The Spiral Staircase, a classic back and white gothic thriller with an expressionist twist from 1946, isn't much of a mystery. With its very narrow range of possible suspects, it's pretty easy to figure out who the bad guy is.
This dated old chestnut definitely wouldn't hold up as-is for today's audiences, but for fans of classic cinema it's well worth a look (especially while doing a zero-in close-up on a creepy eyeball). I'm a fan, but I'd never seen this movie before spinning the disc the other day — it's not shown on cable very often, even though Ethel Barrymore was nominated for an Academy Award (Best Actress in a Supporting Role).
Barrymore's a beaut as the crabby matriarch of a rich family, but it's surprising the main attraction, Dorothy McGuire as Helen, didn't get an accolade as well. Mute throughout most of the film (which sets up her character by showing scenes from the silent film the young servant is attending on her afternoon off), she conveys an amazing amount of emotion and information without words and inflection to rely upon. Another terrific actress in The Spiral Staircase is Elsa Lanchester, playing a drunken but good-natured maid and cook who winds up being of no help whatsoever (passed out in a soused stupor) when the killer is full-fledged stalk mode.
Before it was The Spiral Staircase, the novel Some Must Watch was adapted for a radio production starring Helen Hayes (I do believe the character spoke for the radio show; she wasn't made mute until the film version). One can definitely discern its radio roots in the dialogue-heavy, exposition-laden script. (It's surprisingly talky, for a movie about a mute girl!) There is little trepidation in regards to the serial killer after he murders a "lame" woman at the silent movie theater, then follows "dumb" Helen home to the manor in which she works. As luck would have it, a storm comes — ensuring no one can safely exit the Victorian manse — and mayhem in magnificent black and white ensues.
Nicholas Musuraca was the cinematographer on the movie, and while the shots are short and economic (I would have preferred a lot more romance with the imagery — especially on the stairs), they are stunning in their simple beauty. There're a lot of dramatic moments illuminated using the contrast of light and shadow (mainly in showing the murders all in silhouette, but there are also some spooky stalking scenes shown in flashes of lightning and by the ominous glow of a well-placed candle or lantern).
While The Spiral Staircase may not be as stirring in the suspense department as one might hope, it must be respected for paving the way and influencing the later films of directors such as Michael Powell (Peeping Tom), Mario Bava (Blood and Black Lace), and even one-trick-pony Jim Gillespie (I Know What You Did Last Summer). Finally, a bit of trivia: as Dario Argento after him, The Spiral Staircase director Robert Siodmak employed his own eyes and hands as the "killer" — not the actor hired to play him.
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson