Post by phantomparticle on Jul 21, 2021 0:59:47 GMT
The Spiral Staircase (1946)
Young lady, mute by a traumatic experience, finds work as a domestic in the country mansion of a bedridden old woman while a serial killer roams the countryside.
Dorothy McGuire does a fine job as Helen, the afflicted girl who realizes that physical impediments are the main motive for the killer’s crimes. Actors love a challenge, and depriving them of speech gives them plenty of room for invention and improvisation to get the most emotional value out of the character. McGuire was born in Omaha, NE, in 1916. She had a passive screen persona, dignified and sincere. She died in Santa Monica, at age 85, in 2001.
Joan Crawford campaigned for the part played by McGuire but MGM boss Louis B. Mayer opposed the idea of her playing another “cripple.” Crawford had just made A Woman’s Face. (IMDB Trivia Page)\
Kent Smith is Dr. Parry, Helen’s best friend who believes that by confronting her trauma, she may regain her speech. Smith was born in New York City in 1907. Handsome and with screen presence, he never made the top rank of Hollywood stardom. He died in Los Angeles at age 78 in 1985.
Ethel Barrymore portrays Helen’s bedridden employer, Mrs. Warren, who has, or thinks she has, the secret to the killer’s identity and constantly warns the girl to get out of the house “tonight.” Fortunately for the audience, she ignores the advice.
Rhonda Fleming provides the love interest to Steve Warren (Gordon Oliver), son of Mrs. Warren, who thrives on being obnoxious and is a thorn in the side of his stepbrother (George Brent). Fleming was born in Hollywood in 1923. One of the great Hollywood beauties, she was dubbed “The Queen of Technicolor” and that is the way she should be seen. Alas, The Spiral Staircase is b/w, which may have prevented her from stealing the picture. She died of natural causes in Santa Monica in 2020.
Character actors Sara Allgood and Elsa Lanchester help round out the inhabitants of the house. Viewers with sharp eyes will also spot Ellen Corby shortly after the first murder.
Robert Siodmak’s crisp, atmospheric direction and use of heavy shadows gives the proceedings an eerie tension. The film more than holds its own with superior thrillers like The Uninvited and Val Lewton’s best work. Siodmak uses unconventional camera shots to disguise the identity of the killer and add a gruesome touch to the crime. The image is not edited and appears exactly like this in the movie.
No Hollywood suspense movie would be worth the ticket price if it did not take place in one of those creepy old mansions the size of Kansas.
The eye of a psychopathic murderer. Whodunit fans will most likely guess the killer’s identity pretty quickly; there are only so many characters from which to choose. The movie is good enough to put on your re-watch list, even after he (or she) is revealed.
No review of The Spiral Staircase would be complete without showing the actual article. The film is based on Ethel Lina White’s 1933 novel, “Some Must Watch,” and doesn’t have a spiral staircase. The idea was borrowed from Mary Roberts Rinehart’s 1908 novel, “The Circular Staircase.” (IMDB Trivia Page) It certainly makes a far more compelling visual image and title than “Someone Watching Something“.
