The Uninvited

Dir. Lewis Allen

99 Minutes

USA

1944

Starring: Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey, Donald Crisp, Cornelia Otis Skinner, Dorothy Stickney, Gail Russell

***1/2/*****

Beautifully crafted haunted house ghost story that is often cited as the first of its genre to take the presence and concept of ghosts seriously and not eventually have it revealed to be an illusion on the part of ones of its villainous characters. And one of the lovely things about the picture is that there are not particularly any villains to speak of, just states of the undead that are less restful than others.

When the film starts, composer Roderick Fitzgerald (Ray Milland) and his sister Pamela (Ruth Hussey) are interested in purchasing a beautiful mansion near the water. They manage to get a great price on the place, much to the dismay of Stella Meredith (Gail Russell) who is reluctant to let the place go. When Roderick and Pamela hear quiet sobs in the middle of the night, they begin to investigate into the history of the house and learn about the possible presences that may still be roaming its halls. 

The film is effectively creepy in its quietness, only briefly lingering on ghostly images and leaving much of the work to the imagination. But the attitudes of these characters towards the presences is not one of violent ousting, but moreover the search for their peace. And once the search for a "logical explanation" is abandoned, the ghosts and their issues are taken quite seriously, shifting the film more into "mystery" mode rather than horror scenarios. It is a refreshing shift in mood, and it gives its ending (arguably a bit rushed and maybe a little too tidy, but not nearly as laughably tied up as Allen's follow-up The Unseen, with an unbelievably pat final minute) a pleasant edge to its otherwise fairly rote conclusion (with the promise of not just one marriage but two!)

October 23, 2019