Spiral Staircase, The

Although Siodmak works in some nice Expressionist features like raking shadows and a Peeping Tom-ish close-up of the eyes (which were those of the director’s) of the perverted killer, overall this thriller is standard issue RKO B grade material which will largely be of interest to Siodmak completists.

Dorothy McGuire plays Helen Capel, a mute who cares for the wealthy Mrs. Warren (Ethel Barrymore), a invalided widow who lives in a big old Victorian mansion with her two adult sons (George Brent and Gordon Oliver). A serial killer with a taste for women with handicaps is on the loose. Everyone is concerned for Helen’s safety including the local nice guy doctor (Kent Smith, an actor whose presence is an unfailing indicator of B grade material). Ethel Barrymore was nominated for an Academy Award nomination for her performance but you’d never guess from what is on screen.

If the style is only a couple of notches off haunted house schlock, complete with night-time rainstorm, thunder claps and banging shutters and gate, the main criticism to be addressed to the film is that Siodmak cheats us with an opening set-up that purposefully obfuscates the identity of the killer, pretty much making everything that happens subsequently completely pointless.

The film is an adaptation of a novel by Ethel Lina White called 'Some Must Watch', a much better title than that of the film which has no real role for a spiral staircase) 

FYI: The film was remade with the same title in 1975 with Jacqueline Bisset in the lead, apparently with even less commendable results.

 

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