| Night Into Morning | |
| Director: | Fletcher Markle |
| Producer: | Edwin H. Knopf |
| Music: | Carmen Dragon |
| Cinematography: | George J. Folsey |
| Studio: | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Distributor: | Metro Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Runtime: | 86 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $777,000[1] |
| Gross: | $819,000 |
Night Into Morning is a 1951 American drama film directed by Fletcher Markle and starring Ray Milland, John Hodiak and Nancy Davis.[2] [3]
Everything is going very well for college professor Phillip Ainley, who has a loving wife and son and an offer to teach at Yale. But his world turns upside-down when Katherine Mead, his secretary, rushes to tell him that there's been a deadly explosion at the professor's home.
His wife and child are killed. Ainley, devastated, becomes morose and turns to drink, causing Mead, a war widow, and best friend Tom Lawry, her betrothed, to consider these telltale signs that the professor could be suicidal.
A popular athlete on campus has failed an exam and might not graduate, so his girlfriend Dottie appeals to the professor to give him a second chance. A drunken Ainley tells her remaining unmarried might spare them both future heartbreak. He then crashes a car, terrifying the girl and resulting in his arrest.
Character witnesses convince the judge to place Ainley on probation. The professor permits the athlete to take a second exam, then gives him a passing grade. Ainley gets his affairs in order and goes to a hotel, where he plans to take his life. Only a last-minute intervention by Mead saves him, the widow reminding Ainley that she found a new love and new life, just as her first true love would have wanted.
| +Uncredited (in order of appearance) | ||
| Robert Foulk | Police officer preventing Ainley from rushing into burning house | |
| Wheaton Chambers | Cleric delivering eulogy at funeral of Ainley's wife and son | |
| Matt Moore | Professor Joe Goodman in faculty lounge | |
| John Eldredge | Professor in faculty lounge | |
| Whit Bissell | Salesman assisting Ainley in picking gravestones for his wife and son | |
| Margaret Bert | Woman choosing her lunch in the college cafeteria | |
| Frank McGrath | Angry driver at accident scene | |
| Howard M. Mitchell | Guard in jail where Ainley is held for drunk driving | |
| Percy Helton | Philosophical drunk in jail cell with Ainley | |
| Richard Hale | Judge lecturing Ainley after his arrest for drunk driving | |
| Torben Meyer | Butcher | |
| Mario Siletti | Tony the barber who tells Ainley that he also spent time in jail in the old country | |
| Christopher Knopf | Photography store clerk from whom Ainley picks up developed photos | |
| Wilton Graff | Attorney explaining to Ainley the details of setting up last will |
According to MGM records, the movie earned $556,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $263,000 in other markets, resulting in a loss to the studio of $312,000.[1]