Night After Night After Night

 

"So soft...so beautiful...so evil!"

When a fourth prostitute is knifed to death in the London streets in as many nights, Inspector Bill Rowan (Gilbert Wynne) is called to the scene to investigate. We see his passionate relationship with wife Jenny (Linda Marlowe) contrasted with the crumbling marriage of Helena (Justine Lord) and Judge Charles Lomax (Jack May), a vindictive moralist. Inspector Rowan is certain that his chief suspect, lothario Peter Laver (Donald Sumpter), is the killer and tries desperately to prove it, to the point of harassment. Meanwhile the killer keeps striking and eventually things get personal for Inspector Rowan. Is Peter really the killer? Or could it be Carter (Terry Scully), the Judge's porn-obsessed law clerk? How many will die before the killer's identity is revealed?

Night After Night After Night (not to be confused with Death Occurred Last Night) is a decent British giallo, set in the gritty world of swinging 60's London. It's definitely a "sexy" giallo, spending more time on nudity and vigorous makeout scenes than on blood and graphic violence. But rather than including sexy scenes only for prurient shock value, the movie uses them to make a serious point. In the courtroom scenes, Judge Lomax and his clerk look down their noses and angrily punish "immoral" and "permissive" behavior while repressing it in themselves until it manifests in unhealthy and violent ways and the film uses the sexy scenes to point out their hypocrisy.

• The most famous face in the cast is probably Donald Sumpter, who plays chief suspect Peter. You may know him as Maester Luwin on Game of Thrones.

• Note that three of the murders listed occur before the action of the movie starts.

• The identity of the killer is revealed about an hour into the movie but I assure you, you will have guessed his identity long before then.

What the Hell Am I Watching?

After first getting released by the police for lack of evidence, we follow Peter on a date in the country, where he steals away with a young woman.

As they're making out in a meadow, we see another young woman skulking in the bushes nearby, spying on them menacingly. After the couple has finished with their grownup time, the stalker steps out of the bushes, and Peter slips off with her for another encounter, not wasting any time. A funny ending to a suspenseful scene.

Later, Peter is putting the moves on another woman at a bar.

Clearly, he has a weakness for women wearing yellow.

Also, let's talk about how inept the police are in this movie. Not only do they let the killer slip by on several occasions, but they spend days at a time harassing a guy who is clearly not the murderer. They do, eventually catch up to the killer at the end, but only because he's too exhausted to run.

Fashion Moment: 

I love that 1969 prostitutes dress like 21st century soccer moms.

Peter is the fashion star of the film. The movie doesn't tell us what he does for a living or when he has time for all these wardrobe changes, but each outfit is mod perfection. I especially like the fur-lined bomber jacket.