Review of “The Uninvited” (1944)

This was an enjoyable Saturday night pizza and bad movie flick for more reasons than no ghoulies popped out of a toilet. It was an old-fashioned haunted house story about the ghosts of those who have taken the lifetime squabbles beyond the grave and aren’t too concerned about who gets hurt.

Plot:

While on vacation on the Devonshire Coast in 1937, brother and sister Roderick and Pamela Fitzgerald (Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey) come across an empty house that reminds them of their childhood home. On the spur of the moment, they decide to buy it.

They first meet the owner’s granddaughter, Stella Meredith (Gail Russell), who welcomes them until they tell her they want to buy the old house known as Windward. She assures them it’s not for sale and practically kicks them out.

The owner, Commander Beech (Donald Crisp), arrives and proves only too happy to sell them the house for well below what it’s worth. He mentions “disturbances” tenants have complained about.

Roderick and Pamela brush off the ghost stories.

Now that they have keys, Rod and Pam unlock a room at the top of the house and find a painter’s studio, with a skylight and large windows to a view of the sea below. Rod, a music critic, decides he can use the room to compose. Both he and Pam feel uncomfortable in the empty room, however, and leave.

Rod runs across Stella in town. She tells him that she’s now happy he and Pam are in the house. Her mother would not want her to resent them. Rod knows that Stella’s mother is long deceased. Stella clarified that she has a portrait of her mother. He invites her to go boating rather than run errands for her grandfather.

He is clearly infatuated with her and invites her to dinner in a few weeks once he returns from London and everything is settled at the house. She happily agrees.

When Rod returns with their maid Lizzie Flynn (Barbara Everest), he’s pleased with what his sister has done with the house, but their dog has run off. The dog wouldn’t stay in the place.

In the middle of the night, he hears a woman crying. He gets up. Pam meets him. She says it happens frequently and ends at dawn. She’s never been able to find anything.

After the goings-on, Lizzie Flynn packs her bags and her cat, Whiskey. She will not stay another night in the house.

Thoughts:

This was originally a novel written by Dorothy Macardle. It is moody, gothic, and also funny, with beautiful scenes of the coast. I don’t know how closely the movie adheres to the book.

The house itself is lovely. Anyone could see why an artist (Stella’s father) or a composer like Rod would like it. The studio is lit by natural light—which is good because the house has no electricity.

The commander wishes to protect Stella. He sees malignant forces in the house wishing her ill. Stella is not convinced, believing the house haunted by the presence of the mother who loved her and died by falling off a cliff when she herself was only three. She will not be frightened and goes to dinner at Windward with the Fitzgeralds.

Things are not quite as they seem, of course. While the mystery becomes easy enough to see through, this old-fashioned haunted house flick was engaging and fun. Not all of it made sense. The question of why the studio was such an uncomfortable place is never answered. Perhaps it is in the book.

I liked it.

The film was a 1945 Oscar Nominee for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White.

I could not find it for free download. It is available on YouTube to rent or purchase.

There is a 2009 film by the same name, but is doesn’t appear to be anything like this one.



Title: The Uninvited (1944)

Directed by
Lewis Allen

Writing Credits
Dodie Smith…(screen play) and
Frank Partos…(screen play)
Dorothy Macardle…(novel)

Cast (in credits order)
Ray Milland…Roderick Fitzgerald
Ruth Hussey…Pamela Fitzgerald
Donald Crisp…Cmdr. Beech
Cornelia Otis Skinner…Miss Holloway
Dorothy Stickney…Miss Bird
Barbara Everest…Lizzie Flynn

Released: 1944
Length: 1 hour, 39 minutes