The Haunting (1963 film)

Script

Writing the screenplay took about six months. During this period, Gidding worked alone, and although he passed some of his work to Wise to show him that work on the screenplay was progressing well, he and Wise did not otherwise collaborate on the screenplay.[7] The screenplay made other changes to the story. The number of characters was cut down, the backstory was significantly shortened, most of the supernatural events depicted in the novel were kept off-screen, and the greater part of the action was set inside the house to heighten the audience's feeling of claustrophobia.[6] Eleanor's role as an outcast was also emphasized. The character of Theodora was given a sharper, slightly more cruel sense of humor in order to make her a foil for Eleanor but also to heighten Eleanor's outsider status. The role of Luke became more flippant, and Dr. Markway (Montague in the novel) was made a more confident character.[11] The screenplay was finished just after Wise completed work on West Side Story.[12]

Wise approached United Artists with the project, but after much delay they turned him down. Wise's agent then suggested that, since Wise owed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) a film under an old contract, Wise should take the project there. MGM agreed, but would only give Wise a $1 million budget. Wise knew he could not do the film at MGM's Culver City Studios (now the Sony Pictures Studios), so took it to England, as the Eady Levy gave tax breaks and financing to films made there as a way of subsidizing and promoting the British film industry.[13] Someone suggested to Wise that he approach MGM's Borehamwood Studios subsidiary. Wise had been asked to come to the United Kingdom for a Royal Command Performance of West Side Story, and during the trip made the financing pitch to MGM Borehamwood. They offered a budget of $1.050 million.[13] With the Eady Levy support, this allowed the film to go forward with production in the United Kingdom.[7]

Casting

Although Susan Hayward was reported to be in the running for one of the two female leads, Julie Harris was chosen for the role of Eleanor Vance.[14] Wise had seen Harris on stage, and felt she was right for the part of the psychologically fragile Eleanor.[6] Harris agreed to do the film in part because the role was complex and the idea of the house taking over Eleanor's mind was interesting. But she also chose it because she had a long-standing interest in parapsychology.[10] English actress Claire Bloom was cast as Theo. In part, however, the decision to cast Bloom and Johnson was because of Eady Levy requirements that the cast be partly British.[15] To make Bloom's character appear more bohemian, beatnik clothing designer Mary Quant was hired to design mod clothing specifically for the Theodora character.[16]

Richard Johnson, under contract to MGM, was cast as Dr. Markway. Wise saw Johnson in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Devils. Impressed with his acting, he offered him the role. Johnson later said he received invaluable film acting advice from Wise. Wise told him to keep his eyes steady, to blink less, and to try not to time his acting (Wise said he would take care of that in the editing room). Johnson also credited Wise with helping him to craft a much more natural acting performance.[10] Russ Tamblyn, also under contract to MGM, initially turned down the role as Luke because he felt that the character was "a jerk", although he thought that the script was very good. The studio forced him to reconsider, threatening him with suspension.[6] Tamblyn told the British cinema magazine Film Review in 1995 that while reading the script a second time, he realised the character was much more interesting. "This is the ironic part," he said, "it turned out to be one of my favourite films that I've been in!"[10]

Stunt performer Connie Tilton appears twice in the film. She portrays the death of the "Second Mrs. Crain" by flinging herself backward down a flight of stairs.[17] Uncredited actress Freda Knorr is seen in shots before and after the fall; it is her face audiences associate with the "Second Mrs. Crain". Tilton also appears when Abigail Crain's Nurse-Companion hangs herself at the top of the spiral staircase in the library. Although uncredited actress Rosemary Dorken is seen climbing the stairs and going past the camera, it is Tilton's body that suddenly appears in shot again as the Nurse-Companion hangs herself.[17]

Filming

Ettington Park (shown here in 2009) was used for exteriors of haunted Hill House.

