Review of The Night Digger

Road Builder/Night Digger owns more than a little of its story line to the movie "Night Must Fall" which as been filmed twice. Roald Dahl adapted the screenplay from the novel Nest from a Fallen Tree for his wife Patricia Neal to star in and she gives her usual fine performance in spinster role. Clay is believable as believable as Billy Jarvis the handsome, charming, but odd ball handyman who works his way into the household. Pamela Brown is well cast as Neal's blind, bitter and bullying mother. Hard to follow because of some sloppy editing and some pedestrian directing by normally reliable Alastair Reed, the movie is one of those could have been a real chiller but it misses the mark with too many slow scenes. It does not maintain an air of suspense and there is very little tension as the story unfolds and leads to a disappointing ending.Bernard Herrmann's score is unmemorable and doesn't add much to the proceedings.. Worth watching for Neal and Brown's performance but be prepared to be let down by the ending