User Reviews

The Uninvited is directed by Lewis Allen and adapted to screenplay by Frank Partos and Dodie Smith from the novel Uneasy Freehold written by Dorothy Macardle. It stars Ray Milland, Gail Russell, Ruth Hussey, Donald Crisp and Cornelia Otis Skinner. Music is by Victor Young and cinematography by Charles B. Lang.

"They call them the haunted shores, these stretches of Devonshire and Cornwall and Ireland which rear up against the westward ocean. Mists gather here... and sea fog... and eerie stories..."

Wonderful old fashioned ghost story that neatly blends romance and a light comedic tone into the pot, The Uninvited is very much a movie of significance. It marks a point in cinematic time when the ghost story proved it could be played for true unnerving impact. It remains a sub-genre of horror that is sorely lacking in bona fide classics, spookers that have longevity, the ability to raise the goose flesh no matter how many times they are revisited. With a new special edition DVD recently released, and the likes of Martin Scorsese and Guillermo del Toro championing its cause by putting it on their lists of favourite frighteners, The Uninvited is proving its worth as an old sub-genre classic.

Plot is pretty conventional stuff. It's 1937 and Milland and Hussey play a brother and sister who fall in love with a cliff side house they stumble upon whilst holidaying on the southwest coast of England. Sure enough they snag themselves the house at a ridiculously cheap price, this even though they are warned of some previous disturbances at the address. Cue a mysteriously locked room that when opened reveals itself to be deathly cold, pets that will not go up the stairs and then comes the hauntings... So far so formulaic, then, but as the story begins to unravel in the second half of the movie, where the light touch is left behind, a fizzer of back story comes to the fore and one or two extra surprises leap out of the narrative. This is not lazy plotting, it is well constructed, the mystery element is strong and sidles up nicely with the spooky goings on.

"If you listen to it long enough, all your senses are sharpened. You come by strange instincts. You get to recognise a peculiar cold that is the first warning. A cold which is no mere matter of degrees Farenheit, but a draining of warmth from the vital centres of the living."

This is a spooker that, unsurprisingly for the time, is devoid of visceral shocks and blunderbuss like scares. This is more about atmosphere (Lang was Oscar nominated for his noirish photography) and fear of the unknown, where the sound of a sobbing woman in the darkness chills the blood. Perhaps surprisingly for the time? We do get to see spectral images, and they still work and create the desired effect, who needs a computer generated image spitting blood when you can have ethereal spookiness floating eerily above the ground? While we are at it, who needs a beefed up pretty boy actor fighting the good fight against evil when you can have an elegant Ray Milland doing it with a glint in his eye instead? The cast are very effective, with Russell really making a mark so early in her career, while Young's score is both sinister and tender (the song Stella by Starlight would become a popular standard) at all the right times.

A genuine ghost story for those who prefer the sparing atmospheric touch to the noisy carnage approach. 8/10

This 1944 Paramount film is one of my very favourites. Long hailed as Hollywood's first attempt at a "serious" ghost story, it will no doubt please most all fans of the genre. Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey play Roderick and Pamela Fitzgerald who are siblings. They are nearing the end of their seaside holiday in Cornwall, England when they happen to come across a lovely old deserted Georgian house while chasing their terrier, Bobby. The Fitzgeralds meet the dour owner (played by Donald Crisp) and they purchase the small mansion for a surprisingly affordable amount of money. Naturally, the house is haunted. The acting - particularly that of Gail Russell as the luminous, moonstruck Stella Meredith - is effective and charming. The black-and-white cinematography by Charles Lang is exquisite as is Victor Young's hauntingly lovely theme, "Stella by Starlight". The film has a moody, frisson quality which few films of the "ghost genre" can match. In one of her very few film appearances, Cornelia Otis Skinner is memorably sinister as Miss Holloway who was a friend of Stella's mother, the deceased Mary Meredith. A thoroughly enjoyable film with some real jolts and a great atmosphere, ghost fans should be enthralled by this one.

