Night of the Demon (1957)

Night of the Demon (aka Curse of the Demon) (1957): adapted by Charles Bennett, Hal E. Chester, and Cy Endfield, from the short story "Casting the Runes" by M.R. James; directed by Jacques Tourneur; starring Dana Andrews (Dr. John Holden), Peggy Cummins (Joanna Harrington) and Niall MacGinnis (Dr. Julian Karswell): 

It's too bad there's no way to see the pure Charles Bennett version of this movie: producer Hal E. Chester added some unfortunate bits (including the mostly infamous demon close-up) and probably subtracted others. An opening Dana Andrews voice-over is especially unnecessary. 

What's left is still a fine horror movie with outstanding performances throughout. It isn't patricularly faithful to the M.R. James short story it adapts, though most of the logic of the supernatural is kept intact. Niall MacGinnis is a stand-out as the mostly malevolent magician, who nonetheless dotes on his mother and seems to be charmingly harmless unless you disagree with him. 

Dana Andrews is solid as the lead, skeptical American psychologist John Holden, who gradually loses that skepticism as evidence of the supernatural mounts. Peggy Cummins is also good as Holden's partner in demon-busting, and the supporting characters are pretty much all memorable as well. 

The long-shots of the demon are relatively effective, though its more sinister manifestations remain, in master horror-director Tourneur's hands, shadows and fog and whirling, discordant noises. 

One of the oddities of Chester's decision-making with the fire demon lies in the fact that it's smaller than a man in James' story but a looming, King-Kong-sized giant here. Sometimes less is more, especially when it comes to horror. Highly recommended.