- Directed by Charles Crichton
- Written by Angus MacPhail, John Baines
- Stars: Mervin Jones, Roland Culver, Mary Merrlll
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 43 Minutes
- Link: https://amzn.to/3erZjfR
Synopsis
Walter Craig, an architect, comes to an old country house to do some remodeling on a couple of bedrooms. There are five other guests staying the night as well, but Craig thinks they are a hallucination at first. He’s dreamed of these people before, over and over in a recurring dream. He recognized the whole group although he’s never really met any of them. He does claim one more woman will be joining them later if his dream is true.
The Hearse Driver
In the first tale, Hugh Grainger, the driver of a race car, crashes and wakes up in the hospital. Joyce the nurse takes care of him. That night, Hugh wakes up and looks out the window, and it’s suddenly 4 p.m. and daylight. There’s a hearse outside, and the driver looks up and says “room for one more, sir!” He looks again, and it’s ten p.m. again. Within a week, Hugh is better and leaves the hospital. It’s daytime, and he gets ready to board the bus. The conductor says, “there’s room for one more,” and Hugh backs off. Soon, the bus crashes, killing everyone on board.
Back in the linking story, the sixth guest appears, just as Mr. Craig has predicted. Dr. Van Straaten thinks this all may be trick or practical joke. Craig explains what’s going to happen to the group, and it’s not a pleasant thing. Could Craig have been given foreknowledge in the same way Hugh was warned in his story?
The Christmas Story
Mrs. Foley tells her story, which happened one Christmas. There’s a huge children’s party, and they all decide to have a big game of hide and seek. Foley goes upstairs into one of the bedrooms, but she’s quick found by a boy. She’s cold, and he says “It’s a cold from beyond the grave,” and that the house is haunted by a boy who had his head nearly cut off by a girl. They get separated, and Sally finds a secret room where she finds a crying boy. She puts the boy to bed and sings to him. Sally goes back to the party and tells the others about the boy, who, of course, turns out to be the dead boy.
Back in the real world, Van Straaten once again tries to debunk the story. Craig is confused because he says he’s going to hit Sally savagely, but that can’t be true because Sally is going to leave in a few minutes. As predicted, Sally’s mother comes in and takes her away.
The Haunted Mirror
Joan starts her story. She bought her fiancé Peter a mirror for a gift. He puts it up on the wall. Later, Peter sees himself in the mirror, but he’s in a different room. Later that night, it does the same thing again. Over the next few weeks, Peter is becoming more and more irritable; he’s not sleeping well. Every time he looks at the mirror, he sees that other room. The room is trying to claim him, to draw him in. “There’s something waiting for me on the other side of the mirror. Something evil.” Joan and Peter look into the mirror together, and he doesn’t see her at all. Peter gets better for a few weeks, and then he starts seeing things again. Joan goes back to the antique shop where she bought the mirror and she sees the bed that Peter described from his vision. They belonged to a madman who killed his wife and himself in front of that mirror. Peter goes mad, and Joan ends up smashing the mirror – which snaps him out of it.
Van Straaten once again uses psychobabble to explain it all away, which is starting to annoy the other guests. Craig wants to avoid the horrible fate that awaits him, but the doctor says that’s giving in to his delusion.
The Golfing Story
Mr. Foley tells his story. George and Larry were golfing partners until Mary came along, and then they became a triangle. They decide to play each other 18 holes, and the winner gets Mary. Oddly enough, Mary is fine with this arrangement. George wins, but Larry thinks George cheated. Larry walks into the lake and kills himself. George then gets engaged to Mary. Foley then plays George, and they come to the hole by the lake. George hears Larry’s voice, the ball jumps around, and the trees attack George. Larry appears and tells George to give up both Mary and golf itself. Larry can’t disappear again, as he’s doing something wrong. George and Mary get married, but Larry is never far behind, even on their wedding night. George accidentally trades places with Larry and Larry goes into the wedding bed with Mary, with George just… Gone.
The Ventriloquist
Finally, Dr. Van Straaten tells a story about a ventriloquist who had gone insane. Van Straaten was called in to evaluate the man. The ventriloquist, Frere, won’t talk unless they get Hugo the dummy back to him.
In a further back flashback, Sylvester, a different ventriloquist goes to see Frere, and Hugo the dummy is impressed with him. Frere and Hugo get into an argument and leave the show.
Sylvester goes to Frere’s dressing room to talk to Frere, but only Hugo is there. Sylvester says it sounds just like the dummy was doing the speaking. “You don’t know what Hugo is capable of,” says Frere. Someone here clearly has mental problems.
That night, Hugo insults a group in a bar, and Frere gets beaten up. Sylvester goes to Frere’s rescue. Frere explains that Hugo is the one who runs the act. Later, the two men find Hugo in Sylvester’s room, but Sylvester didn’t do it. Frere shoots Sylvester, who is going to recover.
Van Straaten gives Hugo back to Frere in the jail cell, and Hugo threatens to go with Sylvester when Frere goes to jail. Frere “smothers” Hugo. But it isn’t so easy to get rid of the dummy…
Back in the real world, things start unfolding as Craig said it would from his dream. Craig says Van Straaten killed one of his friends and then strangles the doctor. Craig then runs from story to story, through the mirror and Christmas hide and seek, killing the various other people as he goes. They end up throwing him in a cell with “room for one more inside.” Except he’s not alone; Hugo is in there with him. Hugo then strangles Craig.
Craig wakes up; he’s had that damned dream again. He gets a call from Mr. Foley to come out to his country him and help remodel some bedrooms. He thinks that name sounds very familiar, but can’t place it. Maybe by going, it’ll help him get rid of those horrible nightmares.
Commentary
The golfing story was done mostly for laughs and almost had a fairy tale quality about it, but the other stories all take themselves very seriously. Actually, the golfing story was so over-the-top silly that it really didn’t fit and seemed out of place.
I wonder how many stories have been told with the main ideas from the “Room for one more” story? The hunted mirror was stretched out a little too long, but most of the stories were just the right length.
Unlike most anthologies, this wraparound story actually had a lot going for it and as entertaining itself. Some of the stories were better than others, but overall, it’s a really good, really old anthology film.