The Uninvited has been right at the top of my must see list for years now and any film with that amount of build up is liable to disappoint; but that is not the case with this film, as The Uninvited really lives up to it's billing as one of the best ghost stories ever committed to celluloid! The film works because it is not over reliant on any one element of it; there's enough human drama to be interesting but not overbearing while the story is important but doesn't get in the way of the drama and this is all wrapped up in a thoroughly foreboding atmosphere. The plot focuses on an old house by a cliff side. Brother and sister(!) Roderick and Pamela Fitzgerald take one look at the house and fall in love with it instantly and after speaking with the house owner, a Commander Beech, agree a price to buy the house. The deal is initially unwelcome by the Commander's granddaughter Stella as it was once her mother's house, who died when she was three years old. However, she soon starts up a friendship with the brother and it's not long before they realise that something is not quite right with the house.

The film is directed by Lewis Allen and he does a really good job with it. Much of the film takes place at night and this allows him to deliver a thoroughly chilling atmosphere and the way that the house is soaked in shadows is creepy in the extreme. The characters walk around with only candles to light the way and this fits in very well with the blood curdling screams of the unseen phantoms! The film stars the great Ray Milland, and he delivers a great performance; owning the screen with a charismatic swagger and helping to keep things interesting. The film also stars the beautiful Gail Russell as the love interest. The ghost plot almost takes a backseat at times to the developing love story between Milland and Russell's characters, but this is not a problem since the film always remains intriguing. The ghost story is not particularly complex but it has more than enough about it to carry along the film and the atmosphere. It all boils down to a suitable ending and overall this really is a brilliant little ghost story and one that should be a must see for all horror fans!

If you're in the mood for a chilling, well-plotted, atmospheric mystery, you owe it to yourself to see this house-on-the-edge-of-a-cliff type of mystery. The intricate plot will delight mystery fans and the acting by Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey, Gail Russell, Donald Crisp and Cornelia Otis Skinner is excellent. Especially fascinating and chilling is the performance of Miss Skinner as Miss Holloway, the sinister owner of a clinic for disturbed women. Victor Young's background score adds immeasurably to the tense proceedings. His "Stella by Starlight" has become a classic composition for piano and orchestra. The old house itself with its huge windows overlooking the sea and its spacious interiors inhabited by an unseen presence, is the sort of dream house anyone would love to live in--except for 'The Uninvited'. Truly a high quality ghost story that also happens to be an absorbing mystery.

Roderick Fitzgerald (Ray Milland) and his sister Pamela (Ruth) happen upon a charming old mansion on a seacoast 300 miles from London. They track down the present owner as Commander Beech (Donald Crisp), and after a brief refusal from Beech's granddaughter, Stella (Gail Russell), they meet with Beech, who agrees to sell it to them for the remarkably low sum of 1200 pounds! The price is that low because there are rumors, at least, that the house might be haunted. The Uninvited tells us what happens when the Fitzgerald's move in.

While this film is usually classified as a horror film (the Internet Movie Database has it as "Horror/Romance"), and it does have some superficial resemblances to both Rebecca (1940--a film I love and which was supposed to be an influence on this one) and The Haunting (1963--a film I disliked quite strongly on my last viewing), it's better to approach The Uninvited primarily as a mystery. There are horror elements, but they are a very minor part of the plot and take up very little screen time. Calling it a "romance" seemed odd to me at first, but when you think about it, the romance aspect of the film takes up just as much time as the horror aspect. But 90-something percent of the film is in the realm of mystery, albeit a slow-paced mystery that's mostly dialogue.

And that fact brought my rating down a couple notches. The Uninvited is one of the few times that I think application of a literary "rule" would have improved a work. In this case, the rule that is broken is "show, don't tell". The mystery that is the heart of the film's plot is long in the past, so all we receive are characters talking about it--telling us, and figuring out, a story.

