The Uninvited (1944)

Director:

Lewis Allen

Writers:

Dorothy Macardle (novel)
Dodie Smith (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

16 October 1944 (Sweden)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Romance

Tagline:

From the Most Popular Mystery Romance since "Rebecca"!

Plot:

A brother and sister move into an old seaside house they find abandoned for many years on the English coast...

Plot Keywords:

House | Grandfather | Dead Mother | Tobacconist | Haunted House

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Ray Milland	...	Roderick Fitzgerald
Ruth Hussey	...	Pamela Fitzgerald
Donald Crisp	...	Commander Beech
Cornelia Otis Skinner	...	Miss Holloway
Dorothy Stickney	...	Miss Bird
Barbara Everest	...	Lizzie Flynn
Alan Napier	...	Dr. Scott
Gail Russell	...	Stella Meredith
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Clyde	...	Ben - Boat Owner (uncredited)
Betty Farrington	...	Mary Meredith (voice) (uncredited)
Helena Grant	...	Servant (uncredited)
Lynda Grey	...	Ghost of Mary Meredith (uncredited)
Holmes Herbert	...	Charlie Jessup (uncredited)
Leyland Hodgson	...	Taxi Driver (uncredited)
John Kieran	...	Foreword Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Queenie Leonard	...	Mrs. Taylor (uncredited)
Moyna MacGill	...	Mrs. Coatsworthy (uncredited)
Jessica Newcombe	...	Miss Edith Ellis (uncredited)
Rita Page	...	Annie - Maid (uncredited)
Ivan F. Simpson	...	Will Hardy - Tobacconiist (uncredited)
Evan Thomas	...	Colonel Carlton (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Lewis Allen

Writing credits
Dorothy Macardle		(novel "Uneasy Freehold")
Dodie Smith		(screenplay) and
Frank Partos		(screenplay)

Produced by
Charles Brackett	....	associate producer
Buddy G. DeSylva	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Victor Young

Cinematography by
Charles Lang		(as Charles Lang Jr.)

Film Editing by
Doane Harrison

Art Direction by
Hans Dreier
Ernst Fegté

Set Decoration by
Stephen Seymour

Costume Design by
Edith Head

Makeup Department
Wally Westmore	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles C. Coleman	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Hal Walker	....	second unit director (uncredited)

Art Department
Richard Kitchin	....	painter: Mary Meredith (uncredited)

Sound Department
John Cope	....	sound recordist
Hugo Grenzbach	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Gordon Jennings	....	special effects (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Farciot Edouart	....	process photographer

Other crew
Elizabeth Russell	....	model: Mary Meredith's portrait (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1944) (USA) (theatrical)
• MCA/Universal Pictures (1958) (USA) (TV)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | UK:A (1944) (cut) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #9337)

Filming Locations:

Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The onscreen credits list Gail Russell as being 'introduced' in this film, but she actually made her screen debut a year earlier in Henry Aldrich Gets Glamour (1943).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The film is set in 1937, but the "going-to-church" sequence features a car with headlights blacked out in the style required due to WWII in the early 1940s.

Quotes:

Roderick Fitzgerald: [narration] They call them the haunted shores, these stretches of Devonshire and Cornwall and Ireland which rear up against the westward ocean. Mists gather here... and sea fog... and eerie stories...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Remington Steele: Steele Crazy After All These Years (#1.16)" (1983)

Soundtrack:

Stella by Starlight

A Thriller that will stay with you for years

I saw this movie many years ago. Every time I knew it was coming on, I would turn off all the lights and make sure I was alone. It scared me to death. Years later I would look for it, but never could remember its name or the actors in it, but it haunted me. It is a movie you will never forget. With no blood or gore, it will frighten you or give you chills for a long time to come. The acting is great and the music helps set the mood. The house was beautiful. 10 years after I saw it, the image of the house, the sound of the cries and that cliff...those were the things I remembered. Now that I know it, I will go buy it. It is the best thriller I have ever seen.