Stairways for Death

Falling down a staircase can be fatal and filmmakers have used this fact to provide us with several memorable movie deaths – whether the fall was accidental or the stairs were a convenient murder weapon of choice. One could probably label the use of this readily available prop yet another classic movie cliche especially if one counted the films in which stairways (or other falling down “accidents”) are used to cause an end to a woman’s pregnancy through miscarriage. Staircases particularly with landings are certainly utilized quite often in fistfights (and also sword duels) between two men who struggle precariously close to the top of a stairway before unavoidably and inevitably falling (or dueling) down it together while entangled. And of course there were elaborate comical uses for stairways in Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman (1928) and Laurel and Hardy’s The Music Box (1932) but I digress …

Here are just a few of the many scenes which came instantly to mind when I pondered the titled topic:

Our Dancing Daughters (1928) – the one that began it all? Anita Page climactically starts the cliche in this silent film.

The Wedding Night (1935) – this film’s climactic struggle between Gary Cooper and Ralph Bellamy takes place on a staircase during which Anna Sten’s character is killed when she’s knocked down the stairs while trying to stop the fight.

A Woman Rebels (1936) – After her husband is killed at sea Elizabeth Allen’s character falls down the stairs and miscarries. But before she too dies shortly thereafter she suggests a solution to her older sister Katherine Hepburn’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy – that Hepburn (in the title role) can claim to be raising her departed sister’s baby (e.g. to avoid scandal).

Marked Woman (1937) – While visiting her older sister Mary (Bette Davis in the title role) in the city college student Betty (Jane Bryan) learns during a courtroom trial that Davis’s character was actually a “good time girl” hostess (e.g. a prostitute) working for mob boss-club owner Vanning (Eduardo Ciannelli) instead of the fashion model she’d pretended to be. After sampling the distasteful lifestyle herself and a subsequent fight with her sister Betty is so upset that she returns to Vanning’s party where the mobster hits her causing her to fall down the stairs to her death.

The Little Foxes (1941) – Wicked Regina (Davis again) refuses to retrieve the medication needed by her weak husband (Herbert Marshall). While she sits in her living room chair he struggles up the stairs behind her (e.g. in the scene’s background) and collapses halfway upstairs but she remains idle ignoring his pleas and he dies where he’d fallen.

Kitty (1945) – two scenes in this one one involving a scullery maid and another a Duke.

Leave Her to Heaven (1945) – playing the role of one of the screen’s most evil female characters Gene Tierney intentionally ends her pregnancy by throwing herself down the stairs.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) – begins with Judith Anderson’s stairway death which causes Van Heflin’s character to leave town; he later returns town to see Barbara Stanwyck (in the title role) and begin a battle of wills with her husband Kirk Douglas

Kiss of Death (1947) – Richard Widmark was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award (his only Oscar nomination) in his film debut as the sniveling killer Tommy Udo who pushes a wheelchair-bound Mildred Dunnock down the stairs for the desired (this essay’s titled) result.

Desperate (1947) – features a climatic fall by Raymond Burr’s character.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) – Ava Gardner’s character throws herself down a stairway to end her pregnancy with Gregory Peck’s child.

The Man With the Golden Arm (1955) – Otto Preminger’s film featuring Frank Sinatra in the title role (for which he earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination) includes one (or two) such scenes “stairways for death”.

Psycho (1960) – Director Alfred Hitchcock is known as the Master of Suspense but he could also be dubbed the “master of staircases” per his elaborate use of the prop (in crane shots) in films like: Young and Innocent (1937) Suspicion (1941) Notorious (1946) The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) Vertigo (1958) and even Frenzy (1972). So it’s only natural to include the memorable stairway death scene in this one – involving Martin Balsam’s character being stabbed and falling backwards down the flight of stairs – on my list.

Madame X (1966) – While ending her now inconvenient affair with Ricardo Montalban Lana Turner inadvertently bumps into him at the top of his apartment’s stairway steps causing his fall (down them) to an accidental death that’s used to Turner’s disadvantage by her conniving mother-in-law (Constance Bennett in her final film) which ultimately leads to her assuming the titled identity.

© 2006 Turner Classic Movies – this article originally appeared on TCM’s official blog