Fear Knows No Sense: The Spiral Staircase

This is an EXCELLENT old black and white suspense thriller. It tells the story of young psycho-somatically mute woman named Helen who lives in a small New England town around 1915. There have been several Murders in the town, each victim a young woman with some sort of disability ( a bad leg, "mentally impaired, blind, etc.)people fear for Helen’s safety after yet another “afflicted” woman is found dead, but Helen is determined to not be afraid. She works at a huge, old, Victorian house helping take care of the doddering, bedridden widow, Mrs. Warren. (Ethel Barrymore) Helen is very devoted to keeping Mrs. Warren Company and helping her through out the day. She is also one of the few people Mrs. Warren is truly fond of. Mrs. Warren was a very strong independent woman in her youth, enjoying hunting and camping, and feels embarrassed of her bedridden state, making her irritable and grumpy(er than usual) (Again, Helen is the only person she trusts enough to talk about this with.)

Mrs. Warren tends to ramble in and out of coherency, and during these rambling moments she warns Helen to go far away, to stay somewhere safe away from the murders.  However, Helen being the strong character she is, decides to stay and help. That night, there is a bad storm, and it seems that someone starts toying with the people in the house. This includes Mrs. Warren’s two sons, one a studious professor and the other a free floating playboy, A housekeeper and her husband the handyman, and the professor’s secretary. One of these people is diabolically sneaking around the house, hiding medicines, playing with the lights, and spying on Helen from a distance. After someone disappears, it becomes clear to Helen that someone is after her, and she must defend herself in silence.

During all of this the big question is how do you call for help when you can't speak, and who do you call to when no one can be trusted? Helen is constantly cautious and during the big climax, uses the killer’s view of her as a helpless criminal to get dangerously close to the killer to end it all. The whole plot builds up with a suspenseful confrontation that completely surprised me when I first saw it.
            This is one of my favorite old thriller movies. The acting is excellent. Dorothy McGuire and Ethel Barrymore really steal the show in their performances. The rest of the cast is just as good, but something about those two really drives the movie. The whole mute plot heightens the suspense tastefully, and is far from a gimmick. The cinematography and directing is excellent and sets the mood for every scene and environment perfectly. A few scenes that really stand out are the scenes when Helen first gets to the mansion in the pouring rain and the killer is watching her about to try and make a move in the shadows. For the most part, the movie has aged well over the years, (it being first released in 1946,) but the soundtrack stick out like a sore thumb. There’s a definite overuse of the Theremin, but you basically tune it out after a while. If you like old movies, especially ones like Laura,(1944) (which I already reviewed in my “rough week’ post, if you haven’t read it, go do it now, it’s a great movie.) give this one a shot. You’ll probably love it.

Peace out and geek out,

Mikeke352