The Spiral Staircase 1946

Set mostly in a beautifully cluttered Victorian mansion at the turn of the last century with a dark and stormy night raging outside, this is a top notch scary femme jep thriller. The film beautifully opens with the lovely and mute young housekeeper Helen played by the marvelous Dorothy McGuire ...watching a silent film in a hotel Nickelodeon, while unknown to her and everyone else a young pretty thing with a club foot is being murdered one floor above. It turns out that a crazy killer is on the loose killing young women who are in various ways physically challenged. So right off the bat we know that McGuire is in danger for her life, and because of McGuire’s lovely performance we also worry about her. McGuire who has lost her ability to speak because of a traumatic childhood incident is employed as a house worker by the fail and ailing Ethel Barrymore who spends most of the film in bed being nasty to all except Ms. McGuire who Barrymore is genuinely fond of. Ethel has two sons from different husbands who also live in the house and cause not only her but everyone else lots of aggravation, One is a do nothing vagabond and the other is a professor. The professor played by George Brent has employed the very pretty Rhonda Fleming as his secretary who by the way is carrying on with the do nothing other brother played by an actor I’ve never seen before or since. Also around the house is Kent Smith (not one of my favorite actors) as the kind doctor who believes that McGuire can be cured of her muteness and who is also in love with her. Some really good character actors also have nice parts including the somewhat tipsy cook played by the delightful and very watchable Elsa Lancaster, Sarah Allgood as a put upon nurse is very amusing even though its a small part and Rhys Williams as Lancaster’s husband and handyman around the house. The art direction which is superb is by Albert S. D'Agostino & Darrell Silvera who worked uncredited it seems on The Magnificent Ambersons. The Amberson’s feel is very evident in the film and some of the sets look to me to be recycled from that film. The richness of detail can be seen in every frame of the movie, and the great cinematography by one of the masters of noir and B’s Nicholas Musuraca also brings a richness to the film and is evident from the great transfer. And even though I’ve seen this film at least three times and know the outcome, this movie is still so entertaining and a pleasure to watch. The credit for this must go to to the suave direction of the great German director Robert Siodmak who made a small amount of films in Hollywood including Phantom Lady, The Killers, Criss Cross, Cry of the City and the questionable but campy The Cobra Woman and Son Of Dracula. Siodmak brings a high degree of Expressionism and art to a sub genre that had long reached its peak by then and brings all its components (including stress and tension) together in a terrific package. This is the Hollywood factory at its best height The subject matter is not only original but is also disturbing, and the situations of danger are full of tension especially if seeing it for a first time. One of the best films of the year.