''All Night Long'' is a 1962 British

neo noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating s ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

directed by

Basil Dearden Basil Dearden (born Basil Clive Dear; 1 January 1911 – 23 March 1971) was an English film director. Early life and career Dearden was born at 5, Woodfield Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex to Charles James Dear, a steel manufacturer, and his wife, Fl ...

, and starring

Patrick McGoohan Patrick Joseph McGoohan (; March 19, 1928 – January 13, 2009) was an Irish-American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer of film and television. Born in the United States to Irish emigrant parents, he was raised in Ireland and Engl ...

, Marti Stevens, Paul Harris,

Keith Michell Keith Joseph Michell (1 December 1926 – 20 November 2015) was an Australian actor who worked primarily in the United Kingdom, and was best known for his television and film portrayals of King Henry VIII. He appeared extensively in Shakespeare ...

Richard Attenborough Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, (; 29 August 192324 August 2014) was an English actor, filmmaker, and entrepreneur. He was the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Academy of Film and Televisi ...

and

Betsy Blair Betsy Blair (born Elizabeth Winifred Boger; December 11, 1923March 13, 2009) was an American actress of film and stage, long based in London. Blair pursued a career in entertainment from the age of eight, and as a child worked as an amateur danc ...

. The story, by Nel King and

Paul Jarrico Paul Jarrico (January 12, 1915 – October 28, 1997) was an American screenwriter and film producer who was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses during the era of McCarthyism. Biography Early years Paul Jarrico was born in Los An ...

, writing under the name Peter Achilles, is an updated version of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cyp ...

'', set in the London

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

scene of the 1960s. The action takes place in a single evening, during an anniversary party. The

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

film features performances by several prominent British jazz musicians – among them

Tubby Hayes Edward Brian "Tubby" Hayes (30 January 1935 – 8 June 1973) was an English jazz multi-instrumentalist, best known for his tenor saxophone playing in groups with fellow sax player Ronnie Scott and with trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar. Early life ...

and

John Dankworth Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE (20 September 1927 – 6 February 2010), also known as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist, clarinettist and writer of film scores. With his wife, jazz singer Dame Cleo Laine, he ...

– as well as the Americans

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

and

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians an ...

, who were in the UK in 1961 when filming took place and were recruited to participate. McGoohanAllnightlongcrop1

Plot

Musician Aurelius Rex and his wife Delia, a retired singer, are the recipients of a big, one-year wedding anniversary party in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

thrown by a wealthy music promoter and jazz aficionado, Rod Hamilton, in a Thames-side warehouse he has remodeled to create a space for the kind of all-night sessions that can't be done in Mayfair. Johnny Cousin, a drummer with aspirations of starting his own band, has promised booking agent Lou Berger that Delia has come out of retirement and will resume performing, not with Rex but with Johnny. On the phone, Berger tells Johnny that Delia's presence is absolutely necessary. Delia tells Johnny in no uncertain terms that she does not intend to resume her career. Music plays an important role in the film, as party guests take it in turn to join in, and we learn more about all the characters. Johnny begins a series of complex machinations, all designed to make Rex believe that Delia has been having an affair with Cass, the band's manager. Johnny's back-stabbing costs Cass his job, when he plies Cass—a recovered addict—with marijuana. Johnny records a conversation between Cass and Benny, who are lovers, talks to Cass about how much he loves Benny, and tapes Delia promising Cass that she will get Rex to forgive him. He edits the material to distort the meaning. Delia's performance of a song, rehearsed solely for the party, furthers Rex's suspicions that she is unhappy at home. Rex tries to strangle Delia and assaults Cass, sending him over a balcony. In front of the whole party, he accuses them of infidelity. Johnny's long-suffering wife, Emily, asks if he heard this from Johnny, protesting that “Johnny is a liar. He never told the truth in his life.” When Rex mentions the tape, Benny makes Cass admit that he was talking about her on the tape, not Delia. His plot exposed, Johnny runs out of the room. Rex follows and is throttling Johnny when Delia stops him. He walks slowly back to the room where Cass lies injured in Benny's arms. He kneels down, takes Cass's hand and holds it against his cheek. “Don’t worry man, everything is cool.“ Cass says. Rex walks out of the room and Delia runs after him. He looks at the marks of his fingers on her neck, stares at his hand and gently caresses her face. He goes out into the night as the ambulance arrives. Delia runs after him and they stand facing each other. Cass is loaded into the ambulance and Benny goes with him. Johnny is noodling on the drums. Emily brings him his coat. “I love you,” she says. “Don't you understand, I don't want to be loved…I love nobody. Don't even love Johnny…Go find somebody else to love…” he says. Johnny goes to town on the drums as Emily woodenly walks away. Rod also walks out, leaving Johnny alone, his drumming more and more frantic. The last shot of the film shows Rex and Delia walking along the embankment his arm around her.

