Straight On Till Morning (1974)

Straight on Till Morning is certainly one of the most atypical films that Hammer Studios ever produced. It begins like a social realist kitchen-sink drama, replete with fragmented snapshot montage editing similar to Ken Loach's Up the Junction – incidentally, a film remade by Peter Collinson the director of this film. And for the first third of the film it seems like this is going to be another such gritty drama, however, it takes an unexpected detour when it suddenly turns into a psychological thriller. It's an extremely unusual combination that isn't entirely successful but definitely interesting. In actual fact it's one of Hammer's more intriguing efforts in my opinion because it's so weird.The story is about a naive young girl called Brenda who moves to London to try and find a man. She winds up staying with a very strange foppish man called Peter who is in fact a serial killer of women.The social realism and montage heavy editing is entirely at odds to anything else Hammer ever put out. This is a film that has way more in common with the British New Wave than it does with anything previously produced by the famous studio. None of the characters are particularly likable, with the men in particular very creepy and/or deeply unpleasant people with appalling haircuts. The central relationship between Brenda and Peter is, to put it mildly, bizarre. It's difficult to see what either of them sees in each other; while Peter's strange issues with beauty are a little hard to fathom. Nevertheless, I thought this one was not bad at all. It wasn't predictable in the way that most Hammer films tend to be. It was pretty bleak and overall a commendably uncommercial offering. Definitely worth a look if you like downbeat psychological dramas.

Although Hammer's output from the 60s and 70s was dominated by splendid Gothic horrors, their filmography from that period also contained a number of lesser known psychological thrillers—titles that were no doubt produced to cash in on the success of films such as Hitchcock's Psycho and French chiller Les Diaboliques.One of the last such efforts to be produced by Hammer (before they turned their attention to making TV comedies into full-length features) was the intriguingly titled Straight on Till Morning, which somehow managed to combine murder with the more mundane elements of a 'kitchen sink' drama.Rita Tushingham stars as Brenda, a desperate, dowdy young woman who leaves her home in Liverpool to try and find love and happiness in London. After finding herself a job in a trendy boutique, and a room to rent at a work colleague's groovy pad, Brenda begins her search for a man, but finds attracting the attention of the opposite sex much harder than she thought it would be.When Joey (James Bolam)—the one man with whom Brenda might have had some luck with—winds up in bed with her blonde nympho flat-mate Caroline (the lovely Katya Wyeth), the distraught girl flees into the night where she chances upon a lost dog that belongs to Peter (Shane Briant), a wealthy young man who could be her Mr. Right. If only he didn't have homicidal tendencies, a bizarre hatred of beauty, and a very sharp Stanley knife...With this interesting story, exploitative content, and talented cast, Straight on Till Morning could have been superb, but the film's iffy editing (which irritatingly intercuts rapidly between scenes), combined with director Peter Collinson's frustrating decision to suggest his nasty violence rather than show us the goods, ultimately means that the film doesn't fulfill its potential.Still, even though the film isn't classic Hammer by any stretch of the imagination, it's worth checking out for the hilariously horrible 70s fashion and fun scenes of swinging London, Briant's incredible mop of blonde hair that steals every scene it's in, the hysterical moment when Tushingham goes into town to glam herself up only to return looking like a bad drag queen, and a couple of genuinely disturbing moments that include a surprisingly bleak finalé.5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

Many people cite "To The Devil, A Daughter" as being Hammer's attempt at modernising, but this title does a pretty good job of it, too. While watching it I was struck by the similarities with other kitchen sink dramas (most of which would have been made 5 years before this). Star Rita Tushingham was in a couple of those earlier films herself. Aspects of "Billy Liar", "Peeping Tom" and "Poor Cow" meld into this bleak, nihilistic morality tale for the early 70s.Tushinghams character (she uses three different names throughout the movie) leaves humdrum Liverpool to find a father for her baby. Falling in with a trendy boutique crowd in London, she ends up moving in (very quickly) with a shady stranger. It turns out he hates beautiful things, and this is why he likes Rita (and he kills his own dog when Rita adds a pretty bow).The movie is fast paced and low on gore (but has a lots of disturbing scenes of psychological intensity). It is very unlike the other, more famous Hammer films - it's set in modern times and plays on modern sensibilities; it does away with mythos and superstition and has a very real and very human "bad guy"; the villain in question will get away with it because of his looks and charm and - oh, yeah, this is definitely not a film with a happy ending . . .

This story of an ugly duckling whose life is a living hell until she meets her prince charming is absolutely agonizing to watch. If you have zero faith and love for your fellow women and men, and even less hope for the future, then this film will vividly reinforce your beliefs. Shane Briant is beautiful but lifeless as her would-be Prince Charming. That the title line is from Peter Pan is only note of wry artfulness that works in the entire fiasco. All in all, this is an excellent companion piece for I Spit On Your Grave!