It's rather more of a mystery than a ghost story. The special effects are primitive by today's standards. The direction is uninspired and the plot is weak -- some mansion on the coast is haunted due to a mixed-up love affair that happened years ago. The mansion is bought from owner Crisp by composer Ray Milland and his sister Ruth Hussey.
Milland and Hussey occupy the place and meet Gail Russell, whose family once lived there and who is drawn to the cliff house by some mysterious force. Actually, by two mysterious forces, both spirits, one trying to protect her and the other to harm her somehow. It's kind of complicated.
Russell begins to spend a lot of time exploring the house she lived in as a child. Maybe it's her presence that activates the spirits, one of whom brings the scent of mimosa with her, or maybe it's just having strangers living in the house. The dynamics are a little complicated.
Everything is a little complicated and there were times I felt my mind drifting. I lost track of who or what was trying to protect whom or what. I knew one ghost was good and the other evil but, what with the lies told by the outrageously overacting Cornelia Otis Skinner as the matron of the local funny farm, and what with the rumors circulating in the village contaminating the issues, I felt a sudden chill in the air, the scent of patchouli from "Leave Her To Heaven", my heart raced alarmingly, I had to call Doctor Allen Napier, who is ten feet tall, and have him revive me with a fifth of single malt and a straw in an attempt to match spirits with spirits. This is known as homeopathic medicine. It was a close call, I can tell you.
Two things remained clear. One is that the movie's theme song, "Stella By Starlight," is so melodic in its Rachmaninoffian sort of way that it's at least as haunting as any of the unseen presences in the movie. "Stella" is Latin for "star" and the musical portrait is exquisitely balanced, the title almost a semantic palindrome -- Stella/Starlight. Written by Victor Young, in the film Milland begins to play it while Russell stands under the soft light from celestial bodies in the artist's loft. It's not heard very often. It's not integrated into the incidental music the way notes or phrases from the score were noodled around with by David Raksin for his equally appealing "Laura." But it hangs in the mind, more nearly palpable than Mary Meredith's angry soul.
Of course, the song's title, as a semantic palindrome, is pretty crude. "Stella" may be Latin for "star" but the title lacks "lux", which is Latin for "light." Too bad her last name isn't Lux. "Stella Lux By Starlight" lacks euphony but is linguistically effective. "Look, Stella -- Starlight!" would be a proper palindrome if read aloud, though incorporating a bilingual pun.. I suppose I shouldn't play with words so much but Nurse Ratched took my toy train away.
The other thing that remained clear is that Gail Russell as Stella Meredith is one knockout babe. She was ripped out of Santa Monica high school, given a few acting lessons, and thrust into films. It's no wonder she attracted attention. She has black hair and blue eyes but is not stunning, not in the same extra-terrestrial league as someone like Gene Tierney. Tierney never looked anything other than sophisticated. Yet Russell looked like a shy high school kid, combining vulnerability and sex appeal. There was something of the breathless adolescent about her, even down to her modest acting talent. Any normal man would want to sit her on his knee, cuddle her, and whisper reassurances into her ear while surreptitiously feeling to see if she wore a girdle. The insecurity was real enough. She began drinking on the set of this film to calm her nerves -- she was pathologically self-conscious -- and died of cirrhosis of the liver at too tender an age. Just knowing that, it seems to make her presence here, when she was just twenty years old, the more rare.
The movie itself has no real shock value. It's not Gothic. None of the actors seems to take anything too seriously. When the ghosts interfere with his plans, Milland seems more irritated than anything else, although nothing in the film is comic except the stereotyped Irish maid. It ends happily. The spirits disappear. Milland winds up with Russell, and Hussey marries the tall doctor.
Milland and Hussey occupy the place and meet Gail Russell, whose family once lived there and who is drawn to the cliff house by some mysterious force. Actually, by two mysterious forces, both spirits, one trying to protect her and the other to harm her somehow. It's kind of complicated.
Russell begins to spend a lot of time exploring the house she lived in as a child. Maybe it's her presence that activates the spirits, one of whom brings the scent of mimosa with her, or maybe it's just having strangers living in the house. The dynamics are a little complicated.
Everything is a little complicated and there were times I felt my mind drifting. I lost track of who or what was trying to protect whom or what. I knew one ghost was good and the other evil but, what with the lies told by the outrageously overacting Cornelia Otis Skinner as the matron of the local funny farm, and what with the rumors circulating in the village contaminating the issues, I felt a sudden chill in the air, the scent of patchouli from "Leave Her To Heaven", my heart raced alarmingly, I had to call Doctor Allen Napier, who is ten feet tall, and have him revive me with a fifth of single malt and a straw in an attempt to match spirits with spirits. This is known as homeopathic medicine. It was a close call, I can tell you.
Two things remained clear. One is that the movie's theme song, "Stella By Starlight," is so melodic in its Rachmaninoffian sort of way that it's at least as haunting as any of the unseen presences in the movie. "Stella" is Latin for "star" and the musical portrait is exquisitely balanced, the title almost a semantic palindrome -- Stella/Starlight. Written by Victor Young, in the film Milland begins to play it while Russell stands under the soft light from celestial bodies in the artist's loft. It's not heard very often. It's not integrated into the incidental music the way notes or phrases from the score were noodled around with by David Raksin for his equally appealing "Laura." But it hangs in the mind, more nearly palpable than Mary Meredith's angry soul.
Of course, the song's title, as a semantic palindrome, is pretty crude. "Stella" may be Latin for "star" but the title lacks "lux", which is Latin for "light." Too bad her last name isn't Lux. "Stella Lux By Starlight" lacks euphony but is linguistically effective. "Look, Stella -- Starlight!" would be a proper palindrome if read aloud, though incorporating a bilingual pun.. I suppose I shouldn't play with words so much but Nurse Ratched took my toy train away.
The other thing that remained clear is that Gail Russell as Stella Meredith is one knockout babe. She was ripped out of Santa Monica high school, given a few acting lessons, and thrust into films. It's no wonder she attracted attention. She has black hair and blue eyes but is not stunning, not in the same extra-terrestrial league as someone like Gene Tierney. Tierney never looked anything other than sophisticated. Yet Russell looked like a shy high school kid, combining vulnerability and sex appeal. There was something of the breathless adolescent about her, even down to her modest acting talent. Any normal man would want to sit her on his knee, cuddle her, and whisper reassurances into her ear while surreptitiously feeling to see if she wore a girdle. The insecurity was real enough. She began drinking on the set of this film to calm her nerves -- she was pathologically self-conscious -- and died of cirrhosis of the liver at too tender an age. Just knowing that, it seems to make her presence here, when she was just twenty years old, the more rare.
The movie itself has no real shock value. It's not Gothic. None of the actors seems to take anything too seriously. When the ghosts interfere with his plans, Milland seems more irritated than anything else, although nothing in the film is comic except the stereotyped Irish maid. It ends happily. The spirits disappear. Milland winds up with Russell, and Hussey marries the tall doctor.