In the best tradition of black and white, this film starts with a bang. After a pair of shapely legs get out of a classic 56 T-Bird in England somewhere, a gun shot is fired, without ever seeing who did it. The idea of making an anti- capital punishment movie in the mid-fifties right after the McCarthy era was ahead of it's time. Never preachy or blatantly left winged, this great unknown sleeper carries on the classic female incarcerated films of THE SNAKE PIT to the era of fins. Even the female prison guards show compassion, and the movie never uses bitch-slapping gimmicks for thrill effects. A quiet study that still touches the heart. Diana Dors shines in a smart role choice that added to her credits away from her necessary frothy pointed bra-B flicks. No wonder people loved her right up to her death.
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bterlecki16 November 2003
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blanche-225 August 2021The name Diana Dors conjours up a sex symbol, Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe. She was so much more than that, but because of her image, her best performances were ignored by critics.
Based on the Ruth Ellis case, Dors plays Mary Hilton. In the first scene, we see her, during the daytime with people around, deliberately empty a gun into the body of of a woman. We next see her in a death row prison - deglamorized, guarded by matrons, in a room with a door without a handle, leading to where she will be executed.
According to what I've read, there had been a series of controversial hangings by the time this film was made. This film has the character hoping for a reprieve from the governor.
Mary looks back on the events leading up to the murder. Married, she falls in love with someone else, a pianist at a club, Jim (Michael Craig). She becomes obsessed with, to the point where she leaves her husband.
So entrenched in her love for Jim and devotion to him, she fails to see that Jim isn't as in love as she is. In fact, he becomes obsessed with a wealthy woman, Lucy. It's a destructive, up and down relationship, as is Mary's with Jim, but she lets him come crying to her when Louise rejects him.
Jim finally is driven to commit suicide and leaves a letter for Lucy. When Mary realizes the letter isn't for her, she snaps.
While in prison, Mary has a daily routine. The matrons take her for a walk daily, and it's obvious that they become fond of her, one giving her a cloth to cover her eyes while she sleeps, as the light is always on. She has to eat with a spoon, and when she bathes, a matron cuts her nails. She has a few visitors, none of whom she really wants to see - her ex-husband, her mother, and her brother.
Mary also meets with the chaplain, and finally, a lovely woman (Athene Seyler), sort of a volunteer prison visitor, who brings Mary flowers, gives her some comfort, and tries to get Mary to accept what she's done and what is about to happen.
The matrons give wonderful performances - Joan Miller, Marianne Stone, Olga Lindo, who plays the warden, and Yvonne Mitchell, all of whom have developed a relationship with Mary and dread the last day as much as she does.
Dors gives a subtly powerful performance, soft, sympathetic, quietly anxious in prison, and desperate in her scenes with Jim. We see her gorgeous and glamorous and in prison garb, her hair darkened with roots showing.
This isn't the first time Dors played a role where she is in prison. She also wound up there in "The Unholy Wife." She demonstrated then, as in this film, that she was a good dramatic actress. The film's alternate title is "The Blond Sinner," and the posters don't really suggest the story.
Well directed by J. Lee Thompson, Yield to the Night is an excellent film with a performance that deserved much more attention. -
ulicknormanowen13 October 2020France made "nous sommes tous des assassins " (André Cayatte, 1951) The US made "I want to live" (Robert Wise ,1958) The UK made "yield to the night " (the ridiculous alternate title "blonde sinner" should be forgotten )
The three movies were candid indictment against death penalty ; Diana Dors, cast against type, compares favourably with Susan Hayward in the American movie. The luminous blond sex symbol in the flashbacks becomes a broken woman , with a premature aged face in jail: a stunning metamorphosis .
