Customer Reviews

Spiral Staircase

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This well-remembered Gothic thriller has been re-filmed three times--once for TV in 1961 with Elizabeth Montgomery, once in 1975 with Jacqueline Bisset, and once again for TV in 2000 with Nicolette Sheridan--but the originals never quite captured the qualities of the original, which features Doroithy McGuire's best performance as a terrorized mute serving girl in a 1906 New England mansion. The script itself isn't much, and relies on very hoary melodramatic conventions that even seemed old in its day, and the script has its share of howlers (the famous last line, in particular). What makes it memorable is McGuire's very affecting performance, Robert Siodmak's remarkably chilling direction, and most of all the great Warren mansion itself--one of the most beautifully elaborate sets ever constructed for a Gothic. At times your eyes have trouble taking the entirety of the house's richly inhuman decorations in, and the killer's ability to move in and around the house with ease seems perfectly logical. (Keep a watch out for the great early sequence with Dorothy McGuire watching herself in the mirror on the landiung of the house's other, main staircase--as the killer watches her watching herself.)

Splendid mystery movie, thanks to a great performance by its star, the excellent actress Dorothy McGuire, who plays a mute girl in danger (a murderer who only kills disabled women, is on the loose). McGuire works for a rich dowager, played with great skill as always, by Ethel Barrymore, who's very concerned about the girl's security, because she's almost sure that McGuire will be the next victim......what secrets does the big mansion hide?.

The cast is full of seasoned pros: George Brent, Kent Smith, a very young and beautiful Rhonda Fleming.... and special mention deserve the performances of Elsa Lanchester, as a maid with a likeness for booze...and Sara Allgood, as a stern nurse.

The film is rich in atmosphere, has an eerie quality, and an excellent camera work.

The dvd edition is good.

If you like thrillers, this one is for you.

Famous 1946 version of Ethel Lina White's "Some Must Watch" about a deranged killer preying on young women with physical infirmities because they aren't "perfect". Set in the early 1900's, Helen(Dorothy McGuire) is a mute servant girl working in a spooky old house caring for a crotchety invalid(Ethel Barrymore) whose two sons are dysfunctional misfits. Everyone worries that Helen will be the next victim and they are so right for the killer is a lot closer than they think. Fine cast of character actors populate this engrossing chiller that must have scared the poop out of 40's audiences. McGuire is perfect as Helen and Barrymore is regally majestic as the old lady. Spooky music and camera shots of the killer's eyes just before he pounces keep things properly creepy. Most enjoyable and a delight for vintage movie buffs. Great presentation by Anchor bay on DVD. A keeper.

What a classic thriller! A young women has been mute since she was a girl - Helen, played by Dorothy McGuire. She is living in an large old house with an elderly women, played by the wonderful Ethel Barrymore and her two sons played by George Brent and Gordon Oliver. There is a young Doctor, played by Kent Smith who is looking out the Helen and is interested in helping her. There seems to have been a murder recently of a young girl. Mrs. Warren(Ethel Barrymore) seems to know a lot more then she is telling. On a dark and raining night each person in the house comes to face some under lieing fear that grips everyone eventually. The lighting is very interesting and the acting is top noch. For those of you who really enjoy the who-done-it and thriller genre this is one of the best.

Robert Siodmak was a wonderful director of the film noir ,perhaps the result of his grounding in silent German Expressionist cinema and he brings that era's trademark use of unusual camera angles and skewed sets to bear on his direction of this splendid slice of turn of the centurt Gothic .
It is set in a small New England community where a serial killer is on the loose , his victims being women he deems to be in some way "imperfect " physically .They are either disfigured or have some impediment .
His particular target during the movie is a mute girl ,Helen , played brilliantly by the radiant Dorothy Maguire and it builds to a tense climax in a creepy old house with a thunderstorm raging outside .
The source material is utterly conventional but the insight and edginess of Siodmak's direction sets it apart from the run of the mill movie of its type and ensures we are dealing with a minor classic here .The direction is seen at its best in the brilliant opening sequence in which a crowd gathers for a show in the local theatre and the camers pans from the cosy community gathering for a night of escapism to a room above the theatre where a young disabled woman is undressing before falling victim to the killer .
Colourless performance by George Brent but the other peformances compensate .Above all however this a directors movie and the mastery of the genre displayed by Siodamk makes this a real treat .

