Nightmare (1956 film)

New Orleans big band clarinetist Stan Grayson (Kevin McCarthy) has a nightmare in which he sees himself in a mirrored room, killing a man, while in the background, haunting dirge-like music plays. He awakens to find blood on himself, bruises on his neck, and a key from the dream in his hand.

Grayson goes to his brother-in-law, police detective Rene Bressard (Edward G. Robinson), about the problem but is dismissed. Later, the two men go on a picnic in the country with Grayson's girlfriend and sister. Grayson leads them to an empty house, the house of his dream, when it begins to rain. They find a record player, switch it on, and a catchy jazzy tune begins to play. While dancing, Grayson's girlfriend bumps into the record player, changing the speed. Slowed down, the dance music becomes the tune from the nightmare. They are then shocked to see that the house has a mirrored room just like in Grayson's dream. After it is found out that a murder did indeed take place, Grayson becomes Bressard's number one suspect.

Grayson, stressed out and suicidal, protests his innocence, which makes Bressard dig deeper. That leads to them finding out about a hypnotist living in Grayson's building who apparently set up the musician for murder. Bressard now has to prove that although Grayson committed the murder, he was acting against his will.

• Edward G. Robinson as Rene Bressard
• Kevin McCarthy as Stan Grayson
• Connie Russell as Gina, Stan's Girl
• Virginia Christine as Mrs. Sue Bressard
• Rhys Williams as Deputy Torrence
• Gage Clarke as Harry Britten
• Marian Carr as Madge Novick
• Barry Atwater as Capt. Warner
• Meade Lux Lewis as Meade
• Billy May and His Orchestra as Themselves

The film was the first production of Pine-Thomas-Shane Productions, a new iteration of Pine-Thomas Productions. Pine-Thomas had been based at Paramount from 1940 to 1954. They made a contract with United Artists, but William H. Pine died. The company was renamed Pine-Thomas-Shane to reflect the contribution of long-time screenwriter Maxwell Shane; the "Pine" was Howard Pine, William Pine's son. The film was meant to be the first of three films PTS would make for United Artists, the others being Lincoln McEever and The Mountain Has No Shadow.[4]

Billy May and His Orchestra perform in this version as themselves. They also provide the theme tune, Nightmare in New Orleans.[4]

Even though Robinson was not the hypnotist in the film, he was promoted as such in the film's movie posters.

Filming started 31 October 1955.[5]

The New York Times called it "a modest melodrama with some crooked turns but neat performances."[6] The Los Angeles Times called it "draggy".[7]

• List of American films of 1956

• Review of film at Noir of the Week
• Review of film at Harrisons Reports