THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE (1946) A Film Review Copyright Dragan Antulov 2000
One of the most interesting (or disturbing) elements of today's popular culture is media obsession with the serial killer phenomena. This obsession is particularly visible in the area of motion picture industry, with multitude of serial killer films being produced by Hollywood in the last decade. However, serial killers weren't that unfamiliar to the filmmakers in previous decades. One of the films that gives insight in the way Hollywood handled such material in its Golden Age is THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE, 1946 Hitchcockian thriller directed by Robert Siodmak.
The plot, based on the novel by Ethel Lina White, is set in small New England town in the first decades of 20th Century. Local residents have been recently affected by the series of murders, in which all the victims are women affected with some kind of mental or physical disabilities. Helen Capel (played by Dorothy McGuire) is beautiful girl who works as a servant in the mansion of old and bed-ridden Mrs. Warren (played by Ethel Barrymore). Since she happens to be mute since childhood, everyone in the mansion, including Professor Albert Warren (played by Ed Brent), Mrs. Warren's stepson, is concerned for her safety and advise her to stay within the locked doors of the house until the killer is caught. Mrs. Warren, on the other hand, warns Ethel that the real danger lurks within the house, but Helen doesn't believe her. Instead she would leave the mansion because of the young and handsome Doctor Parry (played by Kent Smith) who wants to marry her. But, before that happens, she must stay in the house for the night, but soon she would find that Mrs. Warren's warning is quite justified.
Although remade twice for the television, THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE hardly comes to mind when people think about most important genre films in 1940s Hollywood. It may be argued that the great Alfred Hitchcock and his work shadowed the film's reputation, but the real reason probably lies in the fact that the film was at least a few decades ahead of its time. Those who pay attention could see that many horror and thriller directors in later decades have borrowed heavily from THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE. The most obvious examples are the use of killer's POV, strange noises in the dark being mistaken for the killer by its potential victim and sexual activity being equal to death sentence - two cliches almost inseparable from slasher movies. However, what separates this film from its 1980s imitators is the lack of gore and shock tactics. Siodmak relies on suspense, and manages to make film truly exciting, by creating generally creepy atmosphere. His directorial skills help this movie in overcoming even such cliched setting of isolated country mansion in the stormy night. Even the viewers who are accustomed to such sort of films would be genuinely scared by Siodmak's masterful manipulation.
The most valuable of this film are characters, though. Scriptwriter Mel Dinelli managed to create some really interesting personalities, memorable despite their relatively short appearance in 81 minutes of this film. Heroine is superbly played by Dorothy McGuire, although her character doesn't say a word. But the supporting characters are also excellent, being played by always reliable character actors. Elsa Lanchester is truly memorable and quite believable as alcoholic cook, and Ethel Barrymore truly shines as bed-bound yet intelligent matriarch. Unfortunately, obligatory Hollywood romance brought character that isn't that interesting - good doctor, played by Kent Smith, which isn't that necessary for the course of film. But, thankfully, and against the Hollywood conventions, his character leaves the movie before the end and the damsel in distress has to rely only on herself. Characters in this film are even more interesting when we try to understand them in psychoanalytical context - THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE actually tries to explain serial killer motives as the consequence of masculine impotence. Use of Freudian psychology in thrillers would become much more fashionable in later decades, thanks to Hitchcock who made it one of his trademarks. Siodmak is in such matters, of course, less explicit but equally effective as the great Master of Suspense, which makes THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE one of the true gems of classic Hollywood.
RATING: 8/10 (+++)
Review written on March 2nd 2000
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax Fido: 2:381/100 E-mail: dragan.antulov@st.tel.hr E-mail: drax@purger.com E-mail: dragan.antulov@altbbs.fido.hr
Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in Croatian http://film.purger.com
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews