The Night of the Following Day might have an intrigueing title, the movie itself doesn’t exactly live up to it. Marlon Brando gives a fine performance, though his behind-the-scenes antics probably were more interesting.
The Night of the Following Day
(1969)
Genre(s): Suspense, Drama, Crime
Kino Lorber| R – 93 min. – $24.95 | May 18, 2021
Date Published: 05/12/2021 | Author: The Movieman
|
|
|||||||||||
Kino Lorber provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 3/5 |
|
Plot Synopsis: A gang of four professional criminals (MARLON BRANDO, RICHARD BOONE, RITA MOREANO, JESS HAHN) brazenly kidnaps a wealthy teenage girl (PAMELA FRANKLIN) from an airport in Paris in a meticulous plan to extort money from the girl’s father. Holding her prisoner in an isolated beach house, the gang’s scheme runs perfectly until their personal demons surface and lead to a series of betrayals that culminate in a furious and explosive climax.
Quick Hit Review: The Night of the Following Day, an odd title that does somewhat makes sense by the end, is a slow burn of a crime-suspense-thriller that may be a chore to sit through, particularly through the middle section, but does pick up in the final 15-minutes which was well done, even if the final scene is pretty confusing. In terms of performances, everyone is fine, with Marlon Brando clearly being the best of the ensemble even if, according to what I’ve read, was extremely difficult for director Hubert Cornfield to work with (to the point the climactic scene was directed by Brando’s co-star, Richard Boone). Heck, supposedly Brando was so dissatisfied with the ending, he refused to cooperate for the final shot, making goofy faces instead of a simple grin (hence a freeze on literally the only frame the editor could find of him smiling). I think this is one of those movies where the behind-the-scenes antics by Brando, was more interesting than the movie itself. While I can’t say I ever found my mind wandering elsewhere, there were parts that I found uninteresting, as the character drama elements never quite got to a fevered pitch, although Richard Boone plays a predominantly devious and psychopathic part.
As I mentioned, The Night of the Following Day was co-scripted and directed by Hubert Cornfield based off of a novel “The Snatchers” by Lionel White (supposedly initially Stanley Kubrick showed interest). Cornfield is a filmmaker who would only direct one more feature, several years later. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2¾/5 |
|
This release comes with 2 Audio Commentaries, one with Film Historian Tim Lucas and the second with Director Hubert Cornfield, ported over from a previous DVD release. Also included is the Trailers from Hell (3:45) featurette with Joe Dante and lastly the Theatrical Trailer (3:04). |
VIDEO – 4½/5 |
| Kino Lorber releases The Night of the Following Day onto Blu-ray for the first time, presented in the original 1.85 aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer. The picture here does look quite good, detail is relatively sharp throughout and outside of a few very minor specs or scratches, appears to be clean looking. I assume this is another transfer provided to Kino Lorber by Universal so no restoration was done, but given the obscurity of the film, and that it looks pretty good as is, probably would be unnecessary. |
AUDIO – 4¼/5 |
| Per the norm for Kino Lorber releases of older titles, this one comes with a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track, which I found to be more than serviceable providing clear dialogue levels and some modest depth for the one or two more action-y sequences (including an explosion). Nothing all that awe-inspiring even for a 50 year old film, yet still mostly impressive. |
OVERALL – 3¼/5 |
|
The Night of the Following Day might have an intrigueing title, the movie itself doesn’t exactly live up to it. Marlon Brando gives a fine performance, though his behind-the-scenes antics probably were more interesting. Otherwise, this is a rather passable, if not forgettable, film. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.