Ealing: Dead of Night

Ealing’s first post-war film, was also the studio’s first portmanteau movie, and its first ghost tale.

With five separate stories-within-a-story, handled by four different directors, it still strikes a potent chill today.

A man arrives at an old country house that he’s never seen before.

Yet the house itself and all the people there are instantly familiar to him, and he realises to his horror that he's dreamt this occasion and everything that's about to happen.

Repeatedly he tries to escape, but each time events conspire to thwart him.

Meanwhile the other guests tell stories of their own.

DEAD OF NIGHT is perhaps best known now for its chilling final segment, featuring Michael Redgrave as a ventriloquist who is convinced his dummy is alive.