Wise called The Haunting one of his top ten or twelve favourites among the films he made, commenting that it was his favourite filmmaking experience.[18] Ettington Park, (now the Ettington Park Hotel), with its grounds near the village of Ettington, Warwickshire, was used for exterior shots of Hill House.[19] According to actor Russ Tamblyn, Wise approached a society that kept track of British haunted houses, and they gave him a list of such places.[18] Production designer Elliot Scott was sent around the country to look at each house, and Wise personally selected Ettington Park.[18][20] Some of the cast and crew were housed in Ettington Park during exterior shooting.[18] However, the location did not sit well with Harris and Bloom who upon arriving at Ettington Park thought it was "scary looking outside", and Wise had to reassure them.[21] Interior sets were constructed and shot at the MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.[5] The interior sets were designed by Elliot Scott, credited by Wise as a "major contributor" to The Haunting.[22][23] The sets were designed to be brightly lit, with no dark corners or recesses, and decorated in a Rococo style. All rooms had ceilings to create a claustrophobic effect on film (this was unusual, as most film sets forgo ceilings to add in lighting and filming). Actor Richard Johnson said that the sets' eeriness created a "subdued atmosphere" among the cast and crew.[6]

Wise says that his contract with MGM specified that the picture could only be shot in black-and-white, which Wise preferred for this genre of film.[23] He attempted to make Ettington Park look more sinister through various lighting effects and camera settings, but this failed.[24] Wise and Boulton then hit on the idea of using infrared film for establishing shots of the house. Infrared film stocks were quickly rushed to the location shoot from Belgium.[24] The new film worked. Wise felt the infrared film brought out the "striations of the stone" and made the mansion look like "more of a monster house".[19][25] Wise very much wanted to make The Haunting a tribute to Val Lewton, the producer and writer under whom Wise had directed his first film (the supernatural horror picture Curse of the Cat People).[21] Wise says that Lewton's theory of horror was that people were more afraid of the unknown than things they could see. The decision to show little that was supernatural was made very early in the picture's pre-production.[26] Wise and cinematographer Davis Boulton also wanted to make distances in the film (such as hallways) look longer and darker than the audience would anticipate. Wise approached the Panavision company, and wanted an anamorphic, wide-angle lens. The only lens Panavision had was a 40mm. Wise learned that the company was working on a 30mm lens, but it contained distortions and was not ready. Wise kept pressing, and eventually Panavision turned over the 30mm lens on the condition that Wise signed a memorandum in which he acknowledged it was imperfect.[27] Wise and Boulton also planned shots that kept the camera moving, utilised low-angle shots, and incorporated unusual pans and tracking shots. This led to some of the most active camera movements in Wise's film career.[28] To accentuate the feeling that the house was alive, exterior shots were filmed so that the windows appeared to be eyes.[21]

During the shoot, Harris suffered from depression, and believed that her co-stars did not take the film as seriously as she did.[29] At times, she would cry in her makeup chair prior to the day's shoot. The other actors remember her as being distant, not a part of their socializing and joking, and Harris did not speak to Bloom during filming, which puzzled Bloom. Afterward, Harris told Bloom that the lack of interaction had helped her build her own performance and the two women reconciled.[6] Harris incorporated her own depression into her performance. Wise heightened the sense of character conflict by having the characters "step on one another's lines", allowing one character to begin talking before the other had finished. On occasion, the characters simply talk at the same time.[11]

To enhance the actors' performances during scenes in which they react to off-stage voices or sounds, Wise and his sound editors created a "pre-scored" soundtrack of voices and noises. These were played back during filming, and Wise says they greatly enhanced the acting performances.[18] Although some sounds were replaced during post-production, the "pre-scored" sounds were left on the soundtrack just as the actors heard them.[15] Sound editors collected and created sounds in an empty manor house for a week to create the pre-score.[24] Some of the sounds are very low in the bass range,[30] which can cause physical sensations at high volume.