These flashbacks are kept to the minimum ,but well introduced into the story ; most of the time is given over to a convict who got the capital punishment in her cell in which she's never left alone (for fear she might take her own life?)and where they never turn off the light (hence the deeply moving title ). Lots of voice over make sense ; the waiting is the hardest time ,when the prison governor can any hour now bring you your pardon or your hanging ("I can recognize her steps ".In France, condemned men would never know which day they would be guillotined and in the small hours,they were listening closely by the door the steps , all this is shown in Cayatte's movie which was the first attempt in the world to rebel against the horrible death ceremony .
What's the point of healing your ankle , catching a cold or learning to play chess when your days are numbered? The wardens are compassionate ,but except for one of them who's just lost her mom , they are not able to relate to such a horrible fate .What's the point of eating ? of having a good night sleep? What's the point of anything?All is pathetic, the only real thing is that door , behind which....
It's not Jack Lee Thompson's usual style ,and I was skeptic about his treatment of an intimate subject ;but I 've got to make amends ;He brilliantly succeeds :the very last scene, notably ,is a model of simplicity and restrained emotion.
Based on a true story ;a must,as the two other movies I mention are. -
Handlinghandel23 February 2008This is a powerful movie. Diana Dors is the star. She's on screen virtually the whole time and turns in a fine performance. It's not what we expect from Diana Dors: She is not a sex pot or glamor girl.
She plays an unhappy young woman who is taken in by a man. She kills him -- very early in the film; so this is not a spoiler. She is sent to prison. Much of the film is set in prison and there are many flashbacks.
Yvonne Mitchell is also superb as a sympathetic prison matron.
In her later years, Dors went from voluptuous to very large. She is shocking in the first movie I ever saw her in: "Baby Love." And she's large, good, and naked in the fine "Deep End." The woman could act and that is very clear in "Yield to the Night." She wears no, or very little makeup. The close-ups show a pretty but unglamorous woman.
It's film noir in structure. And it's one of the few in which a woman is the primary character. Look for this one! -
Found guilty of murder and sentenced to death, a young woman lives out her last days under the watchful eyes of a small group of prison wardens.
From its edgy opening sequence as the camera furtively tracks Dors' determined and resolute steps towards the killing, to the devastating final image of a smouldering cigarette we suspect will still be burning after the executioner has pulled his leaver, Yield To The Night is an extraordinary exploration of the reasons and repercussions surrounding a premeditated murder in mid-fifties Britain. At its heart is a performance which, over 50 years later still resonates with depth and naturalism. Even as we have witnessed her coldly and repeatedly shoot another woman to death, under the expert direction of J. Lee Thompson, Dors enables us to feel sorrow for the killer Mary Hilton and even if we can't condone the deliberate taking of her victim's life, we can at least realise that Hilton is also somehow a victim of circumstance. Dors doesn't put a foot wrong from beginning to end and the fact that she didn't receive domestic and international award nominations for her performance is in my opinion as puzzling as it is unforgivable, especially when one considers what were the celebrated performances of the time (Virginia McKenna, Audrey Hepburn and Dorothy Alison were BAFTA nominated that year). Could it be that the British and subsequently Amercian studio systems were unwilling to accept Dors as the intelligent and talented actress she so obviously was? Certainly the marketing and promotion of Yield To The Night in the US supports this premise - retitled Blonde Sinner, with lurid posters ridiculously emphasising Dors' sex symbol qualities and carrying the ludicrous and tacky tag-line "The Man-By-Man Story of a Lost Soul".
Flaws? Yes - as written, Jim Lancaster, whilst handsome and initially charming just doesn't allow the viewer to believe he could be the reason for Mary's actions. Undoubtedly less to do with Michael Craig's performance than with the character being undeveloped in general. However, overall Yield To The Night is a powerful film that will linger long after the final credits have rolled, and now it is finally available in DVD should become essential viewing for all British cinema fans. -
fostrhod25 March 2019What a wonderful performance from Diana Dors playing a women condemned to die after killing her rival.
Dors along with the staff awaiting her sad and untimely demise suffer the painful agony waiting for her exit on the gallows of Holloway Prison.
