Silent Night

Christmas Eve 1818, Oberndorf Austria.

Franz Gruber, the Saint Nikolaus church organist, has been inspired to compose the "Silent Night" melody for a Christmas Eve nativity play. But there is no lyric, the singer and woman whom he loves goes mysteriously missing, and the church organ is destroyed. Joseph Mohr, a brash young curate already at risk of losing his job, has been tasked with delivering the play. But with the clock ticking and service approaching, he must rely on Divine Will to work a Christmas miracle. History indicates that Mohr wrote the lyric, and the carol was debuted. This fictional drama suggests how that might have occurred.Silent Night is a tale of faith aligned with the calm, reassuring message of "Silent Night," the carol. It brings a message needed in our time.

Silent Night is the novelization of screenwriter Charles Bennett's most personal and endearing screenplay (1958). It shows the versatility of his Modern Thriller suspense construction independent of Alfred Hitchcock's earlier dark influence. This publication includes Bennett's research notes, supplemented by an Afterword written by John Bennett. The Afterword places Silent Night within the context of the Bennett-Hitchcock film history, and contrasts Bennett's and Hitchcock's views on confession and redemption.