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Alison Courtland (Claudette Colbert) wakes up in the middle of the night on a speeding train, she has no idea how she got there...

Staring Claudette Colbert, Robert Cummings, Don Ameche, George Coulouris, with support coming from Rita Johnson & Raymond Burr. Directed by Douglas Sirk, adapted by St. Clair McKelway (Cy Endfield & Decla Dunning uncredited) from a novel by Leo Rosten, scored by Rudy Schrager and Joseph Valentine provides the cinematography.

Practically brushed aside by its director, pulled from pillar to post by the genre assignment police, and called everything from a woman's melodrama to a psychological film noir, Sleep, My Love is a film that one could easily be led to believe is just not very good, or at best, confusing. Nether of the last two statements apply as far as I'm concerned.

Firstly it has to be said (since every amateur reviewer in the land has done thus far) this is closer to the likes of Gaslight (Re: Thornton Square et al) than any femme/homme fatale driven piece of cinema. Secondly it should be noted that it's no surprise Sirk turned his nose up at the finished film, because it's a far cry from the "woman's" pictures that would make and solidify his career. What we get is a tight, if formulaic, story, that is mostly acted competently and is filmed quite excellently with an expressionistic bent by Valentine.

Very early on in the piece we are privy to just what is going on, something that those who crave a mystery element may find an irritation. But here's the thing, the atmospherics on offer are enough to carry the viewer through to the finale, where, we await the outcome of the villainous dalliances that have made up the plot. Along the way we have been treated to a number of potent scenes, such as the rushing train opener and a balcony hold your breath moment. Then there's the house itself, wonderfully moody with its looming staircase, it's constantly swathed in shadows as Valentine utilises it to the maximum to make it an imposing character all by itself. In fact fans of shadow play should love the goods here since the film is 98% filmed with shadows.

There's some issues (naturally). Ameche is weak as the treacherous husband, and when one finds that the hulking and deathly sullen eyed Burr is underused, one can't help think that the film would have greatly benefited from those two swapping roles. Hazel Brooks as the "other woman" is also badly underused, an annoyance since what little we do get hints at a sizzling and murky affair that begged to be fleshed out more in the noir tradition. And boy what a pair of legs did our Hazel possess!

It's a damn fine film in spite of the little itches, one that deserves a bit more support than it actually gets. As for what genre it does belong to? Well psychological melodrama filmed in a film noir style sits about right one feels. 7.5/10

Claudette Colbert wakes on the train bound to Boston. She has no memory of anything beyond going to bed the previous evening. In South Station she runs into college chum Rita Johnson, and her friend, Robert Cummings. Meanwhile, Claudette's husband, Don Ameche, is reporting her as missing to the police. He seems relieved when he gets her phone call. But there's more.

It soon becomes clear this is a rather sinister film noir, with Ameche gaslighting Miss Colbert so he can have her committed. It's a slow, deliberate movie, and quite creepy, with director Douglas Sirk getting in early potshots at the well-to-do. Mary Pickford is credited as the presenter, and her husband, Charles "Buddy" Rogers is one of the producers. It's a topnotch noir, one of the last Miss Pickford produced.

Sleep, My Love (1948)

OK, it's a no brainer. I love Claudette Colbert, I love this post-war period, and I love Douglas Sirk, the director. So it only figures that this unfolds in a delicious way.

The closest film to this is "Gaslight," which George Cukor makes into something more intense and memorable than this. But "Gaslight" is burdened by a kind of contorted plot--the reasoning behind the fake madness is some crazy lost jewel. This one, by fortunate contrast, is a really believable plot, and Colbert is faced with a very normal plot of a husband out to drive her away.

There are some weaknesses--the husband's girlfriend is pretty stiff, the Chinese pal is decent but sort of tacked on, and the overall development of things is too linear for a second viewing. But as a straight up drama, from start to finish, it's really strong. And a surprise for me was how charming in a low key way was Robert Cummings, the white knight of the story. Colbert's husband was played by the more famous Don Ameche, who is fine, though you get a sense he's going through the paces of a part, something he wasn't quite invested in.

The director is famous for his later dreamy, drippy soap opera movies that are quite something on their own terms, but this is good, and an important one to see if you like his work. For me, above all, is just another great Colbert appearance. First rate in many ways.

