Rent The Spiral Staircase (1945)

Stunning - The Spiral Staircase review by sb

FILM & REVIEW Siodmak’s gothic masterpiece has McGuire as Helen a live in servant who has been struck mute by a previous trauma who works at the Warren house. The roost is ruined over by the formidable matriarch (Barrymore ) who is now bedridden but still exerts control over her two half-sibling sons Albert (Brent) and Stephen (Albert). Someone in the local town has been murdering local girls all of whom have some physical affliction so it’s obvious Helen is next on the list. Stephen has been away and the killings have only resumed on his return and he seems a shifty character so the audience are pointed in his direction - but are things that simple….. Fine supporting turns by Lanchester as the housekeeper more than a little keen on nip of brandy and Smith as the local doctor who is the subject of Helen’s affections. McGuire is very good in the role using her eyes and gestures to convey what she cannot express - one key scene in which she has to make a phone call but cannot is almost painful to watch. What lifts it into the realm of the sublime is the deep focus Chiaroscuro photography of Nic Musaraca - the king of noir lighting. The way he lights the set giving each huge room almost an extra spatial quality with superb use of shadow and contrast is just genius. Love the way apart from the prelude the entire film is set in the house over a single storm- tossed night the raging weather reflecting the suppressed emotions inside - just brilliant - 5/5

Gothic Horror - The Spiral Staircase review by NO

Very melodramatic with excellent B&W photography illustrating the film noir.Lots of cliches which were later copied.Brent playing against type & Mcguire using her eyes for a

voice.

Really skilled film-making - The Spiral Staircase review by AP

I loved this. It's not so much the story as the style that makes this worth watching. Lighting is especially well used together with apprehensive pauses on staircases or at street corners or on woodland paths; the weather plays its usual role ramping up anxiety, as does the isolated house in which most of the film is claustrophobically set; knocking at the front door raises alarm; a cellar and candlelight etc etc. Clichéd stuff, but the clichés work. At the heart of it for me was McGuire's performance that raised high anxiety for her safety: a woman shocked into speechlessness by something she, of course, can't (and doesn't want to) describe, and, in her silence, consequently vulnerable and dependent on the kindness of strangers, in this case the Warren family.

McGuire's lively innocence and goodness and sensitivity combines with a youthful energy, a childishness almost, in her movement, and when she knows she is in danger her frantic actions are most compelling.

The film dwells on the notion of inadequacy in easy-to-understand psychology which is convincingly presented, and is pretty good at keeping you guessing as to which of the several candidates could be the murderer.

It's just a great piece of limited budget film making, and unlike so many modern films just gets on with it and doesn't overdo anything. And I found myself able to appreciate the film's techniques at the same time as being affected by them as intended!