A Bus carrying a group of orphans crashes. The bus driver is the only fatality but Mary Valley (Gwyneth Strong) is taken to a hospital for some minor scrapes and shock. While she is there one of the doctors, psychiatrist Dr. Haynes (Keith Barron), notices that Mary seems to be living out some kind of trauma under sedation that has nothing to do with the accident. Haynes wants to keep Mary in the hospital for observation. He discusses his concern with the head of Pathology, Sir Mark Ashley (Peter Cushing).
At the same time Colonel Bingham (Christopher Lee), a retired police officer, is interested in the accident as well. He inquires how the bus driver died. Sir Ashley inquires why the police are so interested in the bus accident. Bingham believes that the accident may have been intentional. The orphanage that the children lived at was run by the Van Traylen Trust. On the bus with the children were four of the trustees. Recently three other trustees died in situations that looked like either accidents or suicide. Bingham thinks that someone is killing the trustees.
Anna Harb (Diana Dors) is Mary’s mother. Anna spent ten years in jail for murder so Mary was taken away from her. Anna sees Mary’s picture in the paper and wants her daughter back. Not getting anywhere with the hospital she calls the press. A tabloid journalist, Joan Foster (Georgia Brown) talks to Haynes about letting Anna see Mary. Haynes thinks it may help in finding out what is triggering the psychological problems with Mary. Things go very badly. Haynes is murdered and Anna tries to forcibly take Mary from the hospital. The Van Traylen Trust scoops up Mary and brings her back to the orphanage. Anna follows.
Bingham is looking at Anna as a possible suspect in the killings of the trustees. When he learns that Anna has followed Mary to the orphanage on Bala Island he and Sir Ashley head there too. Joan finds a recording that Haynes made before he died. On it is a session he had with Mary under hypnosis. The recording reveals a supernatural evil and a sinister plot. The recording sends her to Bala Island to see Ashley and warn him about what she found.
In the meantime, events at the orphanage result in more deaths, a missing child, and a frightening experiment in the supernatural.
“Nothing but the Night” was released in 1973 and was directed by Peter Sasdy. It is a British mystery horror film based on the novel by John Balckburn. The movie was produced by Charlemagne Films. The film company was co-founded by Christopher Lee and Anthony Nelson Keys. It is the only movie the company produced.
The film is supposed to be a horror movie but most of it just plays out like a murder mystery. It doesn’t get to the horror part until the last ten minutes or so of the film. Before that you have some juicy murders and a red herring stumbling through the underbrush on an island filled with people searching for a lost kid. Why the lost kid was added to the plot I don’t know. The movie started out interesting. There were three deaths and the bus crash right after the opening credits and then things got murky and slow for a long time. The ending was also decent although a little farfetched.
I’m not totally sure about how I felt about the film. There were some good parts and some not so attention capturing parts. I’m always on board for a Lee-Cushing outing and the concept of the film was good but the delivery was so-so.