“…a play adapted from the novel of Mr. J. B. Priestley.”
[Manchester Guardian, Dec. 4, 1937] “…to-night from the Regional… Dafydd Gruffydd, who has
done much good dramatic work in the last few months for the Welsh Regional. The play has a
Welsh setting, the scene being ‘somewhere in the mountains.’ Gruffydd will also be the producer,
and he has a strong cast which includes Norman Shelley and Barbara Powell.”
in an old house in Wales. It is the sort of house, as the style in which it is furnished makes very
clear, in which one expects to find a pyromaniac locked in an upper chamber, an incredibly old
and obviously wicked baronet dying in the best bedroom, and a dumb and drunken butler…”
at home with his ‘social’, semi-political books and plays—or with his simple, regional comedies of
manners… Elements of both schools of writing seem to be forced intoBenighted, and get in the
way of the melodrama too often. The one major difference between novel and film was that
Priestley killed off his hero, Penderell, whereas indications in the film that this might have been a
last minute decision.”
travelers who must unwillingly spend a night together in a strange Welsh home. There, in too-
close quarters, the classes collide, and the self-confidence of wealth and station wear thin. It was a
notably English story, and for Whale…the confrontation between rich, poor, and in-between was
one which was the essential truth of English society.”
January 1, 1937“Benighted”
Dafydd Gruffydd.
Dafydd Gruffydd (producer).
December 4, 1937“Benighted”
Dafydd Gruffydd.
Dafydd Gruffydd (producer).
Barbara Powell, Norman Shelley, et al.
December 5, 1946“Benighted”
LUX RADIO THEATRE (SPRINGBOK, JOHANNESBURG)
May 1, 1950“The Old Dark House”