This thriller starts off with Claudette Colbert asleep on a speeding train and screaming soon after awakening because she has no idea how she got there. At home husband Don Ameche is being interviewed by the police after he calls them because of her disappearance the previous evening. This will be just the first in a series of bizarre circumstances for Colbert.

This film is nicely photographed and has some impressive sets. It also features Robert Cummings as a nice young man Colbert meets who becomes interested in her, George Coulouris in thick horn rimmed glasses playing a creepy guy, something that came very naturally to George Coulouris, and Hazel Brooks, looking very seductive and slinking around, much as she had recently done in another independent production of considerably more fame today than this one, Body and Soul.

Once you realize, however, that this is another Gaslight-type thriller (and it gives its hand away fairly early), it all starts to seem like territory a little too familiar. It also gets more than a little silly when the husband puts a sleeping potion into his wife's hot chocolate at night which seems to make her highly susceptible to any suggestion that he may whisper into her ear once she falls asleep.

For myself, recalling the charm that Colbert and Ameche had brought to the screen almost a decade before when they appeared in director Mitchell Leisen's sly, sophisticated comedy bauble, Midnight, I was a little dismayed to see them together again under these Gaslight circumstances. Still, Sleep, My Love, while far fetched at times, is an adequate thriller for fans of the genre.

There are overtones of "Gaslight" in this watchable little movie from 1948 in that it has the same plot -that of a husband trying to persuade his wife that she is going mad .It sets its story in a then contemporary USA rather than foggy London town in the era of hansom cabs and cobbled streets. The husband is Richard Courtland (Don Ameche) who wishes to get his paws on his wife Alison 's inheritance in order that he can then marry his mistress ,the delectable Daphne ( Hazel Brooks)/the wife is played by Claudette Colbert. To this end he is covertly administering hypnotic drugs. The movie opens with Alison on a train and not knowing how she got there.Later she tries to jump from a balcony with no apparent motive for her actions and the movie builds to a neat and edgy climax on the Brooklyn Bridge .Out to stop the husband's evil machinations is "Bruce Eliot" played by Robert Cummins

Supporting roles are in the capable hands of such performers as George colouris (playing a phoney shrink),Raymond Burr as a sceptical policeman and such adroit bit part players as Ralph Morgan and Keye Luke .They indeed ,outshine the leads who are all adequate but slightly miscast and playing against type

The plot is predictable but Douglas Sirk does a good job of building suspense with some deft Hitchcockian touches

Alison Courtland (Claudette Colbert) is victim of amnesia , unable to remember why she left left New York city on a train to Boston . As she wakes up in the middle of the night on board a train, but she cannot remember how she got there. Along the way, on the train , she meets a sympathetic man named Bruce Elcott (Robert Cummings) who helps her . Later on , she finds her husband (Don Ameche) and the sinister Charles Vernay (George Coulouris) . Danger and suspense ensue....the most terrifying words a man ever whispered to a woman! ...the cast of the year in the picture of the year!

From the opening moments aboard a train rushing throughout the rail , intrigue , suspense and tension are kept up tense pacing . "Sleep, My Love" is a pretty good movie , though unfortuntely , this nice work was dismissed by Douglas Sirk himself . In the wake of ¨Gaslight¨ directed by George Cukor with Colbert's demise being planning by her apparently loving hubby . Suspenseful and intriguing scenes by giving rise to a suitably nightmarish evocation of shifting appearances and rare insanity . Well directed in Film Noir-mould and while not the first film to take advantage of the drugs can be used when essential to the plot loophole , certainly the use of a drug was most fundamental to the story . Claudette Colbert delivers a very good acting as the damsel in distress deceived by her husband . When she made this picture Claudette had been a top-star for over 20 years and she was approaching the end of the main , uninterrumpted part of her glorious career .While the interpretation is strong through , nowhere more so than a dark role performed by George Coulouris as a bogus psychiatrist . Support cast is frankly good , such as : Rita Johnson , Queenie Smith, Ralph Morgan , a young Keye Luke to have a long career and includes an early intervention by Raymond Burr as an Investigator and special mention for gorgeous Hazel Brooks as a femme fatal .

