The Night of the Following Day - Classic Thriller Movie by Universal Studios | Perfect for Movie Nights & Suspense Lovers

A kidnapping tale that goes awry, “The Night of the Following Day” features a stellar cast in a low budget thriller that is often considered the nadir of Marlon Brando’s career. Instead, Brando looks great and the performances are exceptional. Richard Boone (sadly largely forgotten but a terrific character actor) also stars with Rita Moreno and Pamela Franklin.An overlooked classic influenced by French thrillers of the time, Hubert Cornfield puts together a fascinating film with strong performances all around. Marlon Brando hated working with Cornfield so much that he refused to work with him on the last day of the shoot. Richard Boone stepped in behind-the-camera to do the last day’s shooting. Cornfield didn’t make a lot of movies but his unconventional filmography makes him an interesting figure in Hollywood.The Kino release is from an older master but it looks quite nice. Unlike Kino’s release of “The Nightcomers” (made two years later), the transfer looks quite good. I’m not sure of the source but, based )n the detail, it looks more like it is drawn from an inter positive vs. an original camera negative. The detail might have been a bit sharper with the camera negative. Evidently this was pulled from Universal’s vault and was done earlier in digital home video. It still looks quite nice with nice depth and colors are pretty well balanced.The audio sounds quite good with the mono presentation focusing on the dialog and, at turns, the unusual jazzy score. Subtitles in English are provided.The special features are pretty good. We get a commentary track by the director which provides quite a bit of detail on everything from pre-production to shooting and even the reception of the film. Film historian Tim Lucas also provides an excellent overview on the production but focuses a bit more on the various production personnel and actors, their background and relationships including detail,the Brando-Moreno affair and how Brando got her the job for this film.A Trailers from Hell commentary by Joe Dante allows the director to show his appreciation for the film and what appealed to him about the production. Things are rounded out by an original theatrical trailer. It’s a nice set of supplements for a woefully overlooked thriller just before Brando’s career took off again three years later with “The Godfather”.This is a terrific thriller and it’s unusual story twists and turns back it memorable. There was a release that had additional footage shot for TV in Hollywood by a different director and without the original actors. A pity we didn’t get that altered version as an extra just for fun. It damages the original film but it would be interesting to see and hear for comparison sake.THE NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY is one of those films that has been criminally underseen and that needs to be seen (instead of talked about) in order to be appreciated. If anyone other than Marlon Brando had been in it (which was the original plan) it would have fared much better critically and commercially. This is not to say that Brando is bad, in fact his performance looks even better now than it did when the film was first released. It's just that he always carries so much critical baggage with him (being pilloried for making films critics considered beneath him) that only in recent years can a film like NIGHT be re-evaluated and enjoyed. The director, Hubert Cornfield, had a difficult time with Brando and was fired with two weeks to go. Co-star Richard Boone finished the picture. Be warned that the DVD commentary attributed to Cornfield on some DVDs is actually Brando himself (which is why it sounds like an electronic voice box) and has now been withdrawn from all future editions. Just Marlon having his little joke at his own expense and giving another great performance in the process.The story is a simple and familiar one. A young heiress (Pamela Franklin) is kidnapped by 4 people and stashed away in a small beach house on the French coast. The kidnappers are an odd lot headed up by the ineffectual Wally (Jess Hahn). The others consist of uncertain chauffeur Bud (Brando), his drugged out girl friend Vi (Rita Moreno), and their sadistic henchman Leer (Richard Boone). These people are all losers and you just know that things will go from bad to worse. How they do and what ultimately happens are what keep you watching. What adds an extra dimension are Stanley Myers' background jazz score and the overall look especially the surreal Magritte like final confrontation between Brando and Boone (who is complete with bowler hat and umbrella). The DEAD OF NIGHT ending is what it is because Brando refused to cooperate but it manages to be creepy anyway although some people will hate it. As a minor exercise in style with an underrated Brando performance and a terrifying one from Boone, NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY deserves another look.The death