The film is dated and somewhat staged but Fors is stunning and does make you wonder if she had any dramatic contemporaries either British or American.
Her performance and the film will stay long in the memory -
music-room13 December 2006'Yield to the Night'is a child of its time, the mid fifties. Set against the grim background of the condemned cell in what is presumed to be Holloway prison (the only hanging prison for women at that time),it is a strong statement against capital punishment in general, and for a condemned woman, in particular. By 1956, popular opinion in Britain had turned against the death penalty, fuelled by a series of unpopular executions, Derek Bentley, the educationally subnormal youth hanged in 1953 for the shooting of a policeman on a Croydon factory rooftop when his seventeen year old accomplice, Chris Craig, had fired the fatal shot (Craig was too young to hang); the executions of two women in quick succession, Louisa Merrifield and Stylou Christofi, and the cause celebre of Ruth Ellis, who shot her lover, David Blakely, outside a North London public house.
Obviously Ellis was the inspiration for Dors' character, Mary Hilton (both blondes, both shoot their lovers while emotionally distraught). Director J. Lee Thompson had worked with Diana Dors in the 1954 film 'The Weak and the Wicked', which, like 'Yield to the Night', was based on a book by Joan Henry. Times had changed, even during those two intervening years, and Thompson yearned for a broader, more hard hitting statement than his earlier offering. The action scenes are much pacier, with quick scene changes and remarkable (for its day) camera angles - the shots of Dors around a fountain amount to a cinematic work of art, and the murder itself is a tour de force of close ups, almost unbearable suspense and facial expressions (note the face of the uncredited cab driver when he realises what Mary has done).
We skip the trial to the first prison scene where the governor, played to perfection by that most authoritative of actresses, Marie Ney, informs Mary that her appeal had been denied. Geoffrey Keen, as a thoughtful chaplain, leaves the cell when Mary's lawyer appears, played by the veteran Charles Lloyd Pack, with an optimism that borders on insouciance. Mary settles into the daily routine, comforted by Liam Redmond, as the caring doctor. Flashbacks trace Mary's failed romance with Jim, a once ambitious pianist whose inner emotions are in turmoil, who is reduced to playing in nightclubs and acting as a third rate host, dancing with various women, including Mary's nemesis, the well heeled Lucy. Mary is besotted with him, but he is fatally attracted to Lucy, fuelling Mary's inveterate hatred for her. Jim commits suicide, leaving a note that is addressed to Lucy, pushing Mary over the edge. The flashbacks are not as convincing as the rest of the film, but perhaps that is due to their nature - we already know that Mary has shot Lucy, so the lead up to that cataclysmic situation is somehow diluted.
However, the prison scenes more than make up for that. The set is so incredibly realistic, down to the 'door with no handle', the door through which Mary will step, on execution morning. As the clock ticks down to that fateful day, some of the finest character actresses of the day shine through the gloom - Joan Miller, whose calm exterior finally cracks when Mary's reprieve is denied, and who entwines the shell-shocked Mary's fingers around a welcome mug of tea; prolific character actress Marianne Stone, as the flustered stand in wardress; the fearsome Olga Lindo, magnificent as veteran Warder Hill, whose granite exterior finally succumbs to pity as she strokes Mary's hair, a wonderfully touching nuance of direction which would not have been possible in 'The Weak and the Wicked'. Athene Seyler, who was also in 'The Weak and the Wicked' appears as a philanthropic 'prison visitor' who gives Mary flowers from her garden. However, the performance of Yvonne Mitchell, as the caring, Christian wardress, who offers Mary a blindfold to help her sleep (much to the chagrin of Hill), is towering in its tenderness and vulnerability, even getting away with the line: 'Have you ever thought that we ALL die, some morning'? (My own mother died at 7:45 pm!) Amazingly, the line works because of the well drawn relationship between the two.
