The Uninvited

Is that Mary that we hear?

I just so happened to turn to Turner Classics just in time to catch an old friend, The Uninvited (1944). I hadn't watched it, gosh, since maybe 1996! It is even better than I remembered, although I still feel it kind of is a bit too playful and whimsical in comparison to how dark and sinister The Haunting (1963) would be. What really stood out to me and was certainly aesthetically appetizing to me was the moody photographic work from Charles Lang, applying his wonderful skills of producing just the right bit of spooky lighting and use of noirish dark when Windward was being haunted at night by the moans and agony of a spectre seemingly arriving with a smell of Mimosa perfume. However, there might just be two ghosts wandering the space of Windward...one spectre who presents herself with icy cold and summoning enough of herself in a half-body form to be the supposed mother of a young beauty named Stella (Gail Russell, quite lovely; sadly, it seems her alcoholism, which would lead to her death, started on the set of this particular film). A brilliant pianist (Ray Milland, with a lot of charm and playfullness in this particular role) and his sister (Ruth Hussey, every bit as likable, witty, and snappy as Milland) move into a very spacial, elegant mansion, unaware that it is haunted. Stella becomes quite attached to Milland's Rick Fitzgerald, and vice versa, but her grandfather (Donald Crisp) forbids her to go anywhere near Windward, afraid that "what is there" could do her harm. Mary went over the cliff and Stella could be heard screaming. Could it have been Mary who "took possession" of Stella during a visit to the Windward, causing her to nearly go over the cliff herself, only stopped by Rick in the nick of time? Who is the spirit that communicated through Stella during the seance, speaking in Spanish? Perhaps, an old acquaintance of Mary's, Miss Holloway (Cornelia Skinner, quite the Ice Queen herself, speaking of Mary as if she were worthy of idol worship) has the answers as to what really happened that fateful night and why spirits haunt the floors and rooms of Windward.

I guess the mystery of the film (the past and its ugly secrets) helps prolong the legacy of The Uninvited. It now has quite a reputation. The characters are easy to enjoy, and Milland, Hussey, and Russell have good chemistry, with Alan Napier's village doctor adding a fine accompaniment along the way. Napier's Dr.Scott is also curious as to what ails the Windward and his comforting lack of skepticism and willingness to help trumps the incessant demands of Commander Beech to keep his granddaughter, Stella, from going to the mansion. Holloway only too fondly answers Beech's call to snatch her away and then urge her to go to Windward after hearing of the near-fall at the cliff...what motivates this hate for Stella?

A haunted house overlooking a body of water on a cliff, with the wind often present in the curtains of the upper rooms in the Windward, with the night especially dark as the spirits awaken the fears and curiosity of the Fitzgeralds...this is my reason for enjoying it so. All the night scenes at Windward, even when the ghosts aren't as singled out, are quite a pleasure on the eye. Russell is the center of attention in the plot with all the characters moving parts around her, protection and loving care of the utmost importance towards her (for the exception of Holloway...and Mary, that is).

Ghost stories often have a mystery to be solved. A spirit in unrest wanting a living person to right wrongs concerning him or her. In the case of The Uninvited, why Mary went over the cliff and how this is a danger to Stella. Beech is mum, and his attentions are that no one concern themselves with Stella. He insists but eventually, as his health worsens, Stella's well being will need to be assured by others. How the spirits will go away and no longer haunt the Windward is a result of the Fitzgeralds investigation. Outsiders move in, uninvited, and help to "clear it".