"The Spiral Staircase" starts off with an afflicted woman being murdered, and right from the onset I was surprised at how explicit it was for its time - by today's standards it's nothing you don't see every day on television, but 1946 was a very different time.
It then moves onwards and we are introduced to a young woman who is mute and lives in a mansion with a long, spiraling staircase. (Hint: this pays off later in the movie.) When it's made known that a killer is making his rounds murdering afflicted women, the owner of the mansion fears for the mute woman's life - and after a string of more murders occur they realize she's next.
RKO's picture was far ahead of its time. Someone on here said it's not a film noir and commanded that people stop calling it one. I'll disagree. I think it IS film noir, in the sense that it's a personal struggle for one person who's surrounded by death and murder. I don't think it should be left up to one person to decide what "film noir" really means. I do think there are limits of course ("Batman Returns" is NOT film noir, it just tries to come across as one) but no one should say, "This isn't a film noir because it's a thriller." So what? Loads of film noirs are thrillers.
I personally feel the stylings, the themes and the motif of the movie could be classified as "film noir." It's a beautiful movie to look at, very well filmed, and the ending is probably one of the best I can remember ever seeing.
It's had a few remakes over the years, but the first remains the best - by a long shot.
Highly recommended.
It then moves onwards and we are introduced to a young woman who is mute and lives in a mansion with a long, spiraling staircase. (Hint: this pays off later in the movie.) When it's made known that a killer is making his rounds murdering afflicted women, the owner of the mansion fears for the mute woman's life - and after a string of more murders occur they realize she's next.
RKO's picture was far ahead of its time. Someone on here said it's not a film noir and commanded that people stop calling it one. I'll disagree. I think it IS film noir, in the sense that it's a personal struggle for one person who's surrounded by death and murder. I don't think it should be left up to one person to decide what "film noir" really means. I do think there are limits of course ("Batman Returns" is NOT film noir, it just tries to come across as one) but no one should say, "This isn't a film noir because it's a thriller." So what? Loads of film noirs are thrillers.
I personally feel the stylings, the themes and the motif of the movie could be classified as "film noir." It's a beautiful movie to look at, very well filmed, and the ending is probably one of the best I can remember ever seeing.
It's had a few remakes over the years, but the first remains the best - by a long shot.
Highly recommended.