During One Night

During One Night
Directed by	Sidney J. Furie
Written by	Sidney J. Furie
Produced by	Sidney J. Furie
Starring	Don Borisenko Susan Hampshire
Cinematography	Norman Warwick
Edited by	Antony Gibbs
Music by	Bill McGuffie
Production company	Galaworldfilm Production Ltd.
Distributed by	Gala Film Distributors (UK)
Release date	1 December 1961 (1961-12-01)
Running time	84 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

During One Night also released as Night of Passion is a 1961 British drama film directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Don Borisenko and Susan Hampshire. ^{[1] [2]}

It was Susan Hampshire's first film role.

It was Walton Studios' last production.

It is a fairly gritty but unusual plot line, involving nudity and deep sexual subjects.

Plot

David is a Captain in the American Airforce, based in the South of England during the Second World War. His logic and actions are thrown off course when his Co-Pilot Mike is seriously injured during a mission. Mike survives but the loss of his genitals drives him to suicide, David sets out on a night of potential passion wishing to ensure that he does not die a virgin before his next and final flying mission the following day. He is handsome in his uniform, while nervously chain-smoking, witty but stumbles over his words and lacks confidence.

David has visited Mike in hospital, Mike is distraught at the idea of his injuries interfering with a future sex-life, and begs David to give him any sharp object so he can end his life. David refuses, horrified, and goes to meet his friends in the Mess bar. They gleefully discuss having arranged to appointments with a local sex-worker, but David is pre-occupied by his upsetting visit with Mike and insists on being left alone.

At some point David changes his mind and decides to join his friends illicit trip, he is told where to find the prostitute, who is expecting him. David pays his £5, the sex-worker is chatty, constantly calling David 'sweetie', while David remains quiet and nervous. The woman does her business-like best, especially after realising David is a virgin, but David is unable to have sex, he asks her not to tell his friends and she assures him she won't. The woman gives David practical advice to find an 'amateur' at a dance who'll engage for free, as she hurriedly gets ready for her next client.

David meets up with his friends again, where they are given the news that Mike has succeeded in killing himself. David turns away, facing the camera, and is left alone in shock. He goes to a local dance, still trying to find a female partner. His first choice declines him, saying they haven't been properly introduced, but then an attractive young woman (Jackie Collins) dances with him, they seem to get on well and she quickly asks him to come home with her. But it's a ruse; when the woman asks David to wait outside while she checks if her landlady is around, her male accomplices then appear and violently mug him, stealing his money. They note how well-paid Airmen are, as they head on to another dance and their next victim.

David heads to a nice country Pub to drown his sorrows. He asks the landlady what time the next bus to London is, (planning to escape and desert from the air-force) but by closing time he is unconscious, slumped over the table. The landlady tells her daughter Jean (Hampshire) that she'll call the MPs Military Police to collect him, but Jean tells her mother that she can deal with it, so the landlady retires upstairs – Jean has been watching David, from behind the bar, and seems interested in him. Jean attempts to sober David up, and hides him from the MPs as they check for stragglers from the base. They talk while Jean dries David's jacket in front of the fire, David attempts a kiss but Jean turns away in shyness. They carry on talking until David finally leaves on his mission to get to London, he's missed the 10:30pm bus, so sets out walking. Jean is seen in the Pub, thinking, then pouring herself a large drink, presumably for courage. She seems unused to alcohol as grimaces at the taste of it.

We then see Jean cycling to catch up with David on the road, she asks if she can walk with him, then feigns an ankle injury to steer them into a nearby barn together. They talk further, David explains how he's afraid he'll die on his last mission tomorrow without having experienced sex, Jean reveals that she faked the ankle injury, that unlike David she is not a virgin, and wishes to 'help' him with his quest. They both undress at different sides of the barn, the pathos of the scene set against slightly jarring background music. Next, we see them laid together, with David unhappy that he has been unable to consummate the act, and reassuring Jean it isn't her but him, admitting that he'd had the same problem earlier that night when he'd paid for sex. Jean admits that she lied about having previously had sex, because she wanted to help David.

In the early hours they walk back towards the camp but have to hide from the MPs again, who David tries to goad into shooting him, as he's become convinced there's something hopelessly amiss with him. The MPs decline to shoot, and Jean and David make it back to the Pub where David leaves. The landlady, Jean's mother, comes downstairs asking where she's been. Jean confesses that she's been out with 'a young pilot' but assures her that nothing (sexual) happened, until her mother says that if 'something' had happened then she'd have to call the Police to find the man - Jean realises that this act would prevent David from becoming a deserter, and so changes her account to ensure that David is picked up by the Police.

David is now locked in the village police cell. A cigar smoking Major enters to find out what is going on, he realises that David wants to get himself killed for some unknown reason, and plays along, telling him that a Court martial would be an unnecessary expense for the Army and instead it would be a better plan for David to be shot while attempting to escape. The Major goes to fetch a gun, telling David it is non-army issue gun, and tells him there is a good spot for the execution that they can drive to, David resignedly goes along. They drive back in a Jeep, with David driving and philosophising about death. The Major tells him they've reached a good place, David stops the car, still determined to get himself shot, and runs into a field. The Major takes aim and fires, David falls and the Major rushes over to his body. But David is uninjured as the 'Major' had deliberately missed, we see a Christian Cross badge gleaming on the Major's jacket and David realises the man is actually a Military Chaplain, not a Major. The Chaplain explains no-one else was available, and also that he had never fired a gun before. The Chaplain surmises that his stunt has worked; David has realised he is relieved not to have been shot and does not really want to die after all. David happily accepts a cigar, which he had earlier refused saying they 'make him go green' and vomit, as they philosophise further about missions and death.

They drive back to town, Jean is stood on the Pub doorstep, and the Major persuades David to go say goodbye to Jean, saying they'll pick him up again in an hour. Inside the Pub, Jeans offers to make Coffee, David jokes that he thought all English people only drank Tea, he puts a coin in a fortune-telling spin machine which falls onto the reading "Your love will be returned", and starts to play Darts. They sit and drink coffee, Jean says she loves him, and asks David to say it back. David asks how can he love her when he is not 'a man', but then he says it and they embrace passionately. Disappearing behind a discreet settee, we next see them lying side by side in front of the log fire. David lights a cigarette from the fire and tells Jean he is no longer afraid to die in the air tomorrow, Jean tells him not to talk like that, while David assures he is at peace now he is 'a man'. Jean quietly tells him to come back (safely after tomorrows flying mission).

The next and final scene of the film is a close up of Jean's face looking upwards into the sky as a squadron of fighter planes take to the air, presumably with David on-board.

Cast

• Don Borisenko as David
• Susan Hampshire as Jean
• Sean Sullivan as Major
• Joy Webster as Prostitute
• Graydon Gould as Mike
• Tom Busby as Sam
• Alan Gibson as Harry
• Barbara Ogilvie as Mother
• Jackie Collins as Girl
• Michael Golden as Constable
• Roy Stephens as Driver
• Colin Maitland as Gunner
• Pamela Barney as Nurse
• John Bloomfield as M.P. Sgt.
• Sean McCan as M.P.
• Barry McClean as Tough

References

1. "During One Night (1961)". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 May 2023.
2. "During One Night (1960) - Sidney J. Furie | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related". AllMovie.

External links

• During One Night at IMDb