The Spiral Staircase (1975 film)

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The Spiral Staircase
The Spiral Staircase FilmPoster.jpeg
Film Poster
Directed by Peter Collinson
Written by Mel Dinelli
Based onSome Must Watch
1933 novel
by Ethel Lina White [1]
Produced by Josef Shaftel
Starring Jacqueline Bisset
Christopher Plummer
Sam Wanamaker
Mildred Dunnock
Gayle Hunnicutt
Elaine Stritch
John Phillip Law
Cinematography Ken Hodges
Edited by Raymond Poulton
Music by David Lindup
Production
company
Raven Films
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • 1975 (1975)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Spiral Staircase is a 1975 British horror mystery thriller film directed by Peter Collinson and starring Jacqueline Bisset and Christopher Plummer. [2] [3] [4] It was written by Mel Dinelli and is a remake of the 1946 film of the same name, which was adapted from Ethel Lina White's 1933 novel Some Must Watch.

Contents

Plot

Helen Mallory is a beautiful young woman who has been unable to speak a word since seeing her husband and daughter die in a fire. She visits the home of her elderly, invalid grandmother and meets her uncle, Joe Sherman, a respected psychiatrist. The visit turns into a nightmare as she encounters Joe's brash brother Steven, as well as a pretentious Southern belle named Blanche and other mysterious characters in a house where everyone's life seems to be in grave danger.

Cast

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The 1975 Spiral Staircase, with its plot and characters spruced up for no discernible reason, isn't quite the full-blown shocker one expected – partly due, no doubt, to the restrictions under which the film was made. A budget of £300,000 and a twenty-five-day shooting schedule allow little time for bizarre camera set-ups destined to produce vertigo or a squint, or for the material to be edited in a feverishly staccato tempo. Instead, Collinson generates the correct atmosphere with a large supply of driving rain and thunderclaps, and with many lingering looks on the various features of the 'Sherman Institute' – a luxurious country house replete with carpeted corridors, marble busts, gloomy portraits, large doors and shutters. The only item it seems to lack is a spiral staircase, unless one counts the cramped run of iron steps leading down to the generating room." [5]

Leslie Halliwell wrote: "Modernised remake of the [1945 film] using virtually the same script, and apparently determined to prove how badly it can be presented." [6]

Time Out wrote: "Any interest soon gets lost in the rambling rooms of the huge house that serves as the base for the plot. The moral of the tale would seem to be that if you want your voice back, have someone try to strangle you. Whatever happened to the chilling Gothic tale made by Robert Siodmak in 1946?" [7]

References

  1. ↑ Kabatchnik 2010, p. 774.
  2. ↑ "The Spiral Staircase". British Film Institute Collections Search. Archived from the original on 4 December 2024. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  3. ↑ "The Spiral Staircase". Turner Classic Movies . Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  4. ↑ "The Spiral Staircase Film 1975". BFI. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  5. ↑ "The Spiral Staircase". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 42 (492): 63. 1 January 1975. ProQuest   1305831935.
  6. ↑ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 949. ISBN   0586088946.
  7. ↑ "The Spiral Staircase". Time Out . 10 September 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2025.

Sources

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