The Uninvited is a 1944 American supernatural horror film directed by Lewis Allen, in his directorial debut, and starring Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey, and Donald Crisp. Based on the Dorothy Macardle novel Uneasy Freehold (1941), published in the United States as The Uninvited (1942), its plot follows a brother and sister who purchase a home in Cornwall plagued by paranormal events.
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, who
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.
Movie 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.
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 (The Ghost Goes
West, 1936; Topper, 1937), were revealed to be practical jokes (Blondie
Has Servant Trouble, 1940) or as a subterfuge to obscure an illegal
activity (The Cat and the Canary, 1939; Abbott and Costello’s Hold
That Ghost, 1941).
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
Victor Young's score produced a melody
which became a standard, "Stella by Starlight", based on the
film's main theme. "Stella by Starlight" is prized by jazz musicians 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 (with lyrics by Ned Washington) by singers Dick
Haymes, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Tony Bennett, and Ella Fitzgerald among
others.
Critical Response at Release and
Afterward
Upon the film's February 1944 release, Bosley
Crowther of The New York Times wrote
that The Uninvited 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, "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 October 2020, the film holds a
rating of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 20 reviews with an average rating of
8.03/10. 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." Film scholar Edmund Bansak cites the film as
"one of the most handsomely produced ghost movies ever made."
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.
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