The Uninvited (1944)

Martin Scorsese and Guillermo Del Toro count this among their favorite horrors. In earlier days, it stood out as one of the first non-comedy ghost stories in Hollywood. It's also remembered for the debut of much-covered jazz standard "Stella by Starlight," which, oddly enough, isn't remotely scary. I don't know which if any of these details first drew my attention to the film, but I wanted at least one oldie for the month.

While vacationing on the Cornwall coast, Rick (Ray Milland) and Pamela (Ruth Hussey) stumble on a disused yet charming cliffside mansion and decide to move in from their London flat. Commander Beech (Donald Crisp) gives them a good deal on it, explaining that it is not only out of the way but often considered creepy, if only by virtue of having enigmatic old-house personality and his daughter Mary's tragic death 17 years ago, which had prompted him to move out. Beech's 20-year-old granddaughter, Stella (Gail Russell), is too sentimental about her childhood home to let it go altogether, so she appeals to Rick's heart, and he lets her visit. Only after they enter the one unpleasant room do they start to see why previous tenants bailed. Something there overwhelms the senses if not the will, and that something doesn't entirely restrict itself to that room thereafter. What were the exact circumstances of Mary's death, anyway?

I had found it odd that Rick and Pamela were a brother and sister still living together in their 30s. I guess the literary basis, Dorothy Macardle's Uneasy Freehold, needed an excuse to have a woman on hand who was neither a romantic rival to Stella nor the hired help. Yep, there's a genuine love story between Rick and Stella, despite a significant difference in age and projected power (he once forces a kiss on her). Rick even has to tell Pamela not to call her a child. Pretty disturbing if you dwell on it. Mercifully, it steers clear of anything steamy by '40s standards.

The 99-minute feature goes for some rather long periods without a sign of haunting, apart from pets' refusal to go upstairs. When signs do appear, they always stir the emotions but are not always ominous. In fact, Stella might be the only person threatened. You may think, "Why would her mother do that to her?" Well, the background isn't as simple as the first rumor suggests. There is more than one dark force at work herein.

Unlike Scorsese and Del Toro, I wouldn't put this movie in my top, oh, 50 for fright. The danger factor is too low, the premises lack freshness, and the resolution is remarkably simple. Frankly, the women's screams themselves must have chilled me most.

But a Gothic fantasy can still be appreciated in other ways. The cinematography has a way with atmosphere, however shifting. The acting is good, not least from Russell, whose RL shyness helped her convey fear. And the thickening plot deserves to be told.

For what amounted to a fledgling subgenre, TU isn't bad. Perhaps we owe the existence of a lot of scarier works to it.