This movie was on TCM last night, and it occurred to me that it had two plots (it’s a series of stories within a main story) that have become almost cliches:
The main story concerns a man arriving at an English country house, and remembering all the people and some significant events from a recurring dream. One problem is that he doesn’t remember details from the dream, except for a few. He remembers something horrible is going to happen, but he doesn’t remember what. At the end, he seems to descend into madness. Then he wakes up, and gets a phone call, that starts off (apparently in real life) the events of the nightmare. I’m sure I have seen this plot “twist” a number of times since, most likely on TV shows.
Several people in the group, in the course of the evening, tell their own stories of apparent supernatural events. One of these (beautifully acted by Michael Redgrave) concerns a ventriloquist with a dummy who seems to have a mind of his own. Again, this has been done since, one I can remember particularly was with Cliff Robertson in a Twilight Zone episode.
Does anyone know of any earlier instances of these particular plots? I’m wondering if this is the first movie to feature either of these.
Roddy