At that however, what might have been a 6 out of 10 from me, at best, was brought up due to the very clever dialogue, which usually contains a very subtle and quick sense of humor. On the downside, the dialogue was also a bit confusing every once in a while, especially given that two crucial characters in the mystery are a woman referred to as "Mary Meredith" and a man usually referred to only as "Meredith".

The fine black & white cinematography is another bonus, as is the horror material (all in the guise of a haunted house) those few times that it is present. The effects were particularly impressive, especially given the era, although note that some editions of the film apparently are missing the most prominent effects--a fact that would lessen the quality of the film in my opinion.

Roderick and his sister Pamela are vacationing along the English seaside when they discover a beautiful old house with which they fall immediately in love. They purchase the home from Commander Beech, an elderly man whose daughter and son-in-law once lived in the house. Almost as soon as Roderick and Pamela move in, the disturbances begin. A woman can be heard sobbing in the early morning hours and the smell of mimosa perfume is everywhere. Soon, Roderick takes a liking to the Commander's granddaughter, a very pretty but solemn and haunted looking girl named Stella. When Stella enters the house, the disturbances increase alarmingly, threatening her life and driving her perilously close to the sea cliffs. The Commander forbids her to set foot in the house, for he knows of the terrible tragedy that occurred there 20 years earlier. But the guilty secret he's been keeping all these years, a secret that involves Stella and her heritage, will not stay secret anymore and Roderick must face a vengeful ghost if he wishes to save the woman he loves.

This is a really great ghost story, a true classic of the genre. Everyone involved turns in a brilliant performance, especially Ray Milland as Roderick the sweet and likable composer and Ruth Massey as his spunky sister. Gail Russell as Stella is perfectly cast, always appearing shaken and fragile. The effects are terrific too! The crying ghost in particular will give you shivers as it echoes down the halls of the dark house and disappears with the dawn breeze. Light and shadow are used to maximum effect and despite the fact that this film was made in 1944, it never feels dated and it's lost none of its power to unsettle, disturb and even downright terrify.

Perfect viewing for a dark and stormy night. This is a flawless ghost story. Highly recommended.

In 1937, the composer and music critic Roderick Fitzgerald (Ray Milland) and his sister Pamela Fitzgerald (Ruth Hussey) are spending a holiday on the English coast. When their dog chases a squirrel, they need to break in an abandoned manor named Windward House and Pamela immediately falls in love with the real state and convinces her brother to invest his savings purchasing the house.

They seek out the owner, Commander Beech (Donald Crisp), who lives with his twenty year-old granddaughter Stella Meredith (Gail Russell) far from the house, and he accepts their offer and sells the house for a very low price. Soon Roderick and Pamela move to the Windward House and he and Stella falls in love with each other. Roderick and Pamela also discover that the house is haunted and in Roderick's studio they feel a chill and near dawn they overhear uncanny sobs of a woman. They investigate and learn that a tragedy happened in the manor: Stella's father had an affair with a Spanish model and her mother died falling of the rocky coast and the model died of pneumonia. They also discover that the house is haunted by two ghosts, one of them evil and the other one trying to protect Stella.

"The Uninvited" is a creepy ghost story, with a great performances and a good story. The mystery is predictable and is not difficult to guess who the evil ghost is, but the movie has many scenes that startle the viewer and is supported by a magnificent cinematography in black and white. In accordance with a documentary about "The Uninvited", Gail Russell was a shy actress and her personality helped her in her performance since she was really scared. The serenade "To Stella by Starlight", by Victor Young, is another plus of this movie. Further, "The Uninvited" is the first Hollywood movie to take ghosts seriously since until this date this theme was explored in comedies. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "O Solar das Almas Perdidas" ("The Manor of the Lost Souls")

Not exactly a horror film. It starts off as a slightly mysterious and creepy romantic comedy. It is one of those films with strange and ambiguous relationships between the characters.

