Movie Type: Haunted House Film, Supernatural Horror
Themes: Psychic Abilities, Ghosts
Main Cast: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn, Lois Maxwell
Release Year: 1963
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 113 minutes
MPAA Rating: G
Plot
One of the most highly regarded haunted house films ever produced, Robert Wise's The Haunting (based on Shirley Jackson's novel The Haunting of Hill House) weaves the dark tale of a questionably sane young woman and a sinister house which holds a terrifying past. Invited to join anthropologist Dr. Markway (Richard Johnson), ESP expert Theodora (Claire Bloom), and probable heir to the estate Luke Sanderson (Russ Tamblyn) in order to dispel the near mythical tales that surround the house, unstable Eleanor Vance (Julie Harris) agrees to spend a few nights in the house following the death of her mother. As they slowly begin to discover, the horrific and seemingly unbelievable tales may hold more truth than the skeptical guests might have previously expected. With a seemingly unstoppable supernatural force lurking in every shadow, the probability of anyone escaping the evil clutch of the cursed mansion seems increasingly remote. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Review
Between his phenomenally sunny musical successes West Side Story (1961) and The Sound of Music (1965), director Robert Wise found time to make this brooding, low-key shocker, based on the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. The material seemed to free up Wise's baser talents: The off-kilter, black-and-white photography goes a long way in intensifying the production's minimal special effects, and the actors uniformly overplay their parts, giving the film a streamlined momentum it might have lacked otherwise. Though the story's lesbian subtext was toned down for the film, the sleek Claire Bloom injects some much-needed sexual tension into the proceedings; the film is less about the group's battle against poltergeists than about the inner struggle between the virginal Eleanor Lance (Julie Harris) and her conflicting desires. Jackson's story would be adapted for the screen again, in 1999's sub-par The Haunting. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
Fay Compton - Mrs. Sanderson; Ronald Adam - Eldridge Harper; Diane Clare - Carrie Fredericks; Rosalie Crutchley - Mrs. Dudley; Amy Dalby - Abigail at 80; Valentine Dyall - Mr. Dudley; Verina Greenlaw - Dora; Howard Lang - Hugh Crain; Mavis Villiers - Landlady; Paul Maxwell - Bud; Susan Richards - Nurse; Rosemary Dorken - Companion
Credit
Denis Johnson - Associate Producer, Maude Churchill - Costume Designer, Mary Quant - Costume Designer, David Tomblin - First Assistant Director, Robert Wise - Director, Ernest Walter - Editor, Humphrey Searle - Composer (Music Score), Humphrey Searle - Musical Direction/Supervision, Tom Smith - Makeup, Alan McCabe - Camera Operator, Elliot Scott - Production Designer, Davis Boulton - Cinematographer, Robert Wise - Producer, John Jarvis - Set Designer, Tom Howard - Special Effects, A.W. Watkins - Sound/Sound Designer, Gerry Turner - Sound/Sound Designer, Nelson Gidding - Screenwriter, Shirley Jackson - Book Author
Eleanor Lance, Theodora, and Luke Sanderson accompany Dr. John Markway during an investigation into the paranormal. Markway believes that an old mansion with a sinister past called Hill House will provide him with the proof he seeks of the existence of the supernatural. Luke is the next in line to inherit the house, and is volunteered by the current owner to join Markway both as a skeptic and overseer. Eleanor and Theodora are the only responders to an invitation Markway sent out to various people who had come in contact with the supernatural at some point in their lives. After the four meet up in Hill House, strange things begin to happen, most of which seem centered on Eleanor. Eleanor finds that she enjoys the attention the house affords her, and becomes drawn deeper and deeper in by the forces within the house.
Differences between film and novel
The film contains several deviations from the novel, these include:
Dr. Montague of the novel becomes Dr. Markway.
Dr. Markway appears much younger than the Dr. Montague described in the novel.
Eleanor Vance's last name becomes Lance.
Theodora introduces herself in the novel as "Just Theo" while in the film she says "Just Theodora."
In the film, Eleanor doesn't leave her room after the arrival of Mrs. Montague and begin laughing and knocking on the other's doors, awakening them from their sleep, resulting in the search for her where she is discovered on the spiral staircase in the library.
The kitchen and all events which occurred therein, including Mrs. Montague's conversation with Mrs. Dudley, are not present in the film.
Dr. Markway rescues Eleanor from the fragile spiral staircase in the Library, whereas Luke does so in the novel.
Mrs. Montague is portrayed as an arrogant, flighty mystic in the book, whereas Mrs. Markway is a hard-nosed skeptic who wishes to convince her husband to give up his research and return home.
Mrs. Montague doesn't disappear during the course of the novel.
Eleanor's confession to Theodora that she is homeless occurs inside Hill House in the film. In the novel, Eleanor reveals this only after she is sitting in her car.
Eleanor's ability to "feel" things going on in the house is absent in the film.
Eleanor has some affections for Luke in the novel, who appears to favor the company of Theodora. The film version finds Dr. Markway carelessly forgetting to mention that he's married, and consequently Eleanor mistakes his academic interest in her, coupled with his kindness and charm, for genuine affection, which she returns.
Dr. Markway has a key to the front gate but Dr. Montague doesn't.
No one was to accompany Eleanor during her departure in the novel.
In the novel, Theodora moves into Elanor's room after a message written in blood is found on the wall of Theodora's room. No such event occurs in the film, and Theodora moves into Eleanor's room at Dr. Markway's request.
Eleanor does not struggle to regain control of her vehicle in the novel.
The novel ends abruptly with Eleanor's implied suicide. The film lingers with the affirmation of Eleanor's death, the reappearance of Mrs. Markway and Dr. Markway's assertion that Hill House is haunted.
Mrs. Montague's companion Arthur is not present in the film.
Cast
Bloom, Tamblyn, Harris, and Johnson in front of the Hill House.
Production of the film began on 1 October1962 at MGM Borehamwood, England with a budget of $1.5 million. The external shots of the house are of Ettington Hall, near Stratford-upon-Avon (now the Ettington Park Hotel, which has been in the Shirley family since before the Norman Conquest[1]). Wise used infra-red film for exterior shots to emphasise the "striations of the stone" and make it look "more of a monster house".
The film was remade in 1999, also titled The Haunting, but with little critical appreciation.
"The Haunting" opened in 1963 to mostly positive reviews, including Pauline Kael's, who praised it as "elegantly sinister... good fun".
The film's stature and following has grown steadily since its original release (Ted Turner's company bought MGM's backlog of classic films in 1986), and from comparison to the Jan de Bont1999 remake.
The original has consistently made lists of the top 20 most frightening films of all time.
The Haunting is notable in comparison to modern horror, as it accomplishes a genuinely unsettling effect using music, lighting, and sound effects alone. There is not a single drop of blood in the entire film.
Is often cited as filmdom's finest "ghost movie" due presumably to its understated eeriness and a certain low-key, cinematic elegance.
In 2003, Warner Home Video released it to DVD in its original screen format, including voice-over commentary from its director, screenwriter, and four lead actors.
