Watch Night Watch For Free

How sad is this?

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

...and Elizabeth Taylor freaking out!Night Watch from 1973 is based on a Broadway play that starred Joan Hackett. Taylor is Ellen Wheeler, married to her busy husband John (Laurence Harvey). They currently have Ellen's best friend Sarah (Billie Whitelaw) visiting. Sarah is having a clandestine affair and sneaks out to meet him. One night, during a storm, Ellen swears she saw a murder victim in the old house across the way. Raising her suspicions is the fact that the man (Robert Lang) who lives in the guest house is digging what looks like a grave. The next day, trees have been planted on it. Ellen's past comes into play here, as she keeps remembering an incident from years ago.The police, however, can't find anything; Ellen then sees another murder victim and lives in a state of hysteria, paranoid and suspicious of everyone and everything. Her husband has a psychiatrist friend (Tony Britton) speak with her, and it's decided it is best if she goes away for a little rest.This is a fun movie, where it seems there is always a horrible storm raging. It contains elements of some other films, as mentioned above. Taylor, who at this point was making a lot of schlock, does a fine job as the unstable Ellen.I did know how this ended ahead of time, having seen part of it ages and ages ago, so I didn't have the twist-ending thrill others have had. Nevertheless, it was very entertaining.One of Taylor's better films from this period - in the hands of better director, it could have been much stronger, since the story and cast are strong. As it is, it's worth watching.

Elizabeth Taylor, fat and frazzled (and sporting a parade of Valentino muu-muus) is "gaslighted" by her seemingly adoring second husband, Laurence Harvey, and her loyal lifelong friend, Billie Whitelaw. (They are, of course, having an affair.) However, this hammily-acted melodrama can't surpass the film that gave the genre it's name, Gaslight, with Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer; or Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder with Grace Kelly and Ray Milland. Not even close despite a great last-minute twist.In the last 20 minutes, Taylor turns the tables on her tormentors and turns into a knife-crazed serial killer. She proves that she has been the mastermind behind this entire drive-her-mad plot, and she destroys the couple in lurid detail (still sporting a flowing lilac caftan, probably to match her famous eyes).So put on your favorite music or read a good book, while the first part of Night Watch plays, but make sure to tune in for the last bit because it qualifies for the so-bad-it's-good list of movies.

An OK thriller about a woman who may or may not be going mad after losing her husband (and his mistress) in a car crash. Elizabeth Taylor & new husband Laurence Harvey live a swank London townhouse abutting an abandoned house. Taylor sees several untoward things going on in the abandoned house, but naturally nobody believes her. Director Brian Hutton builds a decent, if not particularly exciting, suspense film around a fairly flimsy story. Taylor is fine, though her mannered performance grows tiring (she flinches about, twirls her hair in panic and stutters most of her lines). Harvey is a stone (not a compliment) and visiting "friend" Billie Whitelaw is pretty foxy. There's great cinematography by Billy Williams.

The film is disarranged with standard Gothic paraphernalia: a spooky abandoned house, ghosts (perhaps real, perhaps imagined), peals of rolling thunder, prominently displayed kitchen knives… Liz is nonetheless in familiar territory, playing yet another rich, unoccupied, unwanted wife… She's not a shrew this time, though, she's a cool, cunning lady who pretends to be unhinged, cooking up an elaborate display of madness… She sees or thinks she sees—a murder in the deserted house across the courtyard—by which she hopes to entrap her straying husband and her faithless best friend… There are clues throughout, but we aren't fully alerted to her masquerade until the end… Taylor's part is not a flattering one: she plays a woman who has been rejected by two husbands… Her character's acting emphasizes Liz's recent penchant for doing a lot of acting herself… Her show of neurosis, in fact, is too mannered to be consistently convincing… She's best when, at the beginning, she's the serene upper-class wife and again, at the end, when she lashes out directly at her antagonists… In the last reel, when we're upon her and can see the calm deliberation beneath the affected hysterics, she's especially appealing