Night into Morning

Plot

Everything is going very well for college professor Phillip Ainley (Ray Milland), who has a loving wife and son and an offer to teach at Yale. But his world turns upside-down when Katherine Mead (Nancy Davis), his secretary, rushes to tell him that there's been a deadly explosion at the professor's home.

His wife and child are killed. Ainley, devastated, becomes morose and turns to drink, causing Mead, a war widow, and best friend Tom Lawry (John Hodiak), her betrothed, to consider these telltale signs that the professor could be suicidal.

A popular athlete on campus has failed an exam and might not graduate, so his girlfriend Dottie (Dawn Addams) appeals to the professor to give him a second chance. A drunken Ainley tells her remaining unmarried might spare them both future heartbreak. He then crashes a car, terrifying the girl and resulting in his arrest.

Character witnesses convince the judge to place Ainley on probation. The professor permits the athlete to take a second exam, then gives him a passing grade. Ainley gets his affairs in order and goes to a hotel, where he plans to take his life. Only a last-minute intervention by Mead saves him, the widow reminding Ainley that she found a new love and new life, just as her first true love would have wanted.

Cast

Reception

According to MGM records the movie earned $556,000 in the US and Canada and $263,000 elsewhere, making a loss to the studio of $312,000.