The Haunting (1963)

The Haunting (Robert Wise, 1963)

Dr. Markway, doing research to prove the existence of ghosts, investigates Hill House, a large, eerie mansion with a lurid history of violent death and insanity.

Normally, this self proclaimed film critic would stay away from ghost stories and movies about supernatural manifestations because of an uncontrolled fear of the aforementioned made-up from mankind’s imagination. But two things got in the way of my fright of ghosts: first, they are the films that are on the quest I am rambling about all the time, second, my promises to myself and my beloved readers to get in the mood for Halloween and watch many Horror movies during October. Regarding my idiotic fear of ghosts, I know it is childish but I often have nightmares about those bastards. Plus, it probably comes from my childhood; my cousin and I were always watching Ghostbusters and we were four or five years old. Both, we are still afraid of phantoms. Well, enough with the confession and let’s do this.

In New England there was an evil House that a man named Hugh Crain build for his first wife. She died on her way to the house, then a series of strange deaths, suicides, and tragedies occurred in Hill House. With time and gossips, the house became known as a haunted house. To help his researches, Dr. Markway (Richard Johnson) leases the property and invites two women Eleanor (Julie Harris) and Theodora (Claire Bloom) because they have been in contact with the supernatural before. They also have along with them young cocksure Luke (Russ Tamblyn) who his the next heir to own the property.

It is not long after the movie opens that we understand that Eleanor is a tormented woman and that she is the central character of the movie despite her. Apparently, the house has something to do with her presence and the permanent inhabitants quickly manifest themselves. The frightening elements of the film are pretty efficient and the suggestion of the presence instead the showing of the actual ghosts is making the creep very chilling. The confrontation of logic from Dr. Markway and his interest for paranormal are themes that gives a strong foundation to the script of the film and reminds