The Spiral Staircase

(1945) ****

Helen has been mute since she was a child. There is nothing physically wrong with her, she witnessed a trauma at a young age and just hasn't spoken since. Helen works for and takes care of Mrs. Warren an elderly woman who is bed ridden. When Mrs. Warren gets wind of a rash of murders occurring in the area targeting imperfect women she becomes fearful for Helen's life. She asks her doctor to take Helen away to keep her safe. Helen reluctantly agrees to go and awaits the doctor's arrival. A thunder storm erupts that evening and in the midst of the storm Helen realizes the killer is on the grounds.



This film is a favorite of mine from way back. I remember seeing it periodically on the channel 38 movie loft and back then it scared the shit out of me. There is one scene where Helen looks into the mirror and sees herself without a mouth. This gave me nightmares as a kid. Seeing it today I realized they merely blurred out her mouth like when they blur out someones face to keep their identity hidden. That made me laugh, but it certainly didn't ruin the film for me. Most mysteries from around that time involve a single murder or something like that. This is a serial killer we're talking about here. Pretty heavy stuff for 1945.


I really can't put a finger on what it was in this film that appealed to me all those years ago. Whatever it was, it still held that appeal for me today even though Helen's missing mouth lost it's frightfulness. It's still a good mystery suspense film.