A thunderstorm, a gothic mansion, a young woman in peril, and an elderly lady who voices predictions of death'n'doom. "The Spiral Staircase" is a solid little horror/suspense thriller that carefully crafts its settings, as well as a feeling of claustrophobic fear -- the only problem is that it's pretty obvious who the villain is.

A small rural town is being plagued by a serial killer; he only preys on young women who are handicapped, either mentally or physically. I'll leave you to speculate on the Freudian subtext there.

So unsurprisingly people are worried about Helen, a young mute woman (although for some reason, Helen doesn't seem concerned much). Helen lives in an old gothic mansion some miles from town, working as the companion to an elderly, crabby lady who keeps uttering vague warnings of death'n'doom. Also present: an exasperated nurse, the cook and her hubby, and the old lady's son and stepson.

So when a thunderstorm hits and the old woman has an attack of... whatever she's suffering from, Helen's doctor boyfriend goes rushing off to get ether. However, someone is watching Helen from inside the house, and this person is determined to kill her before the night is out...

As a mystery, "The Spiral Staircase" is pretty flawed. Helen spends the entire movie ignoring warnings of death'n'doom from... pretty much everybody, then is apparently shocked when the serial killer goes after her. Also: it's kind of obvious from the start who the murderer is, if nothing else because all the red herrings point so strongly to the only other suspect. It would have been nice if they had made us wonder about the other characters.

But as a psychological thriller, this is a solid piece of work. Robert Siodmak fills the entire movie with a haunted, claustrophobic atmosphere, with huge shadows and dark stairwells. And he creates some wonderfully creepy moments as well -- the scene where the murderer sees Helen as a mouthless woman is pretty spine-chilling.

And Dorothy McGuire is another reason to overlook the movie's shortcomings. She does an excellent job playing a naive, often terrified young girl, but doesn't go over the top with the physical acting. She reminded me a lot of Audrey Hepburn in "Wait Until Dark," especially in the subtlety of her expressions and motions.

"The Spiral Staircase" is flawed as a mystery, but quite spooky as an old-fashioned thriller. No guts or gore, just a lot of creepy.

The plotting and script of "The Spiral Staircase" are reasonably good but unexceptional. The "surprise" ending isn't very startling even by 1940s standards -- try "Laura" (1944) for a much more inventive mystery plot.

All of this is beside the point, however. As a thriller, this film is justly beloved for one critical factor: ATMOSPHERE. No special effects, no buckets of blood, no sexual escapades interrupted by serial killers, but a truly unnerving (and beautifully effective) sense of gloom and uneasy fear. Robert Siodmak was one of the greatest directors of film noir, and virtually every movie he made is shot through with his wonderful brand of darkly-shadowed artistry.

It is sad to report that this is Siodmak's only film noir available on DVD. At least "The Killers" (1946; his "Citizen Kane") is on VHS -- along with "Phantom Lady" and a few other goodies -- but some of Siodmak's classic films are not commercially available in any form. When are we getting the DVDs of "Cry of the City" or "Christmas Holiday"? In the meantime, let's be glad that "The Spiral Staircase" is available for our shivery enjoyment.

this movie was pretty good, but I dint like some of it. Or I thought some of it was not very scary. I dont know it is a ok movie but it is really not scary.

thirlling and spinetingling it leaves you on the edge of your seat.if your ever looking for agood scary movie this is the one for you.i have seen it twice now and still love it and always leaves me wondering about it.

A house can be your worst nightmare. Just ask Helen Capel the mute who resides in an overwhelming creepy and underlit mansion that a serial killer may strike next! Helen must muster all her courage and and some how over power and out wit her killer because she doesn't have the ability to yell for help due to the fact that she can't scream!! This film prays on the fear we all have of being left alone at home. We all laugh at horror films when the victim goes and checks the rumblings they may have just heard but when we are all home alone don't we do the same thing. Nobodody wants to be murdered but to be murdered in the confounds of your own home is hair raising torture.The film moves so slow that you actually want the violence of murder to take place maybe then the lightining outside and shadows of the mansion will lift and the tension in your heart will subside! The ending is just perfect and suits the film to a tee! The film uses fear in the most natural setting; just think about it, someone could be home with you and you could not even know it until they jump from out of the closet and strangle you! The scene with the killer watching his next victim from a hole in the closet is just as startling and claustrophobic as one can get. Buy this movie and watch it with the lights out and unplug the phone because if it were to ring you might have a heart attack!