Customer Reviews
Spiral Staircase - every home should have one. 
2008-08-16
First saw this at 10 or 11 years old. Good spooky movie set in an old Gothic type house. I love them.
Hell to keep clean.
Old suspens 
2008-07-21
C'est un film qui a mal vieilli. Rien à dire au sujet de l'interprétation, mais le décor comme les situations sont poussiéreux et, malheureusement, l'intrigue n'apporte aucune surprise : on sait dès le début que tout finira par s'arranger et que la pauvre héroïne sera sauvée in-extremis.
Le plaisir vient tout de même de cet effet rétro, de ce faux suspense qui finit par amuser, et qui pousse le spectateur a rester jusqu'au générique final, en se disant qu'il pourra s'endormir ensuite tranquillement sans faire de cauchemars.
finding the courage to scream... 
2007-12-11
Dorothy McGuire delivers an amazing performance as a traumatised mute in this expertly-directed classic of the thriller genre. THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE (based on the book "Some Must Watch" by Ethel Lina White) is a moodily-lit, delicious treat for the true lovers of screen thrillers.
In a picture-perfect New England town, someone is murdering young women who have physical afflictions. Could Helen (Dorothy McGuire) be next? Following an horrific event in her past, Helen has lived her life as a mute. Employed as companion to the bedridden Mrs Warren (Ethel Barrymore), Helen is told that her life is in danger and she must leave the house immediately. Is the killer closer than she thinks....and when the killer makes their presence known, will Helen find the courage to scream? THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE is a complete thrill-ride, from it's prologue set in a turn-of-the-century movie theater, to the emotionally-devastating conclusion.
Dorothy McGuire holds the whole movie together, with her masterly performance as mute Helen. It's much subtler than a silent movie or "dumb show" performance, nor is it melodramatic; the amount of emotion McGuire is able to convey with the simplest look, and the way her eyes tell you what's inside her head, is incredible. It's a total tour-de-force from an actress who was never really given her full dues in Hollywood.
Ethel Barrymore, George Brent and Rhonda Fleming lead the outstanding supporting cast, with Elsa Lanchester as the drunken maid, and Sara Allgood as Mrs Warren's comical nurse.
The art direction and cinematography in THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE are all showcased to their best advantage with this new DVD release. There's some minor print damage and water-marking in some areas but on the whole it's a very pleasing transfer for a movie made in 1946. THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE will be a no-brainer for classic movie collectors, and lovers of quality thrillers.
(Single-sided, single-layer disc).
The Spiral Staircase 2007-06-25
Robert Siodmak's eerie gothic thriller will set your teeth chattering, thanks to a subtly forbidding atmosphere, and top-flight performances from Barrymore, Brent, and especially McGuire, who's the picture of vulnerability as the delicate, silent Helen. A first-rate chiller, with a nifty surprise climax.
The Spiral Staircase 2007-03-25
Outstanding movie!!! If you love a good thriller this is your movie.
A real thriller! 2007-02-21
A murderer is targeting disabled young women in a sleepy New England town, and Helen (Dorothy McGuire), a mute servant in a Gothic mansion, is terrified she's next! Mrs. Warren (legendary actress Ethel Barrymore in an Oscar®-nominated* performance [Best Supporting Actress, 1946]), the invalid, bullying mistress of the house, warns Helen to leave at once, rather than rely on her weak son and stepson for protection. But even as Helen is packing her things, she suspects she may be too late and the murderer is closer than she ever imagined!
One emerged from the film feeling as exhausted by terror as McGuire had been... 2007-01-14
The extra vulnerability of the handicapped has been a magnet to attract some fine directors of suspense...
The fulcrum of Robert Siodmak's 'The Spiral Staircase' was the fact that the beautiful and expressive Dorothy McGuire was dumb - deprived of her speech by shock... Her terror when death stalked had to be wordless, and it was all the more potent... She could not communicate, she could not plead or call for help...
It was New England in 1906, and she was employed by the bedridden mistress (Ethel Barrymore) of an old mansion (decorated in Victorian style). On the girl's day off, a disabled girl was found murdered in the little town. It was the third such murder... In each case the victim had been physically handicapped - and, as we learned later, the murderer killed because he could not tolerate imperfection...
There was a chilling start to the suspense as Dorothy McGuire walked home through a stormy night, rattling a twig against railings... In a lightning flash we saw - but she did not - the silhouette of a man watching her... On into the house and, as she paused on a landing, we saw the feet of the man on another landing... waiting. And then, in a close-up of his eye, we saw her face reflected - an imperfect face...
On this level the tension was maintained in visual terms, through the murder of another girl in the house and the mute's discovery of the body, and her belief that she knows the murderer... She tricks him into a room and locks him in... but, as she is to find, she has locked up the wrong man...
Ethel Barrymore received the film's only Academy Award nomination, as Best Supporting Actress... McGuire would have to wait another year to be nominated as Best Actress, for her great role in Elia Kazan's emotional 'Gentleman's Agreement', 1947.