The ending is dramatic - Mary is kneeling in the chapel with the chaplain while the hangman and his assistant are watching from behind an open door - we only see their hands, the hands which will put her to death, another triumph of creative direction and camera work. On the morning of the fateful day Mary leaves her partly smoked cigarette in the ash tray and her silhouette is seen from the front, arriving through THAT door, with the chaplain behind her, a detail that was incorrect, because the assistant executioner would be behind her, having tied her hands behind her back - in 1956 the secrets of capital punishment were still closely guarded, and would not be made public until the autobiography of chief hangman Albert Pierrepoint (1977) and his one time assistant, Syd Dernley in the late eighties.
Dors showed that she really could act, and that the British film industry was capable of producing work of realism and depth, a much better film than Susan Hayward's much vaunted film about Ruth Ellis's American equivalent, Barbara Graham, 'I want to live'! And the message? A life for a life is futile, and life should be for living. Yield to this fifties gem of true excellence. -
henry8-310 June 2019The film starts with Diana Dors shooting a young woman to death. The remainder of the film looks back on why she did this, but spends most of the time looking at the minuteae of the last days of her life in prison before she is due to be hanged.
Very good performances all around, particularly from Dors. Whilst the background to the killing is well handled it is the waiting for her probable execution and how those around her deal with this that is the more absorbing part of the film. Quite realistic in its depiction of time awaiting death and often unsettling. -
James.S.Davies22 August 2000Diana Dors in her first dramatic role, and last before her unsuccessful venture into Hollywood, sees her trade in her glamorous image for a more realistic and down to earth performance as a woman who finds herself on death row after committing a crime of passion. The film, based on a John Henry novel, has obvious similarities to the real life drama of Ruth Ellis, who murdered her ex-lover on a busy London street and become the last British woman to be hung a year before this film was made.
Dors had become one of the more famous starlets to emerge in Britain's post-war attempt at a Hollywood-like star system. Her familiarity with British audiences no doubt ensured sympathy for her character, which played partly on her bad-girl image. However, this was more than a mere star vehicle, and it saw her transform herself from a star to a serious actress. The American distributors seemed to miss the point somewhat, titling the film on its release there, 'Blonde Sinner'.
The film obviously draws upon the controversial issue of capital punishment. There is no doubt that, despite us witnessing her murder in cold blood, our sympathies are meant to lie with Dors' character. This is of course partly due to her star persona but also because of the way in which the film is directed. Rarely do we see the face of her victim who we learn nothing of apart from his cold attitude towards her ex-lover, Michael Craig, whom Dors has shown nothing but compassion for. Her callous attitude towards his tragic New Years eve suicide is exemplary of this, when she shrugs him off as someone who had just been a nuisance to her.
However, the film is commendable in that manages to avoid mere melodrama. We don't just get a one-sided view of events. We are left in no doubt that the Dors character is herself an adultress who committed a murder with malice and forethought. The issue the film achieves in getting across is the detrimental effect the capital punishment system has on those who are around it. Not only do we see the effect it has on Dors' family but also we get an insight of the wardesses who are with her for her final days. In particular we recognise the discipline shown by Yvonne Mitchell's character, Macfarlane, a young wardess who is drawn with compassion and sympathy towards Dors, and yet must contain her emotions especially during the last agonisingly pensive hours. There is also a feeling that we should not be overly sympathetic towards Dors, as she is rebuked by an elderly Christian lady that visits her for being too self-pitying and for showing little or no remorse. This theme is of course drawn on in more detail in Tim Robbins' recent death row drama 'Dead Man Walking'.
J. Lee Thompson's taut direction shows signs of his later atmospheric Stateside successes such as 'Cape Fear'. The expressionistic filming techniques used to add to the claustrophobic tension of the prison cell scenes are particularly effective. Yvonne Mitchell provides a strong supporting role as the young wardess who befriends Dors. However, it is Dors herself who should be applauded most of all for her emotional and naturalistic performance as the woman awaiting her fate. Some of the film's themes may seem rather cliched to a modern audience but I would imagine it hit a nerve when the issue was at the forethought of the British consciousness. -
malcolmgsw19 January 2018Whilst this is a good if depressing film I am of the opinion that the ending is a cop out.It does not show the actual hanging which of course is the most barbaric part.The film fails also in showing that Dors has sufficient motive and why Craig preferred the other woman so that part of the film fails.Also it does become increasingly depressive being in the condemned cell.