A brother-sister duo (Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey) is impressed by a large mansion while on a trip to a seaside town. They are surprised when its owner agrees to sell it to them for a very cheap price. But once they move in, they realize that there is some sort of entity in the house. The strange behavior of the owner and his granddaughter also arouses suspicion.

The two protagonists are unusual - they are a chummy brother sister duo who live together. The relationship between the mansion's owner and his granddaughter is also quite strange. He seems to be excessively possessive about her. There is another relationship which hints at lesbianism.

The film begins with a great long shot of the turbulent sea that is almost monstrous. It was very affecting. The indoor scenes are characterized by a lot of shadows and candle light which gives a Gothic and at times even Noirish feel to the film. The séance scene was very interesting.

Ray Miland's charming presence and his backslapping relationship with Ruth Hussey prevents this film from becoming a creepy horror film.

You might enjoy it if you liked The Birds or Marnie. It is not a bad film for a rainy night. And Ruth Hussey is very nice to look at.

(6/10)

One of the posters described this as a "comfort" film which says it for me. I absolutely love this movie. It has been one of my favorites for years and years. I am also very lucky that my mother contacted a rare book company and found me the book, which is also wonderful. In the book (which I believe was written right before World War II began), the Ray Milland character is a writer, and there are many more characters. In fact, there are two men interested in the Ruth Hussey character. In its own way, The Uninvited book is equally as wonderful as the film, and the movie definitely keeps the gist of the story. I'm glad Milland is a composer in the movie, because how could we do without "Stella by Starlight," one of the most heavenly songs ever written. The music contributes to the wonderful atmosphere of "The Uninvited."

I read through the postings and was interested to see the Rebecca comparisons. "Rebecca" is one of my all time favorites as well, and I feel like an idiot saying I've never connected the two. But yeah, the Mary Meredith sure was on a pedastal, wasn't she? Otis Skinner's total, over the top performance is a real highlight. "No rough edges...all smooth..." - lots going on there!

It's tragic to see Gail Russell so young and beautiful and realize that alcohol would ravage her beyond recognition that and she would die so young.

She was lovely. The whole cast is marvelous. And I love that ghost! So, a mimosa toast to all of you who love this film as I do.

Add a beautiful, mysterious Cornish seascape - with cliff and huge house standing alone. Add the likes of veteran actors like Ray Milland, Donald Crisp, Ruth Hussey, Alan Napier, Cornelia Otis Skinner, and a charming newcomer in Gail Russell. Throw in the eerie, suspenseful story of a house with a secret - a house that is worth much, much more than it sells for but is sold for a song to new neighbors Milland and Hussey as siblings. Stir in the ever present, keen eye for mixing atmosphere with action by director Lewis Allen and a thought-provoking, interesting albeit somewhat predictable script by Dodie Smith (based on a popular novel by Dorothy Macardle). For extra measure and a stronger ghostly flavour, present a séance, an asylum for the mentally ill, a true cliffhanger, and of course ghosts with work left to do after they have NOT shuffled off this mortal coil. All these ingredients make a fine film called The Univited, a Paramount release that really tries to be a true ghost story with emphasis on atmosphere rather than action. Though the film has a few stretches which might have been enhanced a bit more with some more action, the film's overall quality succeeds in its goals. The Uninvited is a first-rate ghost story about a secret this solitary, palatial house has, and it creates its suspense with things like creaking doors, lights faintly moving, wind blowing windows in(or out), barely audible whispers floating in the air, and ethereal images casting their ghostly shadows for the living's visual consumption. Ray Milland is as ever very affable in the lead role and Gail Russell as the focus of the ghost intrigue is beautiful and talented. Hussey, Skinner, and Napier do very good jobs with the material, but Donald Crisp as Russell's strong-willed father makes the biggest impression. If you are looking for something that has all the trappings of a sophisticated haunted house film - The Uninvited is it.

An effective enough little ghost story that sustains a mood of Gothic mystery for almost its entire running time and then wraps everything up patly and rather hilariously in the last five minutes.

