William Drummond - Night Must Fall

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William Drummond - Night Must Fall (Fontana, 1964)

A novel by William Drummond from Emlyn Williams' spine-chilling play

Danny was gay, bawdy, irresistible .... and a vicious psychopath.

DANNY had loved a lot of women in his time. Loved them and left them. What, then, tied him to "Forest View'' — a strange house­hold of three women... ?
MRS. BRAMSON: a rich and petulant old woman, now tied to a wheel chair, she domineered and bullied her way through life... until she met Danny.
DORA: warm-hearted, scatter-brained, she was an easy prey to Danny's unscrup­ulous charm ...
and OLIVIA: a girl whose desperate search for love led her down dangerous byways ... to Danny!

Night Must Fall also stars Mona Washbourne, Susan Hampshire, Sheila Hancock, Michael Medwin. Directed by KAREL REISZ

Been reading op on the movie and it seems most viewers are very taken with/ violently sick at a scene depicting Albert Finney walking by the swamp clutching the torso of his latest victim under his arm. Can't say anything quite as exciting has happened in the novelisation just yet, but early days.

Mrs. Bramson, the mistress of Forest View, a plush country residence eighteen miles from London, is obscenely rich off the back of her late and hardly missed husband's fortune. A wheelchair-bound hypochondriac, she manipulates all around her, most notably her daughter, Olivia. Olivia had a promising career in the theatre but had to turn her back on the stage once mother emotionally blackmailed her into returning home to become her full-time carer and skivvy. Mrs. Bramson is also notoriously tight with the purse-strings and employs just the two staff - Dodge, the geriatric, deaf as a post gardener and the skittish young cook and help around the house, Dora - these being the only two prepared to pretend to work for the wages on offer.

Dora has just confided to the old bat that she's pregnant by a handsome Welsh lad she met at the dance, and Mrs. Bramson, sensing a heaven-sent opportunity to meddle and bring misery to yet another life, insists she must invite him around.

Danny is currently employed as a waiter at the Shepperley Country Club and highly regarded by the members on account of his chameleon-like ability to tailor his persona to best suit his customer. But the head waiter has just reprimanded him which makes him very angry indeed, and he's on the verge of quitting. Maybe he will take stupid Dora up on that invitation after all, give Forest View a look over and see if the set-up suits his current needs .....

to be continued, etc,.

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"I'm private, you know," he said. He tapped his forehead, "This is where I live. Private."

In less time than it takes to tell, Danny has Mrs. Bramson eating out of his hand and Olivia scared but besotted after he man-handled her in her room. Meanwhile, the Police and volunteers are out combing the neighbouring fields for any sign of the missing Mrs. Chalfont, who owed a pretty penny at the Off Licence and is said to have been sweet on every male in the immediate vicinity, in particular, Danny ("Put crudely, she seemed to have been a raving nympho"). The Welshman has now moved into the maid's room, having convinced Mrs. B that he's a frustrated painter and decorator who could do her place over good and proper for £75 which, of course, he needs toward his wedding to Dora. On the first day, while the search is in progress in the grounds of Forest view, he arrives with his brand-new tool-kit (courtesy of the formerly skinflint old invalid) and a large hatbox ....

Derek Cockshutt, Olivia's on-off luvvy boyfriend, stays a weekend at Forest View and Danny, fearing that he has been relegated from his rightful place as center of attention, briskly sets about showing up this pompous, classist oaf for the idiot he is. Derek makes the disastrous mistake of trying to Lord it over this rough fellow from beneath the Bramsons' station, is effortlessly bested by Danny's studied sarcasm and leaves in a huff, minus Olivia who spends the first of what will be several nights with the live-in painter.

Meanwhile, the police have dragged what's left of Mrs. Chalfont's corpse from the pond - some sick bastard has hacked off her head - and Inspector Willet thinks there may be a connection with the unsolved Leamington Spa Matchet murder case of 1958. A brief interview with eager-to-please Danny removes him from the list of suspects .....

Having had but the briefest glimpse inside Danny's hatbox, the reader doesn't want a second look and the suspenseful conclusion to the book has us wondering, not so much if he will horribly butcher another victim, but just how many of the Forest View trio will be left to tell the tale? Sparing on gore, this pitch black comedy doesn't really get sick and twisted until the closing chapters, but they're worth the wait. A decent, English Psycho rip off would be my considered verdict.