The Uninvited (1944 film)
The Uninvited is a 1944 American supernatural horror film directed by Lewis Allen, in his feature film debut. It is based on the Dorothy Macardle novel Uneasy Freehold, published in the United States as The Uninvited. The film stars Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey, and Donald Crisp, and introduces Gail Russell. Its plot follows a brother and sister who purchase a home in Cornwall plagued by paranormal events.
Though set in England, The Uninvited'' was filmed at Paramount's Hollywood studios as well as locations in San Francisco and Phoenix, Arizona in 1943. The film was distributed by Paramount Pictures, which released it theatrically in the United States in February 1944. Edith Head designed the costumes.
The film has been claimed by contemporary film scholars as being among the first films in history to portray ghosts as legitimate entities rather than illusions or misunderstandings played for comedy. It depicts various supernatural phenomena, including disembodied voices, apparitions, and possession.
Plot
In 1937, London music critic and composer Roderick "Rick" Fitzgerald and his sister Pamela fall in love with Windward House, an abandoned seaside home, during a holiday on Cornwall's rocky coast. They purchase it for an unusually low price from Commander Beech. Rick and Pamela meet Beech’s 20-year-old granddaughter, Stella Meredith, who lives with her grandfather in the nearby town of Biddlecombe. Stella is deeply upset by the sale because of her attachment to the house, despite its being where her mother, Mary Meredith, fell to her death from a nearby cliff. The commander has forbidden Stella to enter the house or to see Rick. However, she gains access to Windward House through Rick, who becomes infatuated with her.The Fitzgeralds' initial enchantment with the house diminishes when they unlock an artist's studio where they feel an inexplicable chill. Just before dawn, Rick hears the sobs of an unseen woman, a phenomenon that Pamela investigates whilst awaiting her brother's return with their Irish housekeeper, Lizzie Flynn. The superstitious Lizzie notices a peculiar draft on the stairs. Rick and Pamela must face the obvious: Windward House is haunted.
When Stella comes to Windward for dinner, she senses a spirit. Rather than fearing it, she associates the calming presence with her mother. Suddenly she dashes out towards the very cliff from which her mother Mary fell to her death seventeen years earlier. Rick catches her just before she reaches the edge. Stella professes to have no recollection of the near-fatal incident. The Fitzgeralds and the town physician, Dr. Scott, investigate. They learn that Stella's father, a painter, had had an affair with his model, a Spanish gypsy named Carmel. Mary, from all accounts a beautiful and virtuous woman, found out and took Carmel to Paris, leaving her there. Subsequently, Carmel returned to England, stole the infant Stella from Windward, and, during a confrontation, pushed Mary off the cliff to her death. Shortly afterward, Carmel became ill and died.
Rick tries to dissuade Stella from her dangerous attraction to Windward by staging a séance to convey the "message" that her mother wants her to stay away. However, the ghost takes over and communicates that it is guarding Stella. Stella becomes possessed by the spirit and begins muttering in Spanish. Distressed by Stella's renewed involvement with Windward, Beech sends Stella to a sanitorium run by Miss Holloway, Mary's friend and confidante. The Fitzgeralds visit and question Holloway, unaware that Stella is confined there. Holloway explains that after Mary's death, she took care of Carmel, who had contracted pneumonia and eventually died of it. Looking through the records of the previous village physician, Dr. Scott discovers that Holloway may have hastened Carmel's death.
The doctor is called away to care for an ailing Beech, who tells him that Stella is at the sanitorium. Rick, Pam, and Scott telephone Miss Holloway to inform her that they are on their way. Holloway deceives Stella, saying that the Fitzgeralds have invited her to live with them. Stella happily takes the train home. Holloway tells the would-be rescuers that Stella is on her way to Windward House. There Stella finds only her grandfather in the studio. He begs Stella with his last strength to get out, but she remains at his side. When a ghost manifests, the commander succumbs to a heart attack. Stella welcomes the ghost, believing it to be her mother, but the apparition frightens her, and she flees towards the cliff.
