A pair of siblings from London [Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey] purchase a surprisingly affordable, lonely cliff-top house in Cornwall, England. Only to discover that it actually carries a ghostly price, and soon they’re caught up in a bizarre romantic triangle from beyond the grave. Rich in atmosphere, The Uninvited, directed by Lewis Allen, was groundbreaking for the seriousness with which it treated the supernatural, haunted house genre, and it remains an elegant and eerie experience, featuring a classic score by Victor Young. A tragic family past, a mysteriously locked room, cold chills, bumps in the night - this gothic Hollywood classic has it all.
Score
Victor Young's 'Stella by Starlight' became a jazz standard.
Cinematography
Charles Lang's shadowy cliffside cinematography invented the look of elegant horror.
Direction
Lewis Allen convinced Paramount ghosts could be taken seriously.
Director
Lewis Allen
Ray Milland
Roderick Fitzgerald
Ruth Hussey
Pamela Fitzgerald
Gail Russell
Stella Meredith
Donald Crisp
Commander Beech
Alan Napier
Dr. Scott
Cornelia Otis Skinner
Miss Holloway
Barbara Everest
Lizzie Flynn
Dorothy Stickney
Miss Bird
Queenie Leonard
Mrs. Taylor
Rita Page
Annie
Holmes Herbert
Charlie Jessup
Moyna MacGill
Miss Coatsworthy
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Hollywood's first A-picture to treat ghosts as genuine supernatural phenomena, not hoaxes or dreams—essentially inventing the serious haunted house film.
The novel's explicit lesbian relationship between Carmel and Miss Holloway was coded into 'intense friendship' for the screen, but modern readings make the subtext glaringly obvious.
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