Straight on Till Morning * (1972, Rita Tushingham, Shane Briant, James Bolam, Tom Bell, Annie Ross) – Classic Movie Review 11,146

Straight on Till Morning (1972, Rita Tushingham).

Director Peter Collinson’s 1972 film Straight on Till Morning is a particularly awful, overheated, unconvincingly-played British thriller made by Hammer Films, with Rita Tushingham typecast in a role she had been playing for 10 years as a timid Liverpool innocent in the big city.

Shy, withdrawn Brenda Thompson (Tushingham) gets a job in a boutique in London and moves in with swinging Caroline (Katya Wyeth). But Brenda is soon in big trouble when she finds herself meeting a charming young psycho serial killer, Peter Clive (played by Shane Briant) after kidnapping his dog to return it and get to know the owner.

The title, a reference to Peter Pan, was changed to Till Dawn Us Do Part for video.

Straight on to something else.

Also in the cast are Tom Bell, Annie Ross, James Bolam, Clare Kelly, Katya Wyeth, Harold Berens, John Clive, Tommy Godfrey, Mavis Villiers, Lola Willard and Paul Brooke.

Straight on Till Morning is directed by Peter Collinson, runs 96 minutes, is made by Hammer Films, is released by Anglo-EMI Film Distributors (1972) (UK) and International Coproductions (1974) (US), is written by John Peacock (original screenplay), is shot in Technicolor by Brian Probyn (director of photography), is produced by Michael Carreras, Peter Collinson and Roy Skeggs (production supervisor), is scored by Philip Martell (musical supervisor) and Roland Shaw (music and music arranger), and designed by Scott MacGregor.

J M Barrie’s Peter Pan tells Wendy that Neverland is ‘second star to the right, and straight on till morning’.

Annie Ross sings ‘Straight on Till Morning’ (music by Annie Ross, lyrics by Annie Ross and John Peacock).

The BBFC cut the film in 1972 for an X rating.

The opening shots of ‘Liverpool’ were filmed in Battersea, London.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,146

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