of a major actor usually results in a flurry of sales of his films, but that is not why I wanted this particular film.Mr. Brando often 'walked through' films, giving perfunctory performances at best. He admitted as much during his lifetime. This is definitely not the case with his portrayal of "Bud" in this ensemble cast. I first saw this film on the big screen as a first release, and was fascinated by the interactions of the characters.The plot revolves around the kidnapping of a young girl and holding her for ransom. The drama is the tensions among the conspirators. The ending, now a cliche, was relatively new at the time, and MUST be regarded that way.The cast is what makes the film worth watching: Brando. Richard Boone, upping the bar on his sadistic sinister best (as seen in the previous year's "Hombre" with Paul Newman). Rita Moreno, showing the versatility by tackling a part a long way from "West Side Story." A very young Pamela Franklin, who five years later starred in the classic thriller "Legend of Hell House." The characters are brought to life by these talented players; no one is quite what he or she seems to be at first.Yes, it's 60s. Yes, it's quirky. The big buzz is the rift between Brando and the director - Richard Boone was asked to take over for the last bits shot. Oh well. The film remains one of the standout roles of Brando's, and should be given a place in any collection.One could not be accused of a spoiler to question the ending to this gruesome showpiece. A rather long fuse runs to ignite the explosive (literally) final scenes.Well, what IS it all about? What most things appear to be focussed on these days – money. In this case a bunch professional hoodlums kidnap a late teenage (?) daughter of a wealthy gentleman by smuggling her off an airliner from who knows where.The intricate, treacherous plan they set themselves to avoid detection would seem to fail if the girl were to be let free at the end of it all, for she has had a good look at her captors and would have no difficulty recognizing them again once out of captivity.The thing is not without a tinge of morality, but you’ll find that out soon enough.One of Brando's most under-rated films, 'The Night of the Following Day' shows that the great man wasn't just lean, mean & moody back in the '50's - here he is at the grand old age of 43 oozing cool & sex appeal from every pore.I believe this was filmed in late 1967 & Marlon's slim & fit, dressed entirely in black with a (dyed?,wig?) blond barnet.Best scene: the one with Brando & Jess Hahn which Marlon is clearly making up as he goes along - he starts talking about stealing oranges at one point & you (well I do) can guess that he's just improvising from seeing that there's some oranges on the table in front of him; then he knocks a beer bottle over on same table & almost tenderly replaces it in it's upright position. Rewind the scene & you can see him watching that beer bottle before he knocks it, thinking 'I could knock that bottle over '. Or perhaps this is just me seeing what I want to see, but I've never seen another actor who comes close to giving me the same sense of excitement I get watching Brando - just doing weird stuff like playing with beer bottles and oranges. You never knew what he'd do next.I'm pretty sure Brando dismissed this film as one he just did for the money and ran, & OK it's no 'On the Waterfront' or 'Last Tango', not even a 'Young Lions' or a 'Reflections in a Golden Eye' (2 other hugely under-rated Brando films), but it's a good, fairly tense little crime thriller - & if this is Brando on auto-pilot taking the money & running then give me that to practically any other actor giving 100%.Plus this has Pamela Franklin in it as the victim of Brando's gang - a great actress who the next year appeared as Maggie Smith's nemesis in 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'.Unbelievable that this is still unavailable on UK Region 2 DVD. Likewise 'Reflections in a Golden Eye'.Typically slow French Cinema start, but eventually bucks up at 15 minutes from the end.Tricky one to review this; basically I purchased this only because Pamela Franklin was in it - another one of Britain's finest actresses who seemed to disappear from the silver screen during the mid seventies.Pamela Franklin plays the daughter of a rich french man who is kidnapped after stepping off a plane in France. Thing is, one is not sure whether she dreams the whole story - or worse still, has a 'twisted' fantasy about it!Richard Boone is HORRIBLE as the sadistic abuser of this innocent girl - like pulling the wings off a Butterfly...I must say; though I enjoy the film in parts, I do find it just a little too disturbing in places. For this reason, a recommendation for Pamela Franklin or Marlon Brando die-hard fans only.Not a great film but it is entertaing enough. Someone like Melville may have done something more memorable with the material. my fave bit is when a sudden outburst of anger from Brando seems to genuinely take a fellow actor by suprise and startles him.