The Uninvited (1944)

Stella by Starlight

Gail Russell died of chronic alcoholism at aged 36. She started drinking heavy while filming The Uninvited.

Alan Napier played Alfred on Batman.

R3 very good!

Ray Milland played X-the man with the X-ray eyes.

Ruth Hussey was a real hussy!

I love this movie! So old timey & quaint! Ray Milland is way too old for Stella (and to still be living with his sister!) and the deranged lesbian running the fashionable asylum. TCM used to show this movie during Halloween, but it dropped out of their rotation for some reason.

R7 I bet it is a licensing issue. You can't find it on streaming anywhere either.

Here is a link to watch online!

[quote]r2 = She started drinking heavy while filming The Uninvited.

Her first movie? Does that mean she was drinking heavily through the rest?

R10 she was a notorious alcoholic. She died with a vodka bottle in her hand and several empty vodka bottles around her.

Thank you for making me waste one hour of my life.

Lucky her, she probably saw two of Guy Madison most of their marriage

r13 they weren't married long

[quote][R10] she was a notorious alcoholic

I know that , r11, I just didn't know it was that severe from the beginning.

R10 Yeah, someone in make up told her to drink a little to calm her nerves.

Donald Crisp was one of the greatest actors who ever lived.

R16 according to yvonne de Carlo, it was Helen Walker, a fellow actress, who herself was scandal-prone.

Can you see evidence of her alcoholism in her performances? She was working right up until her death it seems. You’d think she wouldn’t be able to say her lines or would be slurred. She must have been super high functioning.

R19 I thought he career dried up because she couldn't quit.

OMG, r18, you read through all of that only to get to:

[quote]She retired from acting at the age of 35.

I think it was more than she was forced to retire by Louis B. Meyer because he was tired of her shit.

Are the two characters on this poster supposed to be brother and sister?

Almost as iffy as those old Star Wars posters featuring Princess Leia clinging to Luke...

[quote] The film drew some criticism for its lesbian undertones in the Miss Holloway character, played by Cornelia Otis Skinner. A letter written in 1944 by Father Brendan Larnen of the Catholic Legion of Decency to Will Hays, Hollywood's head censor, said that large audiences of questionable type attended this film at unusual hours drawn by certain erotic and esoteric elements in the film. The letter warned to guard against such subject matter on the screen in the future.

Mary!

Mary Meredith was the finest woman that ever lived R24!

Miss Holloway was introduced listening to Wagner; I knew from that moment she was either a lesbian or a Nazi.

Who let Kyle Rittenhouse make a film?

R27 What do you mean?

Love this movie! I watched this on tv with my father in the 70s; I remember the blurb in the NYT tv listings said "Dig that crazy mimosa scent."

It’s a fun movie with a great back story.

I never bought Ray and Ruth as brother and sister. That part was confusing from the get go.

^I never did either, but Hussey & Milland had kind of an easy chemistry with each other so I was willing to go with it.

Gail Russell was extremely shy and drank in order to cope. I asked my dad once why he drank so much resulting in a liver transplant. He said he was so shy and at 14 was out in the real world working. He drank to get through it. Most likely gay or at least Bi too.

I’m most impressed that the frivolity was produced in 1944, at a time when there was serious work to be done, there was war to be won! Ghost stories and supernatural lesbian scent trails, indeed!

I think it could have been better without the "ghost." If you didn't see anything... truly spooky

Yes the house was a set and the exterior shots were matte paintings but I that house. I think the same set showed up in another movie-can’t remember-anybody?

That ‘’ghost’’ looked like precursor to apparition in Poltergeist 1982.

The house was beautiful

The curved staircase was cool and the round window in the hallway as well as the artist studio with its glass wall and skylight. (The kitchen was clearly ‘’The ghost and Mrs. Muir’’ 1947)

How is the Ghost and Mrs. Muir?

Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney were great together-house was a facade built in Pebble Beach Ca.

r41 and George Sanders?

Someone else noted that they were surprised this movie was made during the war when their were Big Things going on in the world; this movie is 100% escapism (cheap real estate, beautiful girls that need saving, grumpy old men & ghosts) so it was probably a nice break from the cares and concerns of every day life. That's probably why it holds up today - it's charming due to the strong leads but deal with uncomfortable subjects: people/places damaged by the war, a black maid acting as if she's thrilled to wait on a bunch of bratty kids, money problems, etc. It's a warm blanket kind of movie

[quote]R16, according to Yvonne de Carlo, it was Helen Walker, a fellow actress, who herself was scandal-prone.

Nancy Hughes from "As the World Turns"??

R43 The movie is set in the 1930's for a reason!

A great film to watch this Halloween season.

Loved the erotic and esoteric elements-

I think some exterior footage was filmed in Carmel CA