Haunting, The (1963)

The infamous Hill House was built by a stern, heartless man named Hugh Crain (Howard Lang) eighty years earlier for his first wife, and the residence has seen the mysterious deaths of no fewer than four women since that time.

Crain’s first young wife (Pamela Buckley) was carried into the house for the first time, dead, as her carriage had hit a tree as soon as she entered the grounds. Crain married again, but the second Mrs Crain (Frieda Knorr) soon fell to her death in another apparent accident. His daughter Abigail never moved out of the nursery, where she died a crabbed spinster at 80 (Amy Dalby).

Abigail’s companion (Rosemary Dorken), who failed to come the last time the old lady summoned her, inherited the house. She lived there until, possessed by madness, she hanged herself from a spiral staircase in the library.

Eleanor Lance (Julie Harris) – a lonely and repressed woman in her mid-thirties – jumps at the chance to partake in a psychic experiment arranged by Dr John Markway (Richard Johnson), an anthropologist who seeks scientific evidence of paranormal activity.

After arriving at Hill House, Eleanor meets Markway (to whom she is instantly attracted), Luke Sanderson (Russ Tamblyn), the sceptical nephew of the current landlord, and Theodora (Claire Bloom), who goes by “just Theo”, an artist, psychic, and – it is strongly suggested – lesbian with an apparent interest in getting her new roommate to open up.

Shortly after the group arrives, strange things start to happen – something from beyond the grave prowls the panelled corridors and climbs the creaking walls. It’s a study in psychic phenomena, with the scariest chills heard and implied rather than seen. All you see are pulsating walls, and all you hear are loud pounding noises.

Julie Harris shines as Eleanor, the spinster worst affected by the poltergeist events and whose psychological state is cleverly kept in question throughout the tale.

When Dr Markway’s wife (Lois Maxwell) shows up unexpectedly, Eleanor’s anticipated breakdown becomes a reality.

Sent away by the others, who fear her complete collapse, she loses control of her car to unseen forces and crashes headlong into a tree, where she dies in the same spot as Hugh Crain’s first wife did years earlier.

The Haunting looks beautiful in black and white and has some incredible camerawork – those shots of the spiral staircase are a wonderful example – which give the film an uncanny sense of unease and a vivid sense of style.

While colour had become obligatory for major movie productions by 1963, director Robert Wise insisted on Panavision black-and-white and had this condition written into his contract. As he later noted, “I felt that the subject lent itself to the wide format [2.40:1 ratio], and that it had to be in black-and-white.”

The black-and-white specification in his contract prevented Turner Entertainment from colourising the film for video release (a similar clause in Orson Welles’ contract for Citizen Kane, defining the production as “a black-and-white film,” also legally prevented Turner from colourising that film).

The film’s great strength lies in the fact that its “thing” is never seen, and the infrared camerawork makes the walls of the house seem almost alive.

The headache-inducing CGI-heavy 1990s remake of The Haunting simply served to make the original look like even more of a classic.

Here you had to imagine what might be behind the door . . . and your imagination will always beat a CGI monster.

There isn’t much logic here, but by the time it’s over, you may never turn the lights out again.

Based on a novel called The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, the film was shot on location at Ettington Park near Stratford-on-Avon (a stately home dating from before the time of William the Conqueror), with all the interiors constructed on stages at MGM’s studios in Borehamwood..

Eleanor Vance
Julie Harris
Theodora
Claire Bloom
Dr John Markway
Richard Johnson
Grace Markway
Lois Maxwell
Luke Sanderson
Russ Tamblyn
Mrs Sanderson
Fay Compton
Mrs Dudley
Rosalie Crutchley
Mr Dudley
Valentine Dyall
Carrie Fredericks
Diane Clare
Eldridge Harper
Ronald Adam
Bud Fredericks
Paul Maxwell
Dora Fredericks
Verina Greenlaw
First Mrs Crain
Pamela Buckley
Abigail Crain age 80
Amy Dalby
Abigail Crain’s Nurse-Companion
Rosemary Dorken
Abigail Crain age 6
Janet Mansell
Second Mrs Crain
Frieda Knorr
Hugh Crain
Howard Lang

Director
Robert Wise