Fear in the Night (1947) is a low budget black and white film noir directed by Maxwell Shane and starring Paul Kelly and DeForest Kelley (in his film debut). Based on the Cornell Woolrich story Nightmare. Woolrich is credited under pen name William Irish. The film was remade as Nightmare (1956) with Edward G. Robinson playing the cop and Kevin McCarthy.

Plot

Bank teller Vince Grayson (DeForest Kelley) dreams that he stabs someone in an octagonal room of mirrors and locks the body in a closet. When he wakes up, he discovers marks on his throat, a strange key and a button in his pocket, and blood on his cuff. Cliff Herlihy (Paul Kelly), his policeman brother-in-law tries to convince him it was just a dream. Then, one day, while trying to find shelter from the rain, the pair finds themselves taking shelter in the strange house Vince's dream. After rescued from an attempted suicide by Cliff, the detective uncovers clues that point to an evil hypnotist (Robert Emmett Keane) manipulating Vince.

Quote

I've got an honest man's conscience... in a murderer's body. - Vince (Kelley)