You'll be able to spot the "twist" in the film from a mile away, but that doesn't spoil the enjoyment to be had from the movie's setting, a haunted house perched on the edge of a cliff in the English countryside. And the cast certainly helps too, with Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey and Donald Crisp all delivering solid performances. The stars of the film are its production design and its black and white cinematography, which brought perennial Oscar nominee Charles Lang his sixth of eighteen career nominations.

This is the perfect thing to pop in on a windy, stormy night, or a lazy rainy afternoon.

Grade: B+

Old Hollywood may not have had digital, but they sure knew how to fake it. Take this movie. I could swear it was filmed on a rocky British coast. But no. According to IMDb, it looks like production never left the LA area or maybe even the studio lot. In my book, that's quite a technical feat. Besides, the crashing waves and and cliff-side mansion add a ton of atmosphere to a really good ghost story.

Actually, it's as much a mystery movie as it is a haunting. Just who the heck is this sobbing spirit and why is she bugging poor sweet little Stella (Russell). In fact, was there ever a more appealing screen presence in any film than actress Russell is here. She's got a level of innocent appeal that most actresses only dream about, and steals the film with an unforgettable charm.

Speaking of charm, Russell's got a lot of competition from Milland and Hussey who are simply delightful as the urbane brother and sister. Their scenes together amount to little marvels of civilized chemistry. In fact, this may be the most charmingly done story of the occult on record. It's almost like the supernatural happenings are secondary to the array of compelling characters, including the tyrannical Commander (Crisp).

Now, neither the swirling specter nor the ghostly sobbing scared me, but Miss Holloway (Skinner) sure as heck did. Talk about ice-cold intelligence. If you weren't wacko when you entered her Nazi sanitarium, you soon would be. Then there's poor flighty Miss Bird (Stickney). I can see her entering the place as a highly competent librarian, but soon reduced by "therapy" to flapping her arms and collecting rocks. Then too, what's with Holloway's attachment to the deceased Mary Meredith—was this Hollywood maybe pushing the envelope.

Anyhow, the movie is studio (Paramount) craftsmanship at its best, including the enchanting title tune "Stella by Starlight". Whatever old Hollywood's failings, and they had many, the studios could on occasion come up with real winners. Fortunately, this is one of them.

A composer (Ray Milland) and his sister discover that the reason they are able to purchase a beautiful Gothic seacoast mansion very cheaply is the house's unsavory past.

I entered into this film with the understanding that it is a classic. And, I suppose, it is, having been nominated for an Oscar and starring Ray Milland (who once again is chasing after a younger woman -- see "The Major and the Minor"). It started off a bit slow, a bit happy, and I was unclear how this was a horror film.

That worry went away. Although it never gets outright scary, there is a decent level of suspense and atmosphere, and the ghost effects are very impressive for their day, anticipating the films of William Castle. There is also a complex plot under the basic haunting, and that held my attention very well.

I saw this movie many years ago. Every time I knew it was coming on, I would turn off all the lights and make sure I was alone. It scared me to death. Years later I would look for it, but never could remember its name or the actors in it, but it haunted me. It is a movie you will never forget. With no blood or gore, it will frighten you or give you chills for a long time to come. The acting is great and the music helps set the mood. The house was beautiful. 10 years after I saw it, the image of the house, the sound of the cries and that cliff...those were the things I remembered. Now that I know it, I will go buy it. It is the best thriller I have ever seen.

Spooky goings-on at a seaside manor, with a likably bantering brother and sister happening upon the empty house and snapping it up for a suspiciously reasonable fee; soon, they discover not one, but two ghosts residing there, and with a little detective work they unravel the house's deep dark secrets. Handsome black-and-white film begins as a sophisticated comedy, and keeps its humorously level-head throughout the spookier second-half. Gail Russell, as a young woman who figures in the mystery, has beautiful faraway eyes and a lovely shy manner, but she's perhaps a little young to be paired up with jaunty Ray Milland. Still, the production is first-rate and doesn't skimp on the apparitions. The tidy film unspools nicely, and it stays pleasantly in one's memories. *** from ****

How could I have considered myself a scary movie buff and not known about this movie? I just happened on this movie last night (halloween 2005) on TMC. I loved it. Luckily I have a DVR and was able to pause it, put my daughter to bed, then come back to the living room, dim the lights, light a candle or two, then watch the ending uninvited, err . . . uninterrupted.

