The Uninvited (1944)

The Uninvited is a genuine classic from a decade that was not kind to quality horror movies. Admittedly this movie was intended more as a mystery/romance than a genre film, but the ghosts are central to the plot and very real.

Tagline: “From the Most Popular Mystery Romance since “Rebecca”!”

Note: There is a totally unrelated 2009 movie with the same title.

WTF Factor: **   an extra star for including actual ghosts that are decidedly not played for comedy     

Notable Dialogue:

• Stella [realizing Rick composed the music he is playing]: “You made that up?”
• Rick: “Yes.”
• Stella: “But you must be brilliant.”
• Rick: “Oh, dazzling. People have to wear sunglasses.”

Synopsis: Ray Milland voiceover: It’s 1937 on the cliffs of Cornwall. Siblings Rick and Pamela Fitzgerald (Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey) are hiking when their dog Bobby chases a squirrel into a house at the top of the cliff.

They follow and after wandering around a bit, Pamela is in love with the house. She suggests Rick quit reviewing concerts and spend time writing his own music. They visit the owner of the house, Commander Beech (Donald Crisp), and are met by Stella Meredith (Gail Russell), his granddaughter. She tells them the house is not for sale. The Commander arrives in the nick of time and sells the house to the Fitzgeralds very cheaply. Windward House belonged to Stella’s parents and Stella lived there as a child. The Commander discloses that previous tenants complained about noises.

When Pamela and Rick return to the house, Bobby won’t come up the stairs. A locked room turns out to be the father’s art studio, but it’s damp, cold, and depressing.

Stella stands outside the house crying, but apologizes to Rick the next day in the village. She said she comes to talk to her mother, who died when Stella was three years old. Rick takes Stella sailing, although he gets very seasick.

Rick goes to London for three weeks and brings back maid Lizzie Flynn (Barbara Everest). Pamela has furnished the house, although Bobby has run off. Pamela has not seen Stella; she invited her to tea but the Commander said she was not strong enough for invitations. Rick is clearly in love with Stella. Lizzie’s cat won’t go upstairs either and there’s a draft on the staircase. That night Rick hears a woman crying. Pamela admits that she has heard the crying before; it lasts until dawn.

Rick [hushed]: It’s coming from downstairs.

Pamela: It comes from everywhere…and nowhere.

Rick asks the Commander about the house but he denies knowledge of any problems, which apparently started after Mary’s death. The Commander points out that Rick is not in the same social class as Stella and the Commander will not allow Stella to visit the house. Rick talks to Stella privately and she promises to come to the house that night. Stella confronts the Commander about this and he then calls Miss Holloway (Cornelia Otis Skinner) to help him. He’s afraid the house will hurt Stella.

When Stella comes to dinner, she says she’s never been in Windward House since she was three. Rick’s piano is in the studio and he plays his own piece for Stella, called “Stella by Starlight.” Suddenly the melody turns dark. Stella is upset and runs from the house to the cliff. Rick grabs her in the nick of time. This was where Stella’s mother Mary fell over the cliff.

Then Lizzie screams because she saw something near the studio door like a “crawling mist.” They find Stella unconscious in the studio, very cold, although she did not see a ghost. Doctor Scott (Alan Napier) visits and wants Stella to stay the night. Bobby is living with the doctor, who knows some of the details about the house. Stella’s father had a foreign model, Carmel, that he used for his art. She was a Spanish gypsy and known to be having an affair with the father. Carmel died in the house about a week after Mary did. Mary fell over the cliff trying to prevent Carmel from jumping.

Stella is not afraid. She says that Mary is haunting the house and she feels a sense of overwhelming love when she smells the mimosa perfume that her mother wore. The doctor takes Stella home. Pamela hopes the ghost is gone now that Stella has visited, but the studio is still cold and depressing. The crying starts up again too. Now they suspect there are two ghosts, one loving and the other cold.

Rick asks Stella to marry him, but he no longer wants her to visit Windward. He suggests tearing down the house and Stella is angry.

The doctor stops by Windward House with Bobby; he is clearly fond of Pamela, who suggests a seance. Rick suggests they have one with Stella at Windward to deliver a fake message that Mary doesn’t want her there.

They set up a Ouija board and the message comes through that Mary guards Stella against danger from Carmel. Stella goes into a trance, speaking Spanish. Stella passes out and there is a cold, damp mist at the door, possibly a woman, who approaches the group.

The Commander breaks into the house and he is not pleased that Stella is there. He removes Stella from the doctor’s care and Miss Holloway arrives. Stella is afraid of the stern Miss Holloway, who was a very close friend of Stella’s mother. They both agree that Stella is not like her mother. Holloway wants to “take care” of Stella, with the Commander’s permission, and won’t wait for Rick and Pamela to find out. They take her away.

Lizzy has some gossip about a nurse working for Mary; this was Miss Holloway, who now runs the Mary Meredith Retreat. Rick and Pamela visit the retreat, which Holloway describes as a hotel but clearly functions as a private mental hospital. Holloway describes both Mary and Carmel as extraordinary women. Carmel, though, was thoroughly evil. Mary and her husband took Carmel to Paris and left her there, but Carmel came back to Windward. At the cliff, Carmel tried to kill Stella, then killed Mary instead. Carmel caught pneumonia and Holloway nursed her until her death.

