Freeview film of the day: Dead of Night

Dead of Night ★★★★★
6.30-8.35pm Talking Pictures TV

Ealing will for ever be associated with its celebrated comedies, but this chilling quintet deserves to be considered among the studio's finest achievements. Including stories penned by HG Wells and EF Benson, Dead of Night illustrates how ghost stories should be filmed. Alberto Cavalcanti's “The Ventriloquist's Dummy” episode has lost none of its shocking power, thanks largely to Michael Redgrave's astonishing performance, which ranks among the best of his career. There's also much to raise the hair on the back of the neck in Robert Hamer's “The Haunted Mirror”, while the linking story involving architect Mervyn Johns brings the whole thing to a nightmarish conclusion.