It contains experessionist cinematography by Joseph Valentine , with plenty of lights and shades . This Mary Pickford United Artists's production for Triangle Productions was well directed by the long-neglected , nowadays esteemed Douglas Sirk , who made a compelling and superb work equal to his competent films of the mid to late 50s . He was a fundamental filmmaker who gave prestigious movies , usually collaborating with similar technicians as cameraman Russell Metty , Production Designer Alexander Golitzen , Producer Ross Hunter and writer George Zuckerman . Sirk directed a lot of classic melodramas , such as : Never say goobye , Interlude , Summerstorm , The first legion , The lady pays off , Tarnished Angels , A time to love a time to die , Magnificent obsession , All that heaven allows , Written in the Wind . But he also directed other genres as WWII : Mystery submarine , Hitler's madmen , A time to love and a time to die ; Thrillers and Film Noir : Shockproof , Thunder on the hill , A scandal in Paris , Lured ; Historical : Attila with Jack Palance ; Adventures : Thunderbolt and Lightfoot with Hudson and Barbara Rush ; and even a Western : Taza . Rating : 7/10 , better than average . Worthwhile watching.

In maybe the only time he was a villain on screen Don Ameche uses his dapper charm against type playing a coldblooded man who is trying to drive his very rich wife Claudette Colbert out of her mind. Ameche has been thoroughly seduced by a sultry Hazel Brooks otherwise he'd probably stay a rich kept husband, it's Colbert who has all the bucks in the family.

As part of his plan he has George Coulouris who took a patent out on sinister and who is a photographer in real life going in the guise of a psychiatrist. That and some psychotropic drugs administered and a little amnesia have Colbert thinking she is indeed ready for the rubber room.

Sleep My Love is a combination of Gaslight and Dial M For Murder and the comparisons are obvious since Bob Cummings plays the same kind of role in both films, the sympathetic friend who gives the heroine a shoulder to cry on. He's a bit more proactive in this film than in the Hitchcock classic as he figures out slowly that Colbert is not just imagining things.

Keye Luke has a role of companion 'brother' to Cummings. In fact Colbert and Cummings attend his wedding during the film. What was nice here was that his role was stereotypical in no way. Luke was not constantly make a mess that Charlie Chan would have to straighten out.

As much as the stars give good performances, you will remember Hazel Brooks from this film more than anyone. How a sexy woman like that never had a major career one can only wonder.

Arise My Love was a United Artists release and produced by one of the founding mothers of the studio Mary Pickford. A role she might well have played in the later stages of her career. And Hitchcock himself couldn't have done better with the suspense.

Claudette Colbert doesn't realize her husband is out to kill her in "Sleep, My Love," a film directed by Douglas Sirk and also starring Don Ameche, Robert Cummings, and George Couloris. Sirk, later known for some big dramas in the '50s, was clearly out of his element here in this derivative story. The film begins like a Pat O'Brien film from the '40s, "Crack-Up" - on a train with another train coming in the other direction, its light shining in the face of the main character - and ends on a terrace like "Gaslight." "Crack-up," "Gaslight" and "Sleep, My Love" all have similar premises, give or take a few elements.

Colbert awakens on a train she doesn't remember boarding; it soon is revealed to the audience that her husband (Ameche) is trying to kill her, get her money, and live happily ever after with a babe (Rita Johnson). His accomplice is a photographer who works with Rita (Couloris). Bob Cummings, however, who is a little smitten with Colbert, starts smelling a rat.

The pacing of this film is off - what should or could be exciting just isn't. It just kind of moseys along. Partly this is due to some dull performances. The only interesting role is that of Colbert's; the rest of them just stand around being cardboard. I don't dislike Ameche or Cummings - they were both two very likable actors, Ameche being quite versatile, but they don't offer much in the way of oomph.

Derivative films can still be fun and thrilling. Because I like this genre so much, I was disappointed.

So what we have here is a sub Hitchcock thriller whilst not being terrible in great neither. When Alison Courtland finds herself waking on a train with a gun in hr possession and no idea of how she got there a mystery in set in motion. Is Alison going mad are or there more skuldugerous machinations in place. A well paced film where the characters are true to form and he ending very apparent this is still enjoyable, though I would not go out of my way to view the movie again. However I would spend a lazy afternoon watching it on TV. This is a movie that is definitely of its age with the lead female characters being particularly sub servant and the heroes' proper heroes. If you like noir add a star but worth a go.

Slick suspenser from United Artists. Courtland (Ameche) has an elaborate plot to kill his wife, Alison (Colbert), get her money, and shack-up with mistress Daphne (Brooks). Good thing Bruce (Cummings) takes a covert romantic interest in Alison otherwise she'd be toast. The material may be derivative but director Sirk knows how to smooth out the rough spots, maybe too much so. The suspense never really kicks in. I suspect that's because Ameche's too bland to generate needed menace. (Perhaps he was looking to modify his nice guy screen image, but not too much.)Thus bad things happen to a drugged-up Alison, but in serial fashion without the driving dark force behind it. Instead Coulouris (Vernay) conveys what evil sense there is. As a result, the narrative builds, without intensifying.

