BEFORE I WAKE
UK, 1955, 76 minutes, Black and white.
Mona Freeman, Jean Kent, Maxwell Reed.
Directed by Albert S. Rogell.
Before I Wake is a British production, a thriller which some remark is in the Hitchcock vein. Many of the plot characters and devices are reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier’s My Cousin Rachel.
Mona Freeman is April, a young American woman who has studied in the US but has lived in England with her father. She has lost contact with him but returns to England for his funeral, welcomed by the locals, but ever more suspicious of her stepmother, sometimes becoming hysterical in her outbursts against her. The stepmother is played with steely presence by Jean Kent. Maxwell Reed is the local doctor providing a love interest for April and also saving her in the end.
The film focuses on the interactions between the two women, the change of moods in the older woman, her devious behaviour behind the scenes, her lies, building up to her attempted murder of the young woman.
Effective atmosphere, a good performance from Jean Kent but too much melodrama from Mona Freeman.
1. Thriller of the 1950s? The British cast? American actress?
2. Black-and-white photography, the British countryside, the water, the house? Interiors? Musical score?
3. Familiarity of the plot, the daughter coming to her father’s funeral, her being cut off from information, finding her stepmother, comparisons with her life in England before she studied in America?
4. April, personality, character, arriving to the funeral, her grief, the story of her mother’s illness, her father’s death? Her immediate suspicions? Meeting friendly people in the town, discovering the servants had been dismissed? The initial encounters with Florence? Florence’s nurse, care for her father and the marriage, looking after her mother and her alcoholism? April determining that she would find out the truth, the response of the maid, the brandy in case, the gossip around the town, Florence drugging her missing her father’s funeral? Her continually upset, the touch of hysteria? Finding Michael, memories of the past, is supporting Florence? Going to see his uncle, his being the doctor, is confirming Florence’s stories? April going through Florence’s room, finding her letters? Going to the boat, the dent in the boat, the workmen and is fixing it? Going to the police, the accusations? The boat men saying April had offered him money? The approach of her birthday, coming into the inheritance? The milk, the drugs, April is changing the glasses, her collapse, on the boat, tied to the wheel, the crash?
5. Florence, nurse, severe, the stories about April’s mother and her being confined to her room, her drinking? Marrying April’s father? His accident? The saying she was afraid of boats? Dismissing the servants? The issue of the will and April’s inheritance? The different moods, severity with April then reconciliations? Drugging her and April missing the funeral? Day by day in the house, April going out with her, the drive along the cliff, Florence leaping from the car, April applying the brakes? The final night, the drugs, the boat, April at the wheel, setting the boat adrift?
6. Michael, friendship from the past, Dr, meeting April again, in love, his work on the boats, going to see his uncle, supporting Florence? The finale, finding the boat, rescuing
April?
7. The climax, April surviving, Florence and her intensity and anger? And the romantic ending?