Effects and editing

The film contains a number of special effects, many of which were achieved in ways not immediately obvious to the viewer. In one scene, a supernatural force pushes against a large parlor door, bending it inward repeatedly. Though the door appears to some viewers to have been made of latex, it was in fact made of laminated wood; the strange buckling was simply the result of a strong crew member pushing a piece of timber hard against it.[15]

Two physical effects were used to make the spiral staircase in the library appear frightening. In one scene, the camera appears to ascend the staircase at a rapid rate. Wise achieved this effect by using the staircase's handrail as a makeshift dolly track: a camera was attached to the rail and then slowly allowed to slide down (all the while being controlled by a wire so that its fall could be controlled). The sequence was then reversed and run at high speed, which gave the final cut an unworldly feel.[27] In another scene, the staircase appears to become unstable and give way as Luke Sanderson ascends it. Later, Eleanor goes up the staircase in a trance-like state and is rescued by Dr. Markway, even as the staircase seems ready to collapse. The collapsing staircase effect was designed by a metalworker at the Borehamwood studios.[26] The effect was created by tying portions of the steps and railing to a cable that ran inside the staircase's central support column. When the cable was slackened, elements of the stairway loosened up and moved freely. Conversely, when the cable was tightened, the staircase appeared solid and stable.[6] The effect disturbed the cast so much that Robert Wise had to ascend the staircase while it was shaking in order to prove that it was safe.[26]

Other effects also relied on simple cinema tricks. Early in the film, the audience sees Abigail Crain lying in bed, aging from a young child to an old woman. A camera was fixed over the bed, and four different actresses (each a different age) posed in the bed beneath the camera. Dissolves were then used to illustrate the aging process.[26] In another scene, the characters come across a "cold spot" in the haunted mansion. Wise had initially wanted the actors to simply play up "the 'quality of [being] cold' in [the] sequence", but he quickly recognized that an additional visual effect was needed to more clearly emphasize the temperature drop.[24] To overcome the unique issue of having to "photograph 'nothing'", Wise instructed the makeup department to apply a special makeup onto the actors. This makeup contained a compound that was usually invisible to the naked eye but that appeared under certain filters. When it came time to film, the actors walked onto the portion of the set that was supposed to represent the cold spot, and these filters were gradually drawn over the set's lights. This gave the visual impression that the characters had turned pale due to a drop in temperature.[24]

The camera work and editing work together to further heighten the frightening qualities of the film. Eleanor is often viewed from above, and in one scene the camera closes in so tightly on her that she is forced backward over a railing.[6] Eleanor's viewpoint is often juxtaposed with eerie views of the house, as if both viewpoints were the same.[6][11] Many of the editing choices in the film were also used to heighten the audience's discomfort. There are a number of rapid cuts in the film that throw off the viewer's sense of spatial orientation, and Dutch angles are used to imply that reality is off-kilter. Likewise, cutting on action—showing the characters exiting a room to the right, only to show them entering the next room from the left—is often violated, so that the viewer cannot get a clear sense of which rooms and hallways are connected to one another.[6] The film also lacks temporal clues, and there are few shots in which the audience can see out a window to determine whether it is night or day. In other instances, windows are visible but do little to establish temporality: for instance, when Eleanor is rescued by Dr. Markway on the unstable spiral staircase, some of the windows nearby show strong sunlight streaming in, while others show darkness outside.[6]

The Haunting is notable for its lesbian character, Theodora. Although the character's lesbianism is subtly mentioned in the novel, the film makes it explicit.[31] The film is also one of the few Hollywood motion pictures to depict a lesbian as feminine and not predatory.[32] Theodora's lesbianism helps to create conflict in the picture. Had Theodora been heterosexual, Eleanor's growing attraction to Markway would not have threatened her. But with Theodora a clear lesbian, Markway becomes a threat that causes conflict between the psychic and the investigator.[11] Originally, Gidding's script had contained a scene early in the film in which Theodora is shown in her apartment in the city. It is clear from the context that she has just broken off with her female lover: "I hate you" is written on the mirror in lipstick. Theodora is yelling curses at her out the window and more. However, Wise decided to cut the scene, believing it to be too explicit for a film that worked hard to make things implicit.[27][33] According to Harris, film censors demanded that Theo never be shown to touch Eleanor, in order to keep the lesbianism less obvious.[10]