Nonetheless, the movie has its moments—the train's sudden passage that had me clutching my chair, the sudden shattering of the office door, the plunge through the corkscrew staircase. But most memorable to this noir fan is Hazel Brooks. She's the most commanding spider woman I've seen in years of viewing. Icy, majestic, sensual, no wonder Courtland conspires to dump the ordinary-looking Alison. I love that scene where she sits, bare legged, in an elevated queenly chair while commoner Courtland supplicates from below. I wish there were more bio on her all-too-brief career.

All in all, it's decent noir but minus the character edges to make it memorable.

I am generally not a big fan of Douglas Sirk so I approached this movie with some skepticism. I think this is the best movie I have seen by him. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but wonder what might have been in the hands of a firm noir master. The movie opens with a confused and upset Claudette Colbert traveling on a train to Boston from New York. She is attended to, regains her wits about her, and the movie begins to unfold. Unfortunately, the "mystery" is revealed much too soon. Robert Cummings is in an all-too-familiar role for him reminiscent of "Dial M for Murder" or "The Lost Moment" rescuing the damsel-in-distress. Raymond Burr makes an appearance early in the film and looks to be an interesting part of the proceedings but then disappears. Hazel Brooks is an actress that I was unfamiliar with and was very good in her bad girl role. The rest of the cast was okay and that was pretty much how I felt about the rest of the movie. It's between 6 and 7 and I gave it the benefit of the doubt.

A perfectly serviceable film noir, surprisingly directed by Douglas Sirk before he embarked on his searing dissections of the American family in the mid - late 50's.

It has a good cast, the great Claudette Colbert in a role which probably should have been played by an actress at least ten years younger, the man with the most dangerous moustache in Hollywood, Don Ameche as her suave, conniving husband and the amiable Robert Cumming as her knight-errant, who seems to think nothing of squiring around town an apparently happily married woman, although in the end, it's a good job for her that he does.

The movie could almost have been entitled "Suspicion By Gaslight", it borrows so much from the two thrillers earlier in the decade which saw similar Flash Harry types seemingly out to murder their wives, the twist here being that Claudette's Alison Courtland character is being set up for initially suicide and then, when that fails murder by insanity while sleep-walking.

Yes it's very contrived and gets a bit silly when Ameche and his hot young mistress played by Hazel Brooks, try to give Alison nightmares by employing a frankly dull, bespectacled photographer as the mysterious disappearing bogey-man who will drive her literally to distraction.

Colbert probably never had an easier gig in that she's only really required to act either distressed or drunk, that is when she's not sleeping, Cummings is likeable as the persistent amateur sleuth and Ameche is convincing as the debonair husband with eyes not only on his rich wife's fortune but also Brooks' frequently displayed legs.

Sirk may not be a Hitchcock or Lang, ultimately lacking their distinctive black humour or flair, but he certainly doesn't sleepwalk through the feature, moving the action along nicely, demonstrating in the process his skill for deep focus photography and noir tropes like reflections and shadows, plus a good noir is never complete without a fall from a great height.

It certainly kept me awake all the way through!

Fans of Gaslight will love Sleep, My Love, a similar marital mystery starring Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, and Robert Cummings. Claudette starts the movie waking up on a train with no memory of how she got there. Her husband, Don, tells the police that she was violent with him before running away. With no memory of such behavior, she agrees to do whatever he says to mend their relationship and fix her obvious health problem.

But what if her husband isn't as doting and innocent as he seems? What if Claudette is the victim instead? These types of stories are making a resurgence in popularity in modern times, so consider checking this one out if you like them. This isn't my favorite of Claudette's movies, but I was entertained by the story. It's nice to see her and Don in different types of roles; how often does he get to play a bad guy?

