It is Well to Watch Yield to the Night
Mary Hilton (Diana Dors) works behind the perfume counter in a department store which is how she meets Jim Lancaster (Michael Craig) who went in to buy perfume for a girl. But things turn out with Jim becoming close to Mary and having had no luck with men before with them using and abusing her Mary thinks she has found a real decent guy who loves her. But when she learns that Jim has another woman on the go it causes Mary to snap and she ends up killing the other woman which is how she finds herself in prison and facing a death sentence.
It is easy to build a picture of an actress from the movies you she her in and as such having mainly seen Diana Dors in her later roles I certainly had this picture of what sort of actress she was. But that all changes when you watch "Yield to the Night" because you see that whilst she exuded sex appeal, struggling to conceal it even when dressing down, she also delivers a power performance of a character with so many different layers. We get to see her at her most beautiful as she falls for Jim, but we also get to see her dealing with being stuck in a prison cell, expecting to die and you are literally captivated by her.
But it has to be said that the storyline to "Yield to the Night" whilst not original in design works so brilliantly. As such after a stylish series of opening scenes which sees Mary kill a woman in cold blood we get to see her dealing with being in a prison, waiting to die whilst we get the back story told in flashback as we see how she falls for Jim, learns that he has another woman and we even learn how she ends up with a gun in her home and it has a few surprises along the wya. The best thing I can say is that all the parts connect including Mary getting visited by an elderly lady who has made it her job to visit those inside. You get a real sense that some of the women she encouters end up becoming fond of her. In fact "Yield to the Night" is so well written and acted by Diana Dors that you too feel invested in her and the slim chance of a future.
What this all boils down to is that "Yield to the Night" is a must see movie for those who are not only interested in British cinema but especially for those who only encountered the movies which Diana Dors ws appearing in later on in life.
