Straight on Till Morning Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Straight on Till Morning Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson March 11, 2021

Beginning in the late 1960s, movie audiences were changing to a younger demographic, which compelled Hammer Films and other studios to produce a more diverse set of films. In addition to horror and monster pictures (its old reliable), Hammer rolled out action/adventure, fantasies, thrillers, and even comedies on its assembly line. Peter Collinson's thriller Straight on Till Morning (1972) was a byproduct of that evolving period. Jonathan Sothcott states in the recycled commentary on this disc that Hammer and producer Michael Carreras were grooming Shane Briant to become a young Peter Cushing. Briant co-stars with Rita Tushingham (another late-twenties actor) in a somewhat experimental film that Hammer was banking on becoming at least a moderate hit.

The film opens with a voice-over by Brenda Thompson (Rita Tushingham), a young librarian and writer, who's reading a children's fairly tale to herself that she's written. Brenda is not composing these stories with any serious publishing aspirations but rather, a mental escape from her dreary existence in Liverpool. She shares an apartment with her mum, Margo Thompson (Clare Kelly), but has grown restless. Brenda lies to her mother that she's pregnant and will be moving to London. She actually isn't pregnant but hopes to find a man to conceive a child with. Shy Brenda has difficulty adjusting to Swinging London. She hangs around Jimmy (Tom Bell), the owner of a clothing boutique, and Joey (James Bolam), a potential suitor she wants to latch on to. She also commingles with Caroline (Katya Wyeth), a real fashionista who agrees to rent half of her flat to Brenda. But Brenda's prospects of a beau are dashed when she hears Caroline and Joey in bed together. While on an evening stroll, Brenda sees a scruffy little dog. She had bumped into its owner, Peter Clive (Shane Briant), when the two passed each other at the entrance of a newsagents on Earls Court Road. Brenda brings the canine back to her loft, gives it a bath, and brings it to Peter's abode. Hence begins a dangerous romance.

The first couple reels of Straight on Till Morning splice in flashback inserts that connect to visual and aural cues within the mental subjectivity of several characters. Collinson, editor Alan Pattillo, and sound editor Alan Bell use the sights and sounds of the film's diegetic "present" space as a thread for the characters to recall persons, places, and objects in their pasts. In Performance (1970), directors Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg brilliantly employed a similar abrupt cutting method. It takes a couple of viewings to see all how these visual/aural associations function in Collinson's film but once the spectator does, it makes for a most worthwhile experience. One unforgettable sequence in which the filmmakers apply this cutting pattern to amplify the suspense is when Brenda is receiving a major makeover at a salon while Caroline and Peter are alone together in the latter's bedroom. Crosscut quickly between the two locales of Caroline/Peter in bed (where a Stanley knife lies within arm's reach) and Brenda sitting anxiously on the makeup chair. Alternating images flash back and forth as Brenda has a premonition that something awful my happen to Caroline. Collinson and his crew incorporate this technique less frequently after Brenda comes back to Peter but the tension has heightened a notch. Will Peter approve of the "remade" Brenda or subject her to an alternate fate?

Straight on Till Morning Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shout! Factory has released Straight on Till Morning on a BD-50 using the MPEG-4 AVC encode. The picture is presented in two aspect ratios: 1.66:1 (24993 kbps) and 1.85:1 (27791 kbps). This transfer seems to emanate from the same 2K scan that Studio Canal used for its Blu-ray editions in Germany and the UK. The image looks sharp and relatively clean while retaining a thick texture and solid grain. It sometimes appears a bit soft but this probably owes to the film's stock and some of the drab colors. Other colors, however, are of the primary variety. They're bold and densely saturated (see Screenshot #s 4 and 5). My video score is 4.25/5.00.

Screenshots 1-10 = 1.85:1 Version
Screenshots 11-20 = 1.66:1 Version

Shout! provides twelve chapters for the 88-minute feature.