Some of what I loved about the movie were its subtleties in the story, the mix of relationships, its tongue-and-cheek humor, even in dire circumstances, the mood of the mansion, and the techniques used to "show the ghosts." The lights and darks and moods were wonderfully mastered. There is not one "normal" husband-wife relationship, yet the story pivots around a child and her relationship with her mother. I agree, along with my other writer colleagues, that there was a passionate relationship between Mary and Ms. Holloway. Check out those eyes on Ms. Holloway in her last scene! Not to mention the odd, but lovable relationship between the brother and sister having no problem living together in their mid 20's or early 30's. And the old-man doctor having the hots for the sister is just as entertaining as watching the brother have the hots for this "child" at least 10 years younger than he. I half expected the grandfather to fall for the house cleaner!

"The Uninvited" (1944) takes place on the English coast where a brother and sister (Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey) become enchanted with and move into an old seaside house that has stood uninhabited for years. Their enchantment soon turns to trepidation as they hear eerie sounds, smell aromatic scents, and feel barometric drops in temperature from room to room. They meet the daughter (Gail Russell) of the previous owners, who now lives nearby with her grandfather, who is fascinated with the home she only briefly lived in as a child. And there are stories that the house is haunted. And so the mysteries must be investigated by the trio, questions must be answered, and the plot thickens as the story evolves. They are later assisted by a handsome young doctor (Alan Napier, the TV Batman's butler, Alfred), and now there is no third wheel and everybody has a love interest.

"The Uninvited" was a box office hit and also fared well with critics in the U.S., but the Academy did not reward it so well: it only got one Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography (it lost to "Laura"). The film is also famous for introducing the song, "Stella by Starlight," which became a pop standard. Paramount tried to imitate the success of "The Uninvited" the following year with "The Unseen," also directed by Allen, also starring Russell—and also nominated for one technical Academy Award, Sound Recording. Not a ghost story but a conventional murder mystery, it was not a box office, nor critical success despite a screenplay by Raymond Chandler and Hagar Wilde.

The ghostly film, "The Uninvited," shows shades of "Portrait of Jennie," "Rebecca," "Laura," "Leave Her to Heaven," without those films' attempts at deeper, more philosophical, thematic pondering on the nature of truth and love—perhaps partly due to the always popping up comic relief, which is there all the way to the mystery-resolving end. But this is what makes this ghost story different, this lighter approach—as when Roderick (Milland) constantly tries to calm his sister Pamela (Hussey) with pleas to her sanity, when he is really trying to soothe himself and not lose his own. One could say this is Hitchcockesque, except for its pervasiveness: Hitch usually uses his comic relief more sparingly; when he doesn't, the difference is that between a humoresque "The Trouble With Harry" and the allegro con suspense "North by Northwest." Interesting that writer Cornelia Otis Skinner plays Miss Holloway in "The Uninvited," as Russell had her first starring role as the author later this same year, 1944, in the movie version of the autobiographical novel "Our Hearts Were Young and Gay," co-written with Emily Kimbrough. Skinner gives us shades of Judith Anderson's Mrs. Danvers from Hitchcock's "Rebecca," from four years earlier—dark, absorbed, and perhaps self mesmerized. Such stylized, surrealistic theatrics might seem laughable to some audience members today, but back then they suited the character and the movie that both seek to give us an otherworldly sense of psychology. Today's world has brought psychology into its homes, where yesterday's world saw what was still a relatively new science as something foreign, strange. A movie, and performance, like this adds to the myth rather than the reality.