Cast

as Johnny Cousin * Marti Stevens as Delia Lane * Paul Harris as Aurelius Rex *

as Cass *

as Rod Hamilton *

as Emily *

Bernard Braden Bernard Chastey Braden (16 May 1916 – 2 February 1993) was a Canadian-born British actor and comedian, who is best known for his appearances in UK television and radio shows. Life Braden was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and educated ...

as Berger * Harry Towb as Phales * María Velasco as Benny *

Carol White Carole Joan White (1 April 1943 – 16 September 1991) was an English actress. She achieved a public profile with her performances in the television play ''Cathy Come Home'' (1966) and the films ''Poor Cow'' (1967) and '' I'll Never Forg ...

as Lucille (uncredited) *

as himself * Keith Christie as himself * Bert Courtley as himself *

as himself * Ray Dempsey as himself *

Allan Ganley Allan Anthony Ganley (11 March 1931 – 29 March 2008) was an English jazz drummer and arranger. Career Ganley was born in Tolworth, Surrey, England. A self-taught drummer, in the early 1950s Ganley played in the dance band led by Bert Ambro ...

as himself *

as himself * Geoffrey Holder as himself (uncredited) *

as himself * Barry Morgan as himself *

Kenny Napper Kenneth Napper (born July 14, 1933 in London) is an English jazz double-bassist. Napper started out on piano as a child and picked up bass as a student at Guildhall School of Music. He entered the British military in the early 1950s, playing with ...

as himself *

Colin Purbrook Colin Thomas Purbrook (26 February 1936 – 5 February 1999) was an English jazz pianist and Songwriter. He also played double-bass and, occasionally, trumpet. Early life Purbrook was born in Seaford, East Sussex and learned piano from the ...

as himself *

Harry Beckett Harold Winston "Harry" Beckett (30 May 1935 – 22 July 2010) was a British trumpeter and flugelhorn player of Barbadian origin. Biography Born in Bridgetown, Saint Michael, Barbados, Harry Beckett learned to play music in a Salvation Army ...

as himself – trumpet player (uncredited) * John Scott as himself

Production

Screenwriter Paul Jarrico, who had been

blacklisted Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, ...

, used the name Peter Achilles when the film was originally released, The Writers Guild of America West restored Jarrico's credit for this film and three others in 1998.

, who plays Emily, also fell prey to the

House UnAmerican Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disl ...

. Gene Kelly, her husband at the time, intervened to get her the part in '' Marty (1955)'' for which she earned an Academy Award nomination, but she eventually had to move to Europe to pursue her career. On the soundtrack, drummer

performs for Patrick McGoohan, who learned to play the drums for the film.

Reception

David Meeker, author of ''Jazz in the Movies'' (1982), described the film as a "ludicrous combination of Othello and jazz jamboree that falls flat on both counts". But TCM.com observes: “The film was unfairly maligned by many British critics who were Shakespeare purists and dismissed (it) as a travesty of the original with a 'happy' ending – sacrilege! – and the added gimmick of featuring such well known jazz artists as Charles Mingus, Dave Brubeck and John Dankworth. Gimmick or not, the movie is worth a look if only for the exhilarating musical numbers and a rare look at Mingus and Brubeck in their only appearance in a dramatic film. Even more compelling is Patrick McGoohan's frenzied, hyperactive performance as the scheming sociopath Johnnie Cousin.” In his November 11, 1962, “British Film Scene” column in ''The New York Times,'' Stephen Watts includes a piece on Patrick McGoohan, “On the Ascendant”, in which he notes that the actor “has been well received here for his appearance as the somewhat neurotic jazz drummer in ''All Night Long''.”

Home media

The film was released in the UK by Network DVD in 2007, and by

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scho ...

in January 2011. A blu-ray edition was released by Network DVD in 2016.

Original music

Philip Green Sir Philip Nigel Ross Green (born 15 March 1952) is a British businessman who was the chairman of the retail company the Arcadia Group. He owned the high street clothing retailers Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge from 2002 to 2020. As of M ...

(additional music "The Chase") *

(additional music "Sax Reference") * John Scott (additional music "Scott-Free") *

(additional music, a new recording of "It's a Raggy Waltz") *Dave Brubeck and

(improvised composition "Non-Sectarian Blues" s_it_is_titled_on_Columbia_Records_releases.html" ;"title="Columbia_Records.html" ;"title="s it is titled on Columbia Records">s it is titled on Columbia Records releases">Columbia_Records.html" ;"title="s it is titled on Columbia Records">s it is titled on Columbia Records releases

References

External links

* * * *
Criterion Collection Essay
{{DEFAULTSORT:All Night Long 1962 films 1962 drama films Fiction set in the 1960s British black-and-white films British drama films Films about interracial romance Films based on Othello Films directed by Basil Dearden Films set in London Films shot at Pinewood Studios Jazz films 1960s English-language films 1960s British films