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Greensleeves26 December 2006Diana Dors is unforgettable in the role of a murderer condemned to death after shooting her love rival in cold blood. The murder scene comes right at the start of the movie and is shocking in its cold blooded approach. Diana is beautiful and glamorous in the story flashbacks as we see what led up to this terrible act, but for much of the movie we see her in the condemned cell stripped of her glamour. Although she never expresses any regret for what she has done we sympathise with her plight as she is mentally tortured to death before her execution by the pitiless prison regime. The inhumanity of capital punishment is also expressed by the torment that all around her have to go through before the punishment is carried out. Not only relatives and friends but also the people whose job it is to care for her while she is behind bars. The performances all round are superb from the dignity of the Prison Governor played by Marie Ney, the compassion of warder Yvonne Mitchell, the benevolence of prison visitor Athene Seyler and the self pitying mother Dandy Nicholls. Diana's performance is stunning and will haunt you for days after seeing this film and her reading of poetry by A.E. Houseman will linger long in your memory.
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CinemaSerf26 February 2023This is a super vehicle for Diana Dors as the imprisoned "Mary". We know right from the start that she gunned down "Lucy" outside her mews cottage, and that her appeal has failed. Death row looms as she sits in her cell, accompanied at all times by two prison officers, awaiting a reprieve that may, or may not, come. Whilst she waits, we wait - and we learn a little about just what drove her to commit this cold-blooded crime. You see, she fell in love with the rather weak "Jim" (Michael Craig) and when she discovered that he was in love with someone else, she struggled to cope. Always hoping that he would choose her. When tragedy strikes, her course of revenge is set and... Most of the backstory is delivered to us as dreams; when she is awake and killing time in her room she begins to befriend "MacFarlane" (Yvonne Mitchell) - a outwardly hard-nosed woman but one in whom "Mary" begins to realise she can trust as she wrestles with her conscience, and visits from her estranged husband, her mother and her younger brother - all of whom she would rather not see. J. Lee Thompson starts this off simply and then allows Miss Dors to show us how to deliver a strong, characterful, performance. This is well paced, perhaps a little over-scored but a well delivered drama that proves compelling to watch and shows this star had plenty of serious actor strings to her bow. Well worth a watch, this film.
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planktonrules23 April 2018At the beginning of the film, you see Mary Hilton (Diana Dors) mercilessly unloading her gun into a woman. Why exactly she did this, you have no idea...nor who the victim was. The story soon switched to Death Row in a British prison and only a bit later are there flashbacks to let you have so idea of what you're missing in the story of this woman. I do know that nothing in the story made me feel sorry for her...and Mary's narration sometimes seemed to cast herself as a victim, of sorts. However, although the aim of the film appears to be to get the audience to care, as various prison folk talk about how bad the death penalty is or express a lot of empathy towards her. In fact, I would go so far as to say I wanted to see Mary hang for her actions and lack of regard for her murder....and so the film doesn't achieve its aim, at least for me. So, although the film excels at realism in some ways, it ultimately fails in getting the audience to care.
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gbill-7487723 September 2023"Everything seems suddenly sharp and larger than life. The pattern on the playing cards. The bitten end of Brandon's pencil. Hil's flat, sensible shoes with iron studs on the soles. Is this because I am near death?"
Diana Dors is wonderful and this is a great vehicle for her, with high production value and a style to its black and white cinematography. The story just wasn't for me though. At the beginning we see her character murder another woman, and then while on death row, a series of flashbacks help us understand why she did it. Despite the film giving us her perspective, she's hard to like - cheating on her husband, committing the crime of course, and being very cold to her visitors in prison.