What they don’t know is that Stella is locked up in Holloway’s “hotel.” It is clear that Holloway hates her.

The Fitzgeralds visit the doctor, who checks his predecessor’s records. The older doctor believed that Holloway killed Carmel by negligence. The Commander is taken ill and summons Doctor Scott.

Back at Windward, as Pamela and Rick survey the doctor’s records, they smell mimosa and the pages turn in the record book, unseen. The doctor learns that Stella is at Holloway’s retreat.

The doctor, Rick, and Pamela confront Holloway, who says she has sent Stella back to Windward House and gloats that Stella will be home before them. She says that’s what Mary wanted. Holloway is mad as a hatter.

Holloway [cooing]: I’ve done what she wanted at last. Haven’t I, Mary? It’s all straight now. There are no frayed edges. No loose ends. All straight. All smooth.

Everyone hurries to Windward House, which is unlocked. Stella arrives first to a dark house. She finds the Commander in the house waiting for her.

The Commander tells her to leave but then a mist appears in the shape of a woman and the Commander dies. Stella runs to the cliff and Rick saves her from falling to her death, just barely. It appears that Mary wanted to kill Stella and Carmel stopped her.

The door to the study bursts open and the smell of mimosa fills the room. Stella is unafraid and they watched the pages of the doctor’s record book turn. It stops at a page indicating that Mary refused motherhood but Carmel was pregnant when they left for Paris. Apparently Carmel had Stella in Paris, and was supposed to stay away, but she could not. Stella is delighted at this news, because now she knows why she never felt “perfect,” like Mary. They hear a woman’s laughter and suddenly the scent of mimosa disappears. They rejoice that Carmel’s ghost is gone.

Then Rick sees Mary’s ghost at the top of the stairs and sends the others out of the house.

He faces down Mary, who is exorcised by laughter. Now the cat will go upstairs. It looks like the doctor and Pamela will be getting married as will Stella and Rick. It’s a 1940’s happy ending!

Thoughts: The Uninvited was a revelation in its day. It was one of the screen’s first serious ghost stories, where the manifestations are the result of real ghosts. Up to then, there had been plenty of haunted house movies, but the explanations were always centered on non-supernatural causes, or were played for laughs (think Abbott and Costello). The Uninvited was a critical and box office success when released and the film’s reputation has only grown over the years. Martin Scorsese and Guillermo del Toro both cite this film as one of the best scary movies out there.

I don’t know that I would call the movie scary, exactly, although it’s hard to gauge the reaction in its time. It is, however, spooky, even in the absence of any jump scares or other cheats. First time director Lewis Allen originally did not plan to show the ghosts on screen, but he was overruled by Paramount, and at the end of the movie Mary’s ghost appears. Ironically, the censors in Great Britain forced the studio to cut the ghost scenes; one of the few times that censors have actually improved a movie. There is a welcome inclusion of moments of humor, but never at the expense of the ghosts.

The Uninvited was based on the successful novel Uneasy Freehold by Dorothy Macardle (released in the U.S. as The Uninvited). In publicity, the story was frequently compared to Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier. The movie versions of these novels certainly share a disquieting ambience. However, the main movie resemblance of The Uninvited (1944) to Rebecca (1940) is in the character of Miss Holloway, who bears more than a passing resemblance to Mrs. Danvers, the Manderley housekeeper. This was probably deliberate, since Miss Holloway is a minor character in the original novel, where Stella sneaks away before she is sent to the retreat. As played by Cornelia Otis Skinner, Miss Holloway dominates multiple scenes in the movie. The other aspect carried over from Rebecca is the vaguely insinuated lesbian relationship between Miss Holloway and Mary Meredith (comparable to Mrs. Danvers and Rebecca de Winter). The Motion Picture Production Code of the time would have prevented any direct hints as to this situation.

No discussion of The Uninvited is complete without acknowledging the brilliant cinematography by Charles Lang, who was Oscar-nominated for Best Black and White Cinematography for this film. There is a huge and effective contrast between the daytime scenes, which are full of sunlight both outside and inside the house, and the night scenes, where the only light sources are candles and fireplaces. Everything is dark enough to be spooky but you can still see the actors and surroundings. Disclaimer: I brightened some of the stills so they would show better on a computer screen, but in context, the darkness is both palpable and appropriate.

This movie is a must-see for anyone interested in ghost stories. Despite knowing the twist ending, the movie holds up well to repeat viewings. If you like body counts and big scares, The Uninvited may not be to your tastes, but it is a rewarding view for those of you who value chills while sitting in the dark.

Quick bits:

• This was Gail Russell’s first starring role, at age nineteen. She was by all accounts a shy and reluctant actress, and it is said that she began drinking on the set of The Uninvited in order to calm her nerves. Her subsequent alcoholism led to her untimely death at age 36.
• Stella by Starlight was a big hit record several years later after it was retrofitted with lyrics. It has since become an American jazz standard.
• There was a follow-up movie, The Unseen (1945), directed by Lewis Allen and starring Gail Russell. This was a completely different story (a straight mystery with no ghosts involved) than its progenitor and was not successful.

Suggested double feature:  The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), if you lean toward the romantic side of ghost stories.

Tagline for Coming Attraction: “You’ll just have time to scream…before it tears you apart!” [Truth in advertising]