8 Chilling Old-Hollywood Movies You Need To See
7. Yield To The Night (1956)
Director J. Lee Thompson makes his second appearance on our list with this truly harrowing tale of a young British woman's final days on death row.
Released as Blonde Sinner in U.S. markets, Yield to the Night has never gotten the dues it deserves from audiences or critics. Diana Dors shatters her image as "England's Marilyn Monroe" with a performance that manages to be both chilling and achingly tragic.
The definition of a tragic heroine, as an audience we are spellbound as we watch Dors' Mary Hilton recount her former life before her impending death. We witness her change from a glamorous, successful young woman to a broken and tormented husk before our very eyes.
British audiences found the change jarring and were somewhat appalled at the all-singing, all-dancing Diana Dors as a cold-blooded murderess. However her performance displays depth, an admirable understanding of her craft and cannot be missed.
Aside from Dors, Yield to the Night wonderfully captures the grim reality and isolation of prison life and the assorted officers assigned to watch over Mary make for various colorful and interesting characters. Yvonne Mitchell's MacFarlane in particular raises the quandary of whether a guard can become too close to an inmate.
Truly the best of British, this chilling and terrifying drama deserves more recognition.