Gothic Style Drama and Suspense 2006-10-09
This fondly remembered film uses a gothic atmosphere and a terrific performance from Dorothy McGuire to capture and keep the viewer's attention. The suspense builds slowly and it is the kind of film best watched on a rainy night with a big bowl of popcorn.
Nicholas Musuraca's photography captures the menace of the wind and rain in this truly old-fashioned tale of suspense and romance. Dorothy McGuire shines as the mute Helen under Robert Siodmak's uncluttered direction. Roy Webb, famous for many great scores at RKO, adds another fine one to his list in this Dore Schary production from Selznick. This is a film of atmosphere and performance rather than nail-biting tension. As with many of Ethel Lina White's novels brought to film, the movie is actually better than the book.
The film opens as the mute Helen appropriately watches a silent film while a killer on the loose preys once more on a young woman with an imperfection. Helen is very aware of her own limitations but the young town doctor is in love with her and believes she can be helped to speak once again. When it becomes evident that the killer is connected somehow to the old mansion where Helen takes care of the ill Mrs. Warren (Ethel Barrymore), she is soon in great danger because of her affliction.
From there it is only a matter of figuring out just who Helen should be wary of. An old spiral staircase and a single rainy night will reveal much. The two very different sons of Mrs. Warren offer latent hostility and intrigue while Dr. Parry tries to protect and warn her, as does the sick Mrs. Warren. Rhonda Fleming offers a sexy contrast to McGuires's wholesome mute girl as the secretary romancing the wayward brother Steven. A fine cast that includes Kent Smith as the doctor, George Brent as the responsible son, and Elsa Lanchester round out the players in this gothic style drama.
A shy kiss between Helen and Dr. Parry in a doorway sets the tone for the film, which is very old-fashioned suspense and romance. McGuire has some wonderful moments throughout the film. One such is when she is daydreaming of her marriage to Dr. Parry which becomes a nightmare beacause she cannot utter "I do" at the alter. The pace is slow and deliberate but works because of a wonderful ending, especially the final shot.
Those expecting grandiose tension and suspense will probably be disappointed upon seeing this film for the first time. Those who can ignore all the hype of its reputation, however, will find much to love in its gothic atmosphere and old-fashioned romance. A great film for a rainy night!
Steer Clear of the Wine Cellar 2006-08-14
With her large, expressive eyes and rather plain features, Dorothy Mc Guire is perfect for the mute servant girl in this superb gothic thriller. So is stylish noir director Robert Siodmak who really knows how to translate troubled inner worlds into complex camera effects. Together, they transform the hoary elements of a maniacal killer, a spooky old mansion, and a houseful of suspects, into a memorable movie experience.
I paricularly like the opening sequence where a 1900's audience sits watching an early feature length film, The Kiss. The rest of the audience sits stoically, not knowing what to make of the new-fangled experience. However, Mc Guire's simple servant girl sits enraptured, absolutely transfixed, her luminous eyes suffering along with the endangered heroine, whose predicament curiously foreshadows Mc Guire's own plight yet to come. I doubt that any actress has won over an audience any faster than during those few seconds.
Credit should also go to that terrific RKO tandem of art director Albert D'Agostino and set director Darrel Silvera, whose artistic eye helped lift that studio into the pantheon of 1940's black & white. Together, they manage to keep a single set, the old house, from becoming boring to look at, while perfectly complementing Siodmak's own gothic sensibilities.
Still, there is a downside. Poor Kent Smith plays the young doctor. Technically, he's a competent enough actor; however, his charisma factor registers somewhere between dull gray and dried cement. Here his rather smarmy physician appears to have wandered over from the set of Young Doctor Kildare. Fortunately, his screen time is limited.
In compensation are the wonderfully daffy Elsa Lanchester as the cook, and Carleton the dog as Carleton the dog, perhaps the most beautifully ugly face in the history of canine thespians. Also, making an impressive appearance is an apparent forerunner of hurricane Katrina , howling and thundering for the entire ninety minutes in true gothic fashion.
Anyhow, this is a genuinely artistic suspenser from RKO's golden period, proving once again why Hollywood's eventual stampede to technicolor was not an unmixed blessing.
Great Visuals Add To Already-Excellent Film 2006-04-22
This was an excellent suspense film with outstanding cinematography and interesting characters played by a strong cast.
There are lots of complimentary adjectives in the above sentence but the film deserves it, particularly the photography (see this on DVD). The lighting is as good as anything I've ever seen in film noir (this is not a film noir, as one reviewer correctly points out). In fact, outside of David Lean's "Oliver Twist, " this may be the best-looking black-and-white film I've seen. A good part of the visual treat is viewing the fantastic Victorian house where most of the action takes place.
The lead character, played beautifully by Dorothy McGuire, is one the viewer cares about which helps get one involved in the story. All the other characters are fun to watch, and are detailed here in other reviews. I go along with most in saying Ethel Barrymore was the most likable.
There are a few holes in the storyline, to be sure, but one doesn't care since the film movies rapidly, the story keeps you so involved and the visuals and audio are so interesting. This latter also features the longest thunderstorm on record!
