Classic Film Guide

Spiral Staircase, The (1946)

A serial killer is on the loose that chooses his victims for their imperfections. Dorothy McGuire is mute working as a live-in servant for a wealthy old woman, played by Ethel Barrymore (who received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination). Also living in the mansion are her sons, Professor (George Brent) and Steve Warren (Gordon Oliver), the Professor's secretary (Rhonda Fleming), who's dating Steve, and several other servants played by Sara Allgood, Elsa Lanchester, and Rhys Williams. The bedridden old woman's doctor is played by Kent Smith. McGuire's disabled character becomes the target of the killer in this film directed by Robert Siodmak as Hitchcock would. Utilizing great camera work, the tension builds throughout as doubt and suspicions are cast on virtually all of the characters, with the director keeping the identity of the killer a secret until the very end.