This Month

Robert Siodmak got his start in motion pictures as co-writer/co-director of the film Menschen am Sonntag (1930), which also marked the career beginnings of his colleagues Edgar G. Ulmer, Fred Zinnemann, Billy Wilder, and brother Kurt Siodmak. Like his colleagues, he left Germany as the Nazis came to power and eventually ended up in Hollywood.

Although he often worked in low-budget films, Nicholas Musuraca is recognized as one of the great cinematographers. His most notable work was as director of photography for many of the remarkable psychological horror films produced by Val Lewton in his tenure as head of his own B unit at RKO: Cat People (1942), The Seventh Victim (1943), The Ghost Ship (1943), The Curse of the Cat People (1944), Bedlam (1946). His moody, chiaroscuro style perfectly suited him for a number of movies in the film noir genre (notably Out of the Past, 1947), but his only award recognition was an Oscar® nomination for I Remember Mama (1948).

Nominated seven times for Academy Awards, Roy Webb was one of Hollywood's busiest film scorers, working on close to 300 films between 1930 and 1958. He also worked in the Val Lewton unit, composing music for eight of those films. He also contributed to a number of major releases, including My Favorite Wife (1940), I Remember Mama, and Hitchcock's Notorious (1946).

Elsa Lanchester, who plays the brandy-swigging Mrs. Oates, was the wife of Charles Laughton. A welcome character player in many films, she is best remembered as the Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

Irish-born George Brent was a sought-after leading man in dozens of pictures opposite such high-powered female stars as Myrna Loy, Ruth Chatterton (to whom he was briefly married), Greta Garbo, and most frequently, Bette Davis (eleven films together). His dashing leading man days were almost behind him by the time he appeared in The Spiral Staircase, but he still managed to squire Barbara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert, and Merle Oberon in later films.

Part of the legendary acting family and a stage star from her teen years in the 1890s, Ethel Barrymore made her film debut in 1914 at the age of 35 in The Nightingale. She made a handful of silents over the next dozen years, but preferred working on the stage to acting in movies, especially after her unpleasant experience on her first talkie, Rasputin and the Empress (1932). She returned a dozen years later, winning a best Supporting Actress Academy Award® for None But the Lonely Heart (1944) and racking up three more nominations in the coming years (including one for this picture). So when the general public recalls this acclaimed actress, it is usually as a woman in her 70s and older.

This was Mel Dinelli's first screenplay. He went on to write several notable films that fall into the film noir category, including The Window (1949), The Reckless Moment (1949), and Beware, My Lovely (1952). He also wrote radio and television scripts and plays for the stage.

According to rumor, Joan Crawford, after receiving critical praise for her role as a horribly disfigured criminal in A Woman's Face (1941), campaigned for the role of the mute girl, but MGM boss Louis B. Mayer vehemently opposed the idea, telling her, "No more cripples or maimed women."

The Spiral Staircase was a big commercial success, bringing in more than $1.5 million at the box office (some reports credit close to $3 million in U.S.-Canadian rentals).

Memorable Quotes from THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE

MRS. OATES (Elsa Lanchester): First there was the girl with the scar on her face, then that poor simple-minded creature, now this cripple.

NURSE BARKER (Sara Allgood): Even with her eyes shut she seems to be watching you like an evil spirit.

MRS. WARREN (Ethel Barrymore): You should run away. Leave this house tonight, if you know what's good for you.

MRS. OATES: Where's my brandy?
MR. OATES (Rhys Williams): I finished it for your own good.

MRS. WARREN: Get Helen out of this house! ... Take her away tonight.

STEPHEN WARREN (Gordon Oliver): Men like to see women cry. Makes them feel superior.

MRS. WARREN: You must go away. Leave this house. ... If you won't, you must do as I tell you. Get under the bed. ... Why won't you listen to me? Why won't anyone listen to me?

PROFESSOR WARREN (George Brent): Remember what I told you. Don't trust anyone.

MRS. WARREN: If you won't leave this house as I've asked you to, you must sleep in this room tonight. Don't be afraid of me. I want to take care of you. You see, you're not safe, my dear.

MRS. WARREN: There's always trouble when you come, Stephen. Why don't you stay away?

STEPHEN WARREN: You and I, the meek, have inherited the earth.

MR. OATES: Murder's like a million dollar lottery. ... You pick up the newspaper, you see someone's picture who's won a million dollars. You pick up another paper and there's a picture of someone who's been murdered. It's never me, it's never you.

MRS. WARREN: He told me I wasn't as beautiful as his first wife. But I was a much better shot. The only kind of beauty he had any respect for was strength. And he had two sons, both weaklings.

Compiled by Rob Nixon