Straight on Till Morning Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout! supplies a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (1591 kbps, 24-bit) on the 1.85:1 version and a lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (192 kbps). Dialogue is intelligible and crisp enough to discern on the two tracks without resorting to the optional English SDH. The fronts pick up the bustling London street traffic with aplomb. The original music by Roland Shaw perfectly complements the film's fidgety editing. The jazzy underscore has a bebop flavor that captures the beats of modern London. Shaw wrote some pieces primarily for trumpet and these bluesy cues are tinged with a sadness that instantly made me think of the trumpet performed for Jerry Goldsmith's "Love Theme from Chinatown," which was also scored and released in 1972. The jazz Shaw wrote for this film also reminds me of the way Goldsmith wrote in a similar key during this same era. Straight on Till Morning's titular theme song contains lyrics and music by Annie Ross and John Peacock. Ross, who performed it, plays one of Peter's older lovers. Peacock also penned the screenplay, which I hope is published some day.

Straight on Till Morning Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Actress Rita Tushingham and Author/Film Historian Jonathan Sothcott (on the 1.85:1 version) - Sothcott, a film journalist, moderates this feature-length commentary with the award-winning actress of A Taste of Honey fame. Sothcott isn't a fan of Straight on Till Morning and queries Tushingham if she's been asked in the years since the theatrical release about "this awful film." He does have some useful facts to impart about the movie and the way Hammer conceived it, though. Tushingham talks about her relationships on the set with director Peter Collinson, Shane Briant, and the other actors. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW The Morning After – An Interview with Author/Film Historian Kim Newman (19:43, 1080p) - Newman posits Straight on Till Morning to where Hammer was in the late '60s/'70s, which he says was a desperate, "try anything" period for the studio. Hammer attempted to update their classics by ratcheting the gore and adding titillating sex. Hammer also expanded into making other genre pictures (e.g., adventurous thrillers). Newman envisions Straight on Till Morning as following the path set by Psycho and Peeping Tom (that of sexually ambiguous characters). Newman briefly discusses the careers of Tushingham, Briant, James Bolam, and Tom Bell. Nearly every title Newman mentions includes a cutaway to each one's poster. Another very excellent interview with Newman. In English, not subtitled.

• Dream Lover: Inside STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING (16:05, 1080p) - this featurette was initially included in Studio Canal's German box set, Hammer Film Edition, which contains Straight on Till Morning and six other titles. SC also brought it over to the UK for its standalone 2018 release. Interviewed are Kevin Lyons (editor of eofftv.com), Jonathan Rigby (author of English Gothic), cultural historian John J. Johnston, and Alan Barnes (co-author of The Hammer Story). The interviewees offer a decent but relatively brief look at Hammer at the time and what they thought the film tried to convey. Stills and clips from the movie are intercut with their talking points. In English, not subtitled.

• Theatrical Trailer (3:19, 1080p) - an open-matted trailer (MPEG-2, 24826 kbps) with Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (192 kbps). The studio marketed Straight on Till Morning as "A love story from Hammer," which was quite a deceiving tagline. This is essentially two trailers in one. The second half gives away story events so I wouldn't advise watching if you've never seen the film.

Straight on Till Morning Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

For many Hammer fans, Straight on Till Morning is an anomalous and aberrant entry in the studio's transitional phase when it was grasping for other genre titles to churn out. This lesser known work by Peter Collinson (The Italian Job) lifts character archetypes and themes from J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan and rears them on its ugly head. It's a tough movie to watch and some of the kills are sickening to the point of revulsion. Rita Tushingham and Shane Briant are both outstanding as the leads. Shout! Factory delivers a stellar transfer and a workmanlike sound track. I was hoping that the studio would record a recent commentary with at least one of the actors or crew members. The 20-minute video discussion with Kim Newman is pithy and wide-ranging on various topics. A STRONG RECOMMENDATION for Straight on Till Morning. It's definitely worth taking a chance on.