The film then transitions to a treatise against capital punishment, "legal murder" as it describes it, at a time when Britain's death penalty was being debated. Making the main character harder to empathize with was one of the points of the film, that even in these cases, putting someone to death is morally wrong. Whether you agree with that or not in all cases, I think tackling such a weighty topic for a film in this period is commendable. However, as the victim of the crime wasn't allowed the benefit of a full (or even partial) characterization, it created an imbalance of sympathies, undercutting the integrity of the film for me. I also wasn't a big fan of the Catholic moralism at the end.
I have to say, the backstory leading to the murder isn't all that enjoyable to watch either, despite Dors' considerable charms. We find out that she's bored stiff by her husband, and begins having an affair with another man (Michael Craig), who soon gets bored of her in turn, and favors another girlfriend instead. Everyone is treating the person who adores them badly, even (apparently) the other man's other girlfriend. Those kinds of stories aren't appealing to me, and here it's times three. There is never a compelling twist that might make it interesting, because the film was concerned about positioning its social message.
Meanwhile, in the prison, the story lags until the end, though I liked the humanity and fairness shown by the guards. The moment of truth brings about philosophical ponderings and Diana Dors really throws herself into the part, but it's notable that there no remorse or guilt expressed about ending the victim's life. Was it more realistic this way, or was the film just avoiding the hardest question in these cases, I wondered. There's a lot to be admired here, but it felt incomplete as a debate on the topic, and rather somber as entertainment. -
parcdelagrange15 January 2010Although the plot is a bit thin and the obvious similarities between this film and the hanging of Ruth Ellis the year previously (the main difference being that Ruth Ellis shot her boyfriend and the character played by Diana Dors shot her boyfriends lover after he committed suicide), the acting from Diana Dors is without fault, she puts her heart and soul into the part and outshines the other actors who appear, almost to the point that, beside her they appear somewhat wooden and contrived. The direction is well executed (no pun intended) and the photography is superb. The final outcome of the film is inevitable, but the portrayal of a woman clinging to a forlorn hope of getting a reprieve and the acceptance of her fate when it is denied, is made so realistic and believable by Diana Dors that it elevates this film into one of the great British films of all time.
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davidtraversa-122 December 2012Mesmerizing from beginning to end. Black and white photography, impeccable, giving you the feeling of the scene just by placing the camera in a position that exactly will tell you before hand what's coming. Amazing.
And then there is the actress.
She, unlike ANY actress of that period, appears most of the time with her face washed up and her hair with 4 inches of black roots, totally unconcerned with her looks for the camera, but she is ACTING. She is acting a storm, what an excellent actress!!
In the flash backs the actress becomes DIANA DORS... Fully done with platinum hair, made up to kill and slipped into a dress too tight to believe, it could be painted on her naked body.
The story takes its time to develop and little by little it starts building up the tension of her character. The timing is perfect, we get more and more involved with her suffering and waiting as anxiously as herself about her destiny.
I don't have words to tell you what a superb movie this is, a film that I think will be impossible to produce nowadays, maybe Charlize Theron came close to this type of character in "Monster", but the feeling of the movie is totally different, the results of the 50s are the results of a civilization gone with the wind.
To me, this movie is a masterpiece. -
joe-pearce-130 August 2015True "Blonde bombshells" of a starring nature come along only once or twice in a decade, and the number from, say, 1930 to 1960 is not all that many: Jean Harlow, Lana Turner, Marilyn Monroe, Diana Dors, Jayne Mansfield, Kim Novak, and that about does it. Of these, Harlow died too young and as an actress was memorable mainly in comedy, Turner turned into a very good actress as the years passed, Monroe was greatly loved but her true acting talent beyond her natural charisma was not really all that great, and Novak was passable. Mansfield was Mansfield. Diana Dors, however, despite her 'blonde bombshell' reputation and being probably the least beautiful of that group (one could hardly call her even very pretty) was a very legitimate actress, out of RADA, and gave excellent acting performances right from the start of her film career. Unfortunately, nobody seemed to notice at the time, which may have been her own fault for letting that reputation get out of hand.
