Night Into Morning

Although Night Into Morning gets a bit overwrought at times in most of it Ray Milland hits the right note as the college English professor just overwhelmed with the tragic accidental deaths of his wife Rosemary DeCamp and his young son in a furnace explosion in their house. The pain gets so bad that Professor Milland has many a lost weekend because of it.

Helping him through the crisis are fellow faculty member John Hodiak and department secretary Nancy Davis try to keep Milland grounded. Davis is a war widow and she held on to the memory of a husband killed in the Pacific for quite a bit, she's come to terms and hopes Milland does the same. Hodiak and Davis are an item, but Hodiak is afraid that Davis just might be going a bit overboard in her concern, that she's falling for Milland and putting their relationship in danger.

Lewis Stone has a small role as chair of the English department. I was surprised he was not used more, possibly a Judge Hardy moment with all three of the leads. Jean Hagen has a small memorable role as a cheery woman in the next apartment who has a most interesting scene with Milland. Can't say more, you have to see it.

Those stages of grief we go through, Milland just can't let himself go. But when he does you know it will work out.

Leads and supporting cast bring home a winner in Night Into Morning, a textbook study in grief.