The Uninvited [1944] [DVD]

"That's not because there are more ghosts here than other places, mind you. It's just that people who live here about are strangely aware of them."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

I've just had my second viewing of this lovely old ghost story, my Halloween treat. I was able to obtain a reasonably priced DVD on Amazon after originally finding the film in two parts on You Tube earlier this year. Ray Milland is my favourite vintage Hollywood actor due to his unforgettable portrayal of the alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend, and I'd always wanted to see him in the film in which he gets the better of the spirits (pardon the pun!) He is certainly the handsome and intrepid romantic hero in The Uninvited, though tragically the ethereally lovely leading lady, Gail Russell, succumbed to alcohol in real life due to stage fright.Much as I am delighted to have my own copy of The Uninvited, and with the accompanying booklet, I really wish this film would be on TV periodically. Why not show it regularly during Halloween? I doubt whether anyone could call it a horror film, certainly not compared to many more recent and present day movies. Personally I find it quite creepy but not scary. The big old house high on the Cornish cliffs, haunted by an evil but also a good spirit, is certainly atmospheric. And I did get worried for the beautiful and fragile young woman at the heart of the matter. But for me one of the nicest aspects of this 1940s film is that there is no shame around the girl's having been born out of wedlock, nor is her mother vilified when the truth emerges.Returning to the fear factor, I think it might depend on whether individual viewers believe in the supernatural or not. I try to be open minded. But I know I'm not alone in thinking The Lost Weekend a much more frightening film since it features nasty, uncanny things that are medical fact. It's presented in a very eerie way which reminds me of some Victorian horror stories by opium addicted authors that I've read. It creeped me out when I watched it late at night once. I found The Uninvited to be a nice counterbalance.

Why does this still work much better than any of the ghost stories or horror flicks in the last thirty years?The answer is that the story,the actors and the photography balance one another in a way movies have forgotten.This is still one of the great ghost stories.

Un magnifique objet, Wild Side nous gâte. Restauration impeccable, superbe (gros) livret et puis La falaise Mystérieuse est un peu la mère de tous les films d'épouvante gothiques des années 50/60, entre Rebecca et l'Aventure de Mme Muir, une photo magnifique, une belle ambiance et de petits frissons, un très beau moment, un film rare. Et pas cher du tout en plus vu l'objet. Livré comme d'hab en 24h par amazon. Parfait.

I hadn't realized how much I was missing until my first viewing of "The Uninvited" on Blu-Ray, the classic ghost story that was first released in 1944, under the direction of Lewis Allen. Thanks to Criterion Collection, the film has been beautifully restored on both DVD and Blu-Ray, and can now be accessible to fans old and new. I love watching B&W movies, but this restoration had me in awe, and it is no wonder that Charles Lang's cinematography was lauded and nominated for an Academy Award. The transfer here onto Blu-Ray makes this a visually-compelling movie that I plan on watching over and over.Fans of highly atmospheric, old-fashioned ghost stories will adore this film as it's a classic representation of the genre. Set on England's Devonshire coast in the year 1937, the film centers on siblings, Rick (Ray Milland) and Pamela Fitzgerald (Ruth Hussey) who on a trip to the coast find themselves attracted to the desolate Windward House. Upon Pamela's coaxing, Ray agrees to the purchase of the house, using their combined resources. Though it may seem a bit strange for a pair of grown siblings, a brother and sister, sharing a house together, one needs to keep in mind the time period for the film, a time where it wasn't unheard of for an unmarried sister to keep house for her brother, in this case, while the brother works on his music.Soon after they move in, the siblings begin to realize that all those tales about the house and its reputation are not unfounded after all. The taciturn old Commander Beech (Donald Crisp) whose daughter lived there, is adamant that his beautiful young granddaughter, Stella (the gorgeous Gail Russell) not socialize with the siblings or go anywhere near the old house. Of course, headstrong Stella pays little mind to the old man's orders, not that she could resist the pull to the old house, having a strong attachment to the house due to the connection with her deceased mother. But as Gail and Ray are inevitably drawn to each other, Ray and Pamela come to realize why the Commander wished his granddaughter away from the old house; there's a presence of some sort in the place, and it is clearly fixated on Gail, and may not be a benign entity but one that is positively malevolent.The scares in this film may be nothing compared to the gore and slasher flicks dominating horror cinema today, but I thought the film was effectively chilling precisely because of the absence of such in-your-face special effects. The B&W cinematography with its use of light and shadows, perfectly captures the tense moments in the Windward House as the siblings and even the maid, followed by the hapless Stella, discover the intentions of the entity residing within. Every minute detail adds to the suspense, such as the faint flicker of candlelight, the slamming of a door, the rustle of curtains, and more, and enhances one's appreciation of this beautifully-filmed ghost story.The music at first seemed a little jarring since there's a lighthearted tone at the beginning which seemed very at odds with the supernatural-themed story, but I did love the haunting strains of Victor Young's "Stella by Starlight" which sets the scene perfectly for this compelling and atmospheric Gothic ghost story. The plot may not be perfect but does yield some unexpected twists that enhanced the story.The cast delivers a credible performance, none more so than Gail Russell whose luminous beauty and gimlet eyes light up the screen (though I was sad to learn about her battle with alcoholism and her eventual demise at the young age of 36).This Blu-Ray edition features:- New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack- A new 26-minute visual essay, "Giving Up the Ghost", by filmmaker Michael Almereyda- Two radio adaptations, from 1944 and 1949, both starring Ray Milland, reprising his role as Rick Fitzgerald (the earlier one features Ruth Hussey too).- A trailer- A booklet featuring an essay by critic Farran Smith Nehme and a 1997 interview with director Lewis AllenThe total running time is 99 minutes, in black and white, monaural, 1.37:1 aspect ratio.Final verdict - If you're a connoisseur of classic ghost stories, then you will surely enjoy 1944's "The Uninvited" on this special edition Blu-Ray.

Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey star as a brother and sister, who while on vacation in the Cornish countryside, fall in love with a house for sale and decide to buy it. The home is surprisingly cheap, and they quickly discover why. Doors open and close, the upstairs studio is cold and damp and somehow menacing, the animals won't go upstairs, and worst of all, just before dawn the moans of a crying woman echo through the house. Somehow connected to all this and in terrible danger is Gail Russell, the daughter of the man who sold the house. Her parents lived in the home, and her mother died there. It becomes very clear that she is in danger every time she visits the house unless Milland and Hussey can find an answer as to why they have "uninvited" guests. If this excellent ghost story had been made today, the emphasis would be on computer generated special effects to deliver the chills. But that's not what makes this such an effective film. The dark, candle lit cinematography, the restrained performances and direction, and the measured approach to presenting the chills is what makes it work. The story and mystery are involving, presented in a way that makes the viewer believe it could actually happen. Milland and Hussey are very good, and Gail Russell delivers a sympathetic performance as Stella. The only criticism of the story is the character and performance of Cornelia Otis Skinner as a woman who knows the truth of what happened with Russell's mother. She is over the top in a film where everyone else is restrained, and the parts of the story that shift the focus from the house to the insane asylum that Skinner runs interrupt the flow of the film. But other than that, this is a perfectly crafted film that delivers a terrific, suprisingly effective ghost story that make it tops in that genre. The film establishes a mood and credibility that make it a real winner.

Five solid stars for a superb Criterion Collection Blu Ray disc production; beautiful sound and clear video having a stunning clarity in frame by frame stepping. A wonderful, thought provoking visual essay of amazing depth “Giving Up The Ghost” by filmmaker Michael Almereyada will forever alter a simple surface view of life.“The Uninvited” is a film that makes the viewer wish modern movie producers would study it intently and understand that subtle suggestion to the imagination is many multiple times more effective than blood and gore splattered everywhere. “The Uninvited” profoundly demonstrates that black and white cinematography is not only beautiful, but can be a powerful medium in its use of shadow and light in a stunning use of grays, deep blacks and bright whites to stir the imagination. Black and White can make texture stand out in a way that a viewer can almost touch and feel. It is a bit sad to realize how much depth modern movie viewers miss in not having well made Black and White films available.“The Uninvited” is a first rate story and production, with a perfectly chosen, absolutely superb cast across the board. Stories abound about Gail Russell’s terror of movie making and the director’s difficulty in dealing with her insecurities. However, Gail is so superb as “Stella” that it is hard to not feel those stories were exaggerated considerably. Plus Gail’s heartfelt performances her later classic movies such as “Angel and the Badman”, “Wake of the Red Witch” , “Moonrise”, “Lawless” and “Seven Men From Now”, prove her to be an accomplished actress with effortless star quality and a screen presence that is very unique and striking. Gail’s screen presence is only in part due to her incredible natural beauty. Gail’s stunning eyes and sensitive, expressive, lovely face can say more in seconds than many pages of dialog. In all her movies, Gail Russell’s characters tend to be the “heart and soul” of the story. Setting a pattern in Gail’s first starring role, “Stella” is the heart and soul center of “The Uninvited” so effectively that it is genuinely impossible to think of anyone doing a better “Stella” than Gail Russell. Initially it may be hard to accept the much older Rick (Ray Milland) and young Stella having romantic interest in each other. Yet Ray Milland and Gail Russell have such genuine affectionate rapport that their sweet charm instantly convinces the viewer that the developing relationship is not only real, but very good and perfect. Ruth Hussey as Rick’s sister Pam is a perfect choice in casting as she and Milland have a believable, charming and very humorous banter creating a genuine brother / sister interaction. Donald Crisp IS the gruff, no nonsense Commander who is Stella’s stern, unyielding grandfather. Cornelia Otis Skinner creates one of the most creepy characters ever put on screen as “Miss Holloway”. Every other character, no matter how fleeting, is likewise note perfect. The wonderful direction by Lewis Allen and stunning black and white cinematography by Charles B Lang make “The Uninvited” a truly timeless movie that holds up very well.Indeed “The Uninvited” seems less dated than many modern horror stories. Perhaps that is because “The Uninvited” has a lot of heartwarming light to counterbalance the scary shadows, a lot of sweetness to offset the dark part of the story. In short, “The Uninvited” has very real characters leading real lives, and the story holds up so well because it’s hauntings seem real and possible in day to day life. Possibly that is why on a dark night, watching “The Uninvited” alone, the story actually retains the power to unnerve in a way most modern horror movies cannot. Modern horror often has characters so bizarre and freaky, that the viewer knows there is no possibility of the bizarre character existing in the real world.“The Uninvited” however stays in the back of the mind; was that faint noise from the dark shadows your imagination or …….?“The Uninvited” is a movie that can be watched again and again. It is the perfect Halloween story. Invite someone who has never seen it, then turn all the lights off until only deep shadows and faint light remains. Then allow “The Uninvited” to work its magic. It will soon become clear why this story has timeless appeal!