This is the very best I have seen her, and her outing here as the doomed murderess is about as good a lead female performance as any to be seen in English films of the 1950s. It is truly amazing that both her performance and this film are not better known. Maybe the Hollywood-made I WANT TO LIVE of two years later ended up stealing this film's thunder, as they both cover the imprisonment and pending death of the protagonist. But only a portion of Susan Hayward's performance takes place inside prison walls, whereas in this film, outside the opening and some flashbacks, the entire story takes place in less than 20 days in a holding cell, perhaps 20 x 25 feet in size, and goes outside it only when the prisoner is allowed out for exercise in a high-walled yard. That there are always two warders taking shifts in the holding cell with Dors, tending to her every need but also imposing a strict regimen upon her, somehow adds to the total claustrophobia of the film, and it is irrepressibly morbid from beginning to end. But it is also terrific! Although the major burden falls on Dors, every performance in the film save one is exceptional, that one being Michael Craig's as her suicidal boyfriend. Craig is a good actor, but he was the wrong choice here, as he simply never really seems like the kind of guy who could be brought to suicide by unrequited love. Lawrence Harvey might have been perfect for it. But the great Yvonne Mitchell, as the youngest warder, is superb. It seems as though, from beginning to end, she has but one expression, which never changes, on her face, yet we see the feelings she is hiding underneath at every moment, and ultimately learn that those feelings are not confined to only the prisoner's situation.
Some reviews have mentioned this film as an indictment of capital punishment, but I don't see it that way, and only once in the entire film is anything said in that direction: One of the warders says that we mustn't forget the person Dors murdered, and another one answers that "...another death will not bring her back". Unlike in the Hayward film, we know right from the beginning that Dors is guilty of this crime, and although to the very end she never repents the murder, we still feel sympathy for her (I felt a lot more for her than for the Hayward character), surely a reaction engendered by the excellent screenplay, Dors' superb performance, and J. Lee Thompson's inventive direction.
Given the budget and the acting talent on view here, I do not see how this film could have possibly been any better, and it should prove a major discovery to anyone now seeing it for the first time. -
griffon-130 November 2002This film proved that Diane Dorrs was a superb serious actress. The obvious comparison to the tragic case of Ruth Ellis 12 months earlier only served to make a good film even better. The whole cast gave their heart and soul to it. A must for people who have not yet viewed it.
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dierregi27 March 2022Mary kills a woman in cold blood without much of a reason (not that any reason would justify cold-blooded murder) and when she's condemned to death, she regrets nothing but she's not happy to die.
Most of the movie takes place in the prison cell where Mary spends her last two weeks waiting for a reprieve and thinking about the past. Married Mary used to work in a beauty parlor and met Jim when he came in to buy perfume for another woman. Mary "fell madly in love", while Jim not so much.
Eventually, Mary leaves her husband for Jim and they have a bumpy relationship that ends abruptly when Jim chases Mary away, professing his love for Lucy, the other woman, who's treating him badly. Pretty banal and Jim's not a man to pine for, but Mary's not so smart.
During her time on death row, Mary's thoughts flutter without much logic or consistency as proved by the fact that she's not sorry about killing Lucy, and not even about being caught, but only about her impending demise, for which she is the sole responsible. Her daily routine does seem pretty absurd, as does the pretense to go on with a "normal" life and the understandable uneasiness of the guards rotating on 24 hours watch, but they've made better movies against death penalty. -
pdmanning-2071030 October 2018I came to this film with pretty superficial view of Diana Dors. I couldn't have been more wrong. She gives a career best performance. On so many levels it stands head and shoulders above mid 50s Brit cinema. Truly international standard. Great ensemble acting; strong direction; and some lovely cinematography. It was clearly a powerful piece in its time - dramatically as well as a piece of social agitprop. It's still worthy of your attention more than 60 years on. What a shame this part didn't lead to the acting opportunities Diana deserved.
