Straight On Till Morning

Rita Tushingham - Brenda Thompson
Shane Briant - Peter
James Bolam - Joey
Katya Wyeth - Caroline
Annie Ross - Liza
Tom Bell - Jimmy Lindsay

Marketed as "A Love Story from Hammer," Straight on Till Morning was indeed a strange and unique departure for the studio known mainly for its horror films. Legendary jazz vocalist Annie Ross co-stars in this offbeat 1972 psychosexual thriller written by Michael Peacock from his stage play and directed in cinema verite with a bludgeon by Peter Collinson, it remains one of the most disturbing and adult films in Hammer history. The Peter Pan analogy was devoid of tension and atmosphere and an obvious disappointment to Michael Carreras who released it on a double-bill with Fear in the Night.

An ugly duckling (Rita Tushingham) yearns to leave her drab Liverpool life and move to swinging London to find her 'Prince Charming.' Once in London, Brenda gets a job at a terrible clothes shop run by Jimmy (Tom Bell), and lodges with his girlfriend (Katya Wyeth). She works in the back room with Joey (James Bolam). But the big city holds some nasty surprises for the naive young woman when she becomes obsessed with a handsome gigolo (Shane Briant) who may be a depraved serial killer. Will this bizarre relationship have the storybook ending she's always dreamed of, or can even the most beautiful of fairy tales lead to cruelty, madness and brutal murder? Does anybody care?