And too, it even has a Hitchcock feel and look, due to the direction of Lewis Allen and the cinematography of Charles Lang—who was nominated for one of eighteen Academy Award nominations. (He won once for the 1934 "A Farewell to Arms" and is tied with Leon Shamroy for most cinematography nominations). This is black and white at its best, utilizing the contrast of light and dark to evoke mystery and drama—the use of shadows, dimly light rooms, candlelight, backlit and beneath-lit actors. Lewis Allen, who later moved from movies almost exclusively to American television, specializing in westerns, "Bonanza," and crime dramas, "Cannon," is not terribly original, probably more derivative and imitative of his English, suspense-film predecessor. So again, the film does not quite rise to superlatives as it lends itself to comparatives.

Another issue of mediocrity would be the lack of uniformity in the accents of Hussey and Russell: The American breaks through the British noticeably, unevenly. Now, there are plenty of examples throughout Golden Era movie-making when producers and directors did not require setting-appropriate accents of their actors. But there are plenty of occasions of great actresses (Irene Dunne, Loretta Young, Vivien Leigh) expertly capturing a culture-specific accent. However, there are just as many occasions of great actresses (Rosalind Russell, Maureen O'Sullivan, Ann Rutherford) totally ignoring a screaming requisite for an alteration in accent to suit the setting. Perhaps this is one issue that contemporary audiences who say they can't stand old movies sometimes find off-putting with classic cinema—along with their other plaints, such as black and white, that they don't always understand. Failure for an actor to alter accent appropriate to atmosphere would not be tolerated by today's industry nor audience. Understandably so—so, I've got to side with my contemporaries here: This acting malfunction is decidedly distracting, and as much as I love Gail Russell and Ruth Hussey for their form and performances elsewhere, I must fault them here. A tolerated liability back in the day, cannot be tolerated in this day—though I still tolerate, even embrace, Skinner's stagy, bizarre expressionistic, eccentric manner, for these acting techniques are intended to stand out as peculiar, to create an eerie aura that insinuates her character's vindictive nature. Skinner intends to be hysterical—not as in risible, but as in psychopathological.

Still, all in all, "The Uninvited" is fun and nice to look at—after all, that's what the Academy nominated it for—if you can accept its peculiar shortcomings. It's not very scary, especially in an age of spooky cinema dominated by slashers, psychos and parody of slashers and psychos. But it's a well-told tale, and as the ghost chasers are chased by ghosts, it keeps one guessing for its hundred minute run.

An atmospheric haunted-house yarn nestled on the coast of Cornwall, Broadway workman Lewis Allen's directorial feature debut THE UNINVITED is not a spine-tingling scare-fest one might expect it to be, but a decorous melodrama seeking out the truth about a past tragedy tinged with a tint of Gothic spookiness owing to Charles Lang's stupendous Oscar-worthy camera work through minimal torchlight and candlelight in the mansion where the London siblings Rick (Milland) and Pamela (Hussey) Fitzgerald dwell.

The mansion is called Windward House, which the siblings buy from Commander Beech (a lumpen Crisp) for a knockdown price. The Commander is very cagey about the history of the house and whose only intention is to get the pecuniary profit to secure the future for his 20-year-old granddaughter Stella Meredith (Russell), he brazenly makes it clear that they don't want anything to do with the Fitzgeralds after the deal is cut and dried, intriguing, isn't it? It is not every day someone is offering to buy a jinxed house. But an impressionable and spontaneous Stella takes a liking for the debonair but expansive Rick, confides in him that she feels a strong yet strange connection toward the house where she has been forbidden to set her foot since she was three, when her mother fell to her death from the escarpment in front.

