SYNOPSIS

Helen, a young woman working in a mansion owned by bedridden Mrs. Warren, has been mute since she was a child and saw her parents burned to death in their home. Dr. Parry, the new young physician in town, is convinced she can be cured and plans to take her to Boston to see specialists. Before he can do so, he's called away on a medical emergency, leaving Helen at the mansion with her employer, the invalid's shady son, the old woman's stepson and his secretary, a cranky nurse, and a couple of untrustworthy servants. One by one, most of them leave the house for one reason or another. Outside, a thunderstorm rages and a deranged killer, who has been murdering disabled young women, is on the loose. When Helen finds the secretary dead in the basement at the bottom of the spiral staircase, she realizes the killer is in the house with her. But being mute, how will she signal for help?

Director: Robert Siodmak
Producer: Dore Schary
Screenplay: Mel Dinelli, based on the novel Some Must Watch by Ethel Lina White
Cinematography: Nicholas Musuraca
Editing: Harry Gerstad, Harry Marker
Art Direction: Albert S. D'Agostino, Jack Okey
Original Music: Roy Webb
Cast: Dorothy McGuire (Helen Capel), Ethel Barrymore (Mrs. Warren), George Brent (Professor Warren), Kent Smith (Dr. Parry), Rhonda Fleming (Blanche), Elsa Lanchester (Mrs. Oates).
BW-84m.

Why THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE is Essential

The Spiral Staircase could be a blueprint for constructing the standard gothic thriller. There is almost no device or cliché of the genre left untouched in the course of its 84 minutes - an old dark house full of sinister noises and cobwebbed recesses, thunderstorms, banging shutters, menacing glances, dire warnings, candle-snuffing gusts of wind, doors and windows mysteriously opened or closed, and potential rescuers eliminated one by one, leaving the menaced heroine ever more vulnerable. Combining all of these clichés together and exploiting them for maximum effect with a first rate cast and crew, The Spiral Staircase created a sensation in its day. And the movie still holds a special allure for many viewers who remember it as one of their most frightening early movie experiences. Part of its effectiveness is due to offbeat visual touches - close-ups of the killer's stalking eye, subjective point-of-view shots, skewed camera angles, the use of multiple mirrors and painted portraits on the walls that stand as silent witnesses to the creepy occurrences.

Unlike films whose importance and appeal arises from their prominence in the career of a particular actor or director, The Spiral Staircase is a perfect example of the studio system operating at the peak of its power with strong producers putting their stamp on a project from the beginning and gathering the best talent to bring it to life. In this case, the project started out with that most exacting of producers, David O. Selznick, and many film analysts have said they can see his fingerprints all over the movie. From Selznick, the project passed into the hands of another strong-willed producer who was then just beginning to make a name for himself, Dore Schary. He pulled much of the cast and crew from RKO's highly creative B-picture unit to create a film that, from the first horrifying murder, rarely veers away from its mission to terrify.

If any one individual can be credited with what makes The Spiral Staircase essential, it wouldn't be the lead Dorothy McGuire (whose performance as a mute innocent stalked by a deranged killer was critically praised). Nor would it necessarily be producer Dore Schary or director Robert Siodmak (whose careers were boosted tremendously by this film's success). That distinction would more likely go to Nicholas Musuraca, one of the top cinematographers in his field. Musuraca's work here draws on the atmospheric effects he put to even greater use in such noted film noirs as Stranger on the Third Floor [1940] and Out of the Past [1947] and in the moody horror pictures of Val Lewton's legendary B unit at RKO (Cat People [1942], The Seventh Victim [1943]). His prowling camera, deep focus, and meticulously crafted lighting is what makes The Spiral Staircase an indelible viewing experience.

by Rob Nixon