizing, she turns his life around. They begin meeting, then fall in love, then marry, and finally move in a stunning contemporary mansion.

A quick pause. At this point, the film has passed the hour mark and has been firmly focused on Michael and Ellie’s evolving relationship. There have been a few odd hints that the mansion might be cursed, plus a rather spooky old lady occasionally pops up in the area where Ellie rides her horse, but this is still very much a film about a modern couple dealing with familiar issues.

The classic period suspense that is associated with Christie’s work enters the film with the arrival of Ellie’s dear friend Greta (Britt Ekland), who is young, very attractive, and single. Michael has an awful time tolerating her presence, but to please Ellie does a lot of acting which eventually makes it possible for the visitor to become a permanent addition to their relationship. It is here that the film abruptly switches gears and becomes very dark and then spooky, almost like an atmospheric gialo that an Italian director would have conceived. However, instead of doubling down on the atmosphere surrounding the suspense, Gilliat does a few neat things to make you realize that you have actually missed the significance of various tiny but very important details from the progression of Michael and Ellie’s relationship.

I liked this film for a couple of different reasons. First, it moves very slowly but manages to keep the mind on the edge, constantly speculating when something terrible might happen, and this waiting game very effectively replaces the familiar atmosphere that a ‘classic’ cinematic adaptation of the Christie novel would have relied on. In other words, the film plays the old genre game but in a modern (for the ‘70s) way. Second, the main and a few important secondary characters are quite difficult to judge right, despite the fact that Gilliat does not seem to be doing any obvious misdirecting work. Needless to say, at the end, there are all sorts of great surprises that also look entirely legit.

Gilliat was fortunate to secure the services of cinematographer Harry Waxman, who lensed the classic horror thriller The Wicker Man.

Bernard Herrmann delivered the orchestral score, which is a rather unusual one. It blends classical harmonies with special audio effects that would eventually become quite common on synthesizers and other similar electronic equipment.

Peril & Distress: Endless Night / Picture Mommy Dead 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kino Lorber's release presents Picture Mommy Dead and Endless Night on a single 4K Blu-ray disc. This release does not have a Blu-ray copy with 1080p presentations of the two films. Both are already available on Blu-ray here and here.

Please note that all screencaptures included with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray.

Picture Mommy Dead and Endless Night are presented in 4K without Dolby Vision and HDR grades. They were previously restored on behalf of StudioCanal.

On my system, Picture Mommy Dead looked significantly better in 4K, which did not surprise me at all because I know that the 4K restoration of Endless Night retains some obvious source limitations, like density fluctuations and color pulsations. Picture Mommy Dead does not have any such noticeable source limitations. In a few places, there is momentary softness, but the lighting conditions and camera movement are responsible for it. So, delineation, clarity, and depth are very good, and on a big screen large areas of the film look terrific. I think that some of the darker areas have a few spots where shadow details can be a bit better, but I still liked what I saw a lot. Color reproduction and balance are very good. I felt that saturation levels could have been better, but all primaries and supporting nuances plus the dynamic range of the visuals are very, very good. There are no traces of any problematic digital corrections.

In native 4K, most of the shaky areas of Endless Night look even shakier. Grain spikes appear bigger and gran drops are more obvious, so the source limitations tend to be more pronounce. However, the entire film still has an attractive organic appearance. I think that choosing whether to view the film in native 4K or 1080p will ultimately be determined by particular preferences. What does this mean? If you wish to see slightly more detail combined with more pronounced source limitations, then the native 4K presentation is for you. If you do not, then the 1080p presentation is for you. I am fine with both because they have equally strong organic qualities.

Peril & Distress: Endless Night / Picture Mommy Dead 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Both films are presented with English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for both films.

The lossless tracks are good. However, Picture Mommy Dead has a better track. It is better because it produces fuller and nicely rounded audio without even a whiff of unevenness or thinning. When you view Endless Night, you will notice that from time to time the audio become a tad thin, possibly even anemic. I suspect that an elaborate remastering job can introduce meaningful improvements, but I also think that the original soundtrack is not too impressive. While revisiting the two films in 4K, I did not encounter any encoding anomalies to report in our review.

Peril & Distress: Endless Night / Picture Mommy Dead 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - presented here is a vintage trailer for Endless Night. In English, not subtitled. (4 min).

• Commentary One - critics Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger have plenty of interesting observations about the style of Endless Night, its unusual soundtrack, production history, and Sidney Gilliat's legacy. (Mr. Berger mentions that Gilliat became a favorite of his by accident, and also has a few very accurate observations about the 'different' attitude of the film).

• Commentary Two - this archival audio commentary for Picture Mommy Dead was recorded by critics Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger

Peril & Distress: Endless Night / Picture Mommy Dead 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Endless Night is unquestionably the better film. However, Picture Mommy Dead looks quite a bit better on 4K Blu-ray. I am a huge fan of Martha Hyer, the true star of Picture Mommy Dead, so it is nice to have such a wonderful presentation of it on 4K Blu-ray. However, both films already have good Blu-ray releases, and I do not think it is easy to recommend this double-feature release if you have copies of them in your library. Consider picking it up only if you can find it on sale.