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jromanbaker18 December 2019Anyone who can say that they are pro-hanging after seeing this horrific film ( on a psychological level ) should examine their beliefs. I live thank God in a country that no longer believes in an eye for an eye, or to put it more bluntly murder twice over. Murder is murder, by whatever means you want to restore ' justice '. And this film shows the details of agony, and the slow process of waiting and knowing that this is your last day. Diana Dors throws off the sexual image that was created for her and here becomes a drained woman, empty of hope going through a dark door to be murdered. I disagree that ' I want to live ' is not equally powerful. Both films should be endured so that we examine our desire for revenge, and J. Lee Thompson should be applauded for the courage in forcing the audience into going step by step into this hell. It is a pity the Americans degrade it by calling it ' Blonde Sinner ' and thrusting her breasts out to get an audience inside the cinema. A sick, sick world and Diana Dors who was an intelligent woman must have known it.
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jacques-c-simon19 July 2018I just watched this film again after some years and felt very sad and upset at the fate of Mary Hilton. Diana Dors gave a performance of true excellence and power. The setting within the prison cell with the female wardens as supporting players is stark and yet sympathetic . Diana gave a compelling performance and so well were in supported by the rest of the cast especially Yvonne Mitchell and Olga Lindo. I was so very impressed by the entire film. It was a shame that Dors was ignored by the Academy but I suppose in the 50s non-American actresses were not considered as the films were mainly "art house" films. Enjoyed the whole experience.
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fullthundermoon-3656428 November 2021Dors brings an entourage of acting repertoire to this, her only, major role. Black and white has never been so effective. The glimpses of London life are historical cinema, but the prison scenes of a woman-on-Death-row are filled with an intimacy rarely seen. This is the film which challenged society to stop capital punishment.
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Leofwine_draca9 December 2017YIELD TO THE NIGHT is a watchable little British film noir with a depressing storyline. If you ever wondered whether blonde bombshell Diana Dors could really act, then look no further than here: she gives a very convincing turn as a down-on-her-luck woman who ruthless murders a rival in the opening sequence. The rest of the narrative takes place in real-time as Dors counts down the days to her impending death in prison, interspersed with flashbacks showing how she got into the mess in the first place. Truth be told, I found this all a bit depressing and lifeless (no pun intended), although J. Lee Thompson's direction is good - it's odd to think he ended up shooting Hollywood action pictures with Charles Bronson some 30 years later. The strong supporting cast includes Geoffrey Keen, a great Michael Ripper, and a loathsome Michael Craig.
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meathookcinema13 December 2018Yield to the Night finds the character of Mary Price Hilton shoot her boyfriend's lover and then spending her time in prison awaiting her execution by hanging. Her story is told in flashback during this stay.
On the 7th day God created Diana Dors. From her TV appearances on The Two Ronnies (playing the head of a female army who wish to take over and make all men subservient) through to her appearance in the Adam and the Ants video for Prince Charming and Ms Dors was a regular part of my childhood.
I then discovered the TV series of Queenie's Castle from the 70's (filmed here in Leeds) which fully exuded Dors' abilities as a great actress.
Yield to the Night was the only worthwhile foray into film for Diana with subsequent vehicles being a complete waste of her talents. This film is amazing. The flashback sequences which show how a sultry goddess could be driven to murder are fully rounded, believable and achingly painful. As are the sequences in which she is in captivity. Check out the internal monologues we're privileged to partake in and how she is far from a blonde bimbo. These observations about her plight and her fate are reminiscent of Travis Bickle's musings in Taxi Driver.
A strong case is made for the brutality of capital punishment in a 'civilised' society and how wrong it is. Thankfully since the film's release and now this has been rectified. You will think of this film when someone comments 'They should bring back hanging' in response to a news story.