I was expecting a lot from this film because it is a Douglas Sirk film but nada. Its a good enough film with a good enough story. Clearly, the opulence and melodrama that drives his later work is not here. Even the dramatic masterclass is not present. Just a by the numbers Film Noir of the period. It just felt too familiar. Just enough zigzag to compel and create mystery but without the weight or suspense that you'd like to see in a big production of the time. Other than that, nothing really worthwhile. Even the performances of Colbert and Ameche is serviceable. Just ok [3/5]

Sirk delivers the goods. I don't know what it is about these "Gaslight" scenarios that I love so much, maybe it's just so delightfully devious. Okay, so the story is pretty damn predictable, but it's a really fun movie. Claudette Colbert (teamed up once again with Don Ameche, although in a far different way than MIDNIGHT) isn't great, but it's kind of a tricky role and she pulls it off pretty well. And for once, I enjoyed a Robert Cummings performance. Unfortunately, Raymond Burr doesn't get much to do and neither does femme fatale Hazel Brooks, although she does have a fantastic entrance, as we see her shapely legs coming down the stairs. But the performances aren't the film's strength. It has terrific pacing, some amazing shots (the whole thing is photographed very nicely) and even some good bits of comedy that manage not to undercut the tension. The Chinese wedding, for example, takes a good portion of time away from the action, but it's a delightful scene that establishes the relationship between Colbert and Cummings. Maybe this isn't a groundbreaking noir, but I really enjoyed it, especially for the entertaining (if somewhat routine) plot and superb cinematography.

This is quite an effective little mystery that reminded me at times of "Gaslight" (1944). Claudette Colbert wakes up, suddenly, on a train without any idea how she got there. Repatriated with her husband "Richard" (Don Ameche) she continues to have dizzy spells, increasingly frequent moments of disorientation; she even seems to try to commit suicide. Luckily for her, "Bruce" (Robert Cummings) is on hand to try and fathom out what's happening to her. Is it all in her imagination, or are more sinister machinations afoot...? Douglas Sirk manages well to build a sense of suspense, and both Colbert and a particularly seedy Cummings help the plot develop into a decent, psychological drama that has a fair degree of jeopardy to it - right until the end. Keep an eye out for an early example of Raymond Burr doing his detective bit, and Rudy Schrager's score adds richness as the tension mounts.

A man plots his wife's demise while his lover waits impatiently. It treads familiar territory, with the story a variation of "Gaslight." However, it's a lot of fun, thanks to a good cast, a fast pace, and an engaging script. Colbert and Ameche collaborate for the third time ("Midnight" being the best) while Cummings plays a character similar to the one he later played in "Dial M for Murder." The tension is nicely balanced with touches of humor, with Johnson providing most of the comic relief. Before he became known for directing a series of melodramas in the 1950s, Sirk dabbled in some film noir, and this is his best, a big improvement over the previous year's "Lured."

Alison Courtland (Claudette Colbert) wakes up in terror on a sleeping car headed for Boston from her home in NYC. She has no idea why she is on the train or how she got there and her hysteria points to breakdown with perhaps violent repercussions. Her concerned husband (Don Ameche) suggests therapy but it is all a ruse on his part to be with another woman (Hazel Brooks).

Director Douglas Sirk's present day "Gaslight" is filled with some intense atmospherics but it is more melodrama than noir with Colbert a combination of silly and strident going up against an obviously insincere Don Ameche who a charming and resourceful Bob Cummings is trying to save her from. George Coulouris as an unctuous partner in crime is the films most interesting character while fatale Brooks as Daphne has a couple of strong scenes degrading a subservient Ameche.

With two far better films of similar scenarios in the Gaslights featuring Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman(1944) and Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynward (1940) little reason other than comparison and a few deft Sirk touches to watch.

We're into familiar territory again with this would-be sleeper about a woman being drugged by her husband (DON AMECHE) for her inheritance and trying all manner of tricks to get her to think she's going insane.

It all has a familiar ring--although this time, under Douglas Sirk's direction, it's all much too contrived and not too convincing in its execution.

CLAUDETTE COLBERT is the poor victimized wife (but she's no Ingrid Bergman) and the cast-against-type DON AMECHE is much too affable to be chilling as the husband, unlike CHARLES BOYER in "Gaslight". Interestingly, ROBERT CUMMINGS is playing the same sort of role he essayed years later in "Dial M For Murder" whereby he helped Grace Kelly who was caught up in a sinister plot by her husband. Whatever, he's still pretty bland.

In fact, that's the trouble with the whole film. It's bland despite the makings of a plot that should be mystifying and terrifying. Maybe a director other than Sirk could have done things with the bare bones of the story that would have turned it into the kind of chiller it's striving to be.

Summing up: Not really worth your time.