The Uninvited (1944)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Lewis Allen

Writers:

Dorothy Macardle (novel)
Dodie Smith (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

16 October 1944 (Sweden)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Romance

Tagline:

From the Most Popular Mystery Romance since "Rebecca"!

Plot:

A brother and sister move into an old seaside house they find abandoned for many years on the English coast...

Plot Keywords:

House | Supernatural | Grandfather | Male Female Relationship | Dead Mother

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Ray Milland	...	Roderick Fitzgerald
Ruth Hussey	...	Pamela Fitzgerald
Donald Crisp	...	Commander Beech
Cornelia Otis Skinner	...	Miss Holloway
Dorothy Stickney	...	Miss Bird
Barbara Everest	...	Lizzie Flynn
Alan Napier	...	Dr. Scott
Gail Russell	...	Stella Meredith

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | UK:A (1944) (cut) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #9337)

Filming Locations:

Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Elizabeth Russell posed for Mary Meredith's face in her painting, while Lynda Grey for posed for her body.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the next to last scene Lizzy Flynn's cat is sitting placidly grooming himself on the stairway at Winward House, when he should be at the Jessop Farm with Lizzy Flynn.

Quotes:

Stella Meredith: [realizing Rick has written the music he is playing] You made that up?
Roderick Fitzgerald: Yes.
Stella Meredith: But you must be brilliant.
Roderick Fitzgerald: Oh, dazzling. People have to wear sunglasses.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Remington Steele: Steele Crazy After All These Years (#1.16)" (1983)

Soundtrack:

Stella by Starlight

Above average, but flawed

Roderick Fitzgerald (Ray Milland) and his sister Pamela (Ruth) happen upon a charming old mansion on a seacoast 300 miles from London. They track down the present owner as Commander Beech (Donald Crisp), and after a brief refusal from Beech's granddaughter, Stella (Gail Russell), they meet with Beech, who agrees to sell it to them for the remarkably low sum of 1200 pounds! The price is that low because there are rumors, at least, that the house might be haunted. The Uninvited tells us what happens when the Fitzgerald's move in.

While this film is usually classified as a horror film (the Internet Movie Database has it as "Horror/Romance"), and it does have some superficial resemblances to both Rebecca (1940--a film I love and which was supposed to be an influence on this one) and The Haunting (1963--a film I disliked quite strongly on my last viewing), it's better to approach The Uninvited primarily as a mystery. There are horror elements, but they are a very minor part of the plot and take up very little screen time. Calling it a "romance" seemed odd to me at first, but when you think about it, the romance aspect of the film takes up just as much time as the horror aspect. But 90-something percent of the film is in the realm of mystery, albeit a slow-paced mystery that's mostly dialogue.

And that fact brought my rating down a couple notches. The Uninvited is one of the few times that I think application of a literary "rule" would have improved a work. In this case, the rule that is broken is "show, don't tell". The mystery that is the heart of the film's plot is long in the past, so all we receive are characters talking about it--telling us, and figuring out, a story.

At that however, what might have been a 6 out of 10 from me, at best, was brought up due to the very clever dialogue, which usually contains a very subtle and quick sense of humor. On the downside, the dialogue was also a bit confusing every once in a while, especially given that two crucial characters in the mystery are a woman referred to as "Mary Meredith" and a man usually referred to only as "Meredith".

The fine black & white cinematography is another bonus, as is the horror material (all in the guise of a haunted house) those few times that it is present. The effects were particularly impressive, especially given the era, although note that some editions of the film apparently are missing the most prominent effects--a fact that would lessen the quality of the film in my opinion.