Night Has Eyes, The (1942)

In this taut British chiller The Night Has Eyes, James Mason plays Stephen Deremid, one of those brooding, secretive young men so beloved of wartime melodramas. He lives in a remote Yorkshire mansion surrounded by a boggish moor. A young British girl (Joyce Howard) and her wisecracking American friend (Dorothy Black) are forced to seek shelter in Stephen’s home during a thunderstorm. The friend disappears; perhaps Stephen is responsible, or perhaps it’s his Mrs. Danvers-like housekeeper (Mary Clare). And then there’s the harmless, helpful Wilfred Lawson.

James Mason, Joyce Howard, Mary Clare, Wilfred Lawson, Tucker McGuire

1942, B&W, 79 minutes