So, apparently it is the apparition of Mary, Stella's mother who torments the new residents with the nightly wailing, chilling draft and pungent scent of mimosa (a clever olfactory indicator as we have to take the characters at their word), but the plot thickens when more details are disclosed: Stella's father had a gypsy mistress Carmel, and the rumor says that it is her who murdered Stella's mother then died of illness afterward. At this step, the ghosts become plural, the rub is whether it is Mary's benevolent calling or Carmel's malignant hex that draws Stella back to the place? Or, as we are all fully aware, there would be a final reveal to overturn all the previous presumptions, after the fuss of a seance and the intervention of a formal nurse, Mary's best friend Miss Holloway (Skinner), there is something fishy about Stella's real identity.

Not quite often a pair of siblings is put in the center of a household, Milland and Hussey make do with their rivalry-free interaction and instill a patina of sangfroid which doesn't seem to be congruent with the mystical happenings, and willfully gives the movie a jocund vibe, if they are not spooked, how can we, armchair rubberneckers, be startled through vicariousness? Forever remembered by Victor Young's theme strain STELLA BY STARLIGHT, a fresh-faced Gail Russell is pleasant to behold, but couldn't be bothered to register a convincing reaction after receiving the bolt from the blue, which mars this otherwise fairly sustained suspense (along with Rick's half- hearted final smack-down with Mary's misty specter). In fact, the best part comes from a scrumptiously scenery-chewing Cornelia Otis Skinner, flagrantly furnishes the story with the requisite venom which one cannot get enough in the genre of uncanny mysteries, which, if really is your cuppa, bearing in mind that Jack Clayton's THE INNOCENTS (1961) is a far superior achievement to be amazed, transfixed and awe-struck.

The Uninvited in this case are brother and sister Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey who take a seaside house to let in England. Someone should have told them that the place was haunted, by two ghosts in fact. But if they had known that, they and the audience looking in would have missed one of the great Gothic horror films of all time.

Two women who really had it in for each other in life are continuing their feud into the next world with it spilling into this world. The object of their hatred is Gail Russell. She's the child of one of them who the other hates with a passion. It was at this house where one of them fell to her death off a cliff into the ocean and the other died of pneumonia.

Russell lives now with her grandfather Donald Crisp and they own the property where Milland and Hussey are staying. Bit by bit both are drawn into the mystery surrounding where they're living. They truly were not invited by one of the ghosts who does her utmost to get rid of them as well as frighten Russell to death.

The haunting cinematography sets the gloomy mood for The Uninvited and small wonder it got an Academy Award nomination for black and white cinematography. What I can't figure out is how Victor Young's score and theme for this film did not get nominated in that category. It was so popular that two years later Ned Washington gave the theme lyrics and it became a hit all over again as Stella By Starlight.

Acting honors go particularly to Cornelia Otis Skinner who did most of her work on stage both as performer and author. Her own autobiography Our Hearts Were Young And Gay had been filmed by Paramount and I guess she figured she owed the studio some work. She really made it count as the sinister figure who probably had a same sex crush on one of the ghosts when she was alive and said ghost gets her to do some evil bidding. Skinner will really creep you out with her performance.

Over 65 years after it first came out The Uninvited has not lost one ounce of shock value. Don't miss it if you're a fan of Gothic horror it's a must see.

I must not be a fan of ghost stories. Even the Henry James novella "The Turn of the Screw" seems like one of his lesser, albeit best known, efforts.

This movie is well directed, well photographed, well acted. One can admire what one doesn't like.

Cornelia Otis Skinner is a smashing villain. She makes Gale Sondergaard seem like Shirley Temple. Probably her stage experience causes her to play to the balcony, and the director allowed it. So she is mentally ill and menacing and more.

And is it me or is there a very strong hint of lesbianism in her feverish attachment to the memory of Gail Russell's character's late mother? Russell is appealing. Ray Milland is one of my favorites among leading men of the time. And I like Ruth Hussey very much but noticed here that her voice sounds a lot like that of Eve Arden. Hussey often played sarcastic characters and I've seen many of her movies. This is the first time I noticed it.

The explanation of what has gone on may ruin the ghostly quality for some. For me it helps..