Rick and Dr. Scott get there just in time to pull Stella from the crumbling cliff to safety. Back inside, the group is drawn again to the physician's journal, which the friendly spirit has opened to a certain page. They discover that Carmel gave birth to a child in Paris, where Stella herself was born. The truth becomes clear: Carmel is Stella's mother. Stella's realization of her true parentage frees Carmel's spirit to leave Windward. Something evil, though, has remained. After sending everyone away, Rick confronts the spirit of Mary Meredith, telling her that they are no longer afraid of her and that she has no power over them any longer. Defeated, Mary's spirit departs.
Cast
- Ray Milland as Roderick Fitzgerald
- Ruth Hussey as Pamela Fitzgerald
- Donald Crisp as Commander Beech
- Cornelia Otis Skinner as Miss Holloway
- Dorothy Stickney as Miss Bird
- Barbara Everest as Lizzie Flynn
- Alan Napier as Dr. Scott
- Gail Russell as Stella Meredith
Production
The Uninvited was shot in San Francisco, California, and Phoenix, Arizona. It is among the first dramatic Hollywood feature films to portray a haunting as an authentic supernatural event. Previously, ghosts had often been played for comedy, were revealed to be practical jokes or as a subterfuge to obscure an illegal activity.Paramount added special effects to the film, having decided at the last moment to emphasize its "supernatural premise"; those effects were removed by censors when the film was distributed in England.
Music
's score produced a popular hit, "Stella by Starlight", based on the film’s main theme. "Stella by Starlight", now a jazz standard, is prized by players for its haunting and rich harmony. It has been recorded numerous times, by such artists as Miles Davis, Stan Getz and Dexter Gordon, and as a vocal by singers Dick Haymes, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald among others.Reception
Upon the film's February 1944 release, Bosley Crowther said it was "as solemnly intent on raising gooseflesh as any ghost-story weirdly told to a group of shivering youngsters around a campfire on a dark and windy night."A review in the Monthly Film Bulletin found the film very good technically with "some beautiful coastal scenery" and attempts at reconstructing a Devon village, as well as "beautiful interiors" of the haunted house. The reviewer concluded that "It remains a question, however, whether such a film should ever be made, producing visual evidence of unexplained occult phenomena which, to say the least, have never yet been photographed."
It received critical praise, and the film's cinematographer, Charles Lang, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Black and White Cinematography at the 17th Academy Awards, losing to Joseph LaShelle, who won for his work on Laura.
As of March 2016, the film holds a rating of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 18 reviews with an average rating of 8/10. According to Turner Classic Movies, the film is a "handsomely mounted thriller with a first-rate cast, atmospheric cinematography by Charles Lang, Victor Young's emotionally gripping score, and a highly original story that invites Freudian interpretations of the characters while inserting a lesbian subtext and a droll sense of humor.... While it might have chilled audiences of its era, The Uninvited is not a frightening film by contemporary standards. It is, however, an intriguing mood piece, as subtle and suggestive in its imagery as the best of Val Lewton's work."
In 2009, director Martin Scorsese placed The Uninvited on his list of the 11 scariest horror films of all time. Guillermo Del Toro also lists the film as one of the horror films to have scared and affected him.
The character of Miss Holloway has been cited as a lesbian caricature.
Adaptations
The Screen Guild Theater presented a half-hour radio adaptation of The Uninvited on August 28, 1944, with Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey and Betty Field. A 30-minute radio adaption was also presented on Screen Directors Playhouse November 18, 1949, with Ray Milland, June Foray and John Dehner.Home media
The Uninvited was released on Region 2 DVD in 2012 by Exposure Cinema, a British company that specializes in limited collector's editions of overlooked Hollywood films.The Criterion Collection released DVD and Blu-ray disc versions of The Uninvited in October 2013, featuring a new 2K digital film restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray version.