Chad

Kiniest

Flippant romance, cookie-cutter characterization, and a story that revolves around a girl frailer than Nagisa Furukawa?

Yep, it's that kind of oldy. Nice plot twist at the end, though.

2/5.

Undeadcow

I was surprised by how straight forward The Uninvited was. The ghost effects seemed nicely done for a film from 1944. The "twist" ending seemed disposable and I wish the last third would have focused more on the supernatural rather than some pale mystery. Complete with corny joke at the end. The frail characterization was a bit much.

DaveyJoe

I'm watching this now. I had a disk from Netflix waiting but it was damaged, and it wouldn't play. It turns out the link from alyxstarr looks great, very nice quality.

I started the movie and could tell instantly that it would take a while for me to adjust to the British dialogue circa 1944. I can't remember the last time I've heard people articulate so drastically.

So far Bobby the Dog is my favorite character, he really livened the movie up when he chased the squirrel around house. Considering that this action is what brought the main characters into the haunted house to begin with, Bobby is officially moving the plot along more than anybody else. Thanks Bobby. Things that are said to or about Bobby:
"It's just Bobby, don't go getting imaginative."
"Why don't you come up, stupid?"
"Never thought Bobby was a killer at heart."
"We'll take you back to the Inn and let you water your dinner."

Some things I noticed:

- Near the beginning of the film, Ray Milland asks Ruth Hussy if they've made "a howling mistake" just moments before Bobby the Dog starts howling in the distance.

- Milland insists that "disturbances wouldn't disturb me, not for a second."

- Milland runs up the stairs and prepares to slide down the banister backwards, then suddenly remembers that he's a 40 year-old-man and thinks better, citing his aging "landing gear" as a potential threat. Remember, folks, this is our leading man.

- The bumbling old Tobacco Clerk seems to exist only to make the main characters seem intelligible.

- Ugh, creepy old Milland is hitting on the disturbed 20 year-old. So he takes her onto a boat then immediately gets sea-sick.

- Whiskey the cat was frightened about going up the stairs, but he got really upset when Ray tried to pick him up.

- The evil comes when the characters smell mimosas, I'll never feel safe at brunch again...

- Miss Holloway says "don't let's talk about me" in a strange way, with no pause. Normally I would say something like "don't, let's talk about me." She later uses the phrase "how very curious." The only time I ever use that is when I'm pretending to understand at my company's annual 401k meeting.

- "Tonight on MTV Cribs: Miss Holloway has two rotary phones. One phone for calling ungrateful bitches, and the other for ordering her house maids around. Miss Holloway is the most ballinest person in this movie."

Melmoth

My favorite scene was the seance. I'm glad these late 1930's gentlemen remembered to dress up for the occasion, I wouldn't be caught dead at a seance without my winged collar.

rbrown498

I'm surprised that so few people have posted about The Uninvited. I think that it's a great little movie. I've seen it three times now, and it never fails to raise at least a few goosebumps on my arms. Ray Milland is good, Ruth Hussey is even better, but Gail Russell carries the film. After seeing The Uninvited the second time, I read up a bit about Russell; this viewing, I couldn't keep from thinking about how her life turned out, and I felt a great deal of sympathy toward her.

Sure, the film is old-fashioned and creaks a bit in spots, but it's certainly more atmospheric than most of Universal's 1940s output. My personal criterion for what makes a horror movie good is whether it sends chills down my spine at any point, and The Uninvited certainly meets that standard several times over. I would probably rank it as the most genuinely frightening film of the 1940s, right ahead of Mark Robson's Isle of the Dead, which came out the following year.

rbrown498

I had the same problem at first. I found myself backing up the disc a few seconds to listen to lines again when I didn't catch them the first time around.

It was this last line that I listened to several times and thought, as you did, that Ruth Hussey was saying "water your dinner." Since that didn't make any sense whatsoever, I found myself wondering if the Criterion disc that I was watching had subtitles. I didn't see them anywhere on the menu, but when I went into the player setup and tried to turn them on, they were indeed on the disc. And the actual line that Ruth Hussey was saying is: "...and let you ORDER your dinner." Another mystery solved.

DaveyJoe

I have to admit that the scenes where Ray and Ruth heard the crying in their house late at night definitely creeped me out. Also, the ghost effect was very well done.

Okay, that makes more sense. I listened to it a few times as well and kept hearing "water." I thought it might have been some type of dry British humor that just went over my head, which had all ready happened a few times. Ray Milland is such a ham in this.

Kiniest

I just plugged in subtitles to the film. Worked like a charm.

Trevor

I rather enjoyed it. Looking forward to watching it again and exploring the Criterion supplements and discussing it more later in the month.
Between all the foreign films I own, dialect issues, films with some loud scenes and quiet dialogue, and watching late at night with a sleeping wife; I have just gotten into the habit of always having subtitles on.

Spiderbite

Glad to see others didn't care for this film either. I figured it was going to be a love fest since it was old and Criterion released it under their label.

The story was weak and dull. I do agree with the others that the ghost effects were excellent for the movie's age. The main male actor was like Carey Grant but without the charm.

My rating: ** out of *****