Which 1945 British horror anthology film includes the ventriloquist dummy Hugo Fitch? The answer is Dead of Night.
Dead of Night is a 1945 British supernatural horror anthology produced by Ealing Studios. Its framing story brings guests together at a country house, where they recount unsettling experiences. The film contains five episodes, including the famous ventriloquist segment in which Michael Redgrave plays Maxwell Frere, a performer whose dummy is named Hugo.
The character is often referred to simply as Hugo, while the ventriloquist is sometimes confused with the dummy in recollections of the film. Hugo appears to develop an independent, hostile personality, creating a disturbing uncertainty about whether Frere is suffering a psychological breakdown or confronting something supernatural. That ambiguity is central to the episode’s lasting power.
Dead of Night is frequently cited as an influential early killer-dummy film, decades before characters such as the dummy in Magic or later horror toys. Its four credited directors were Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, and Robert Hamer. The American release was shortened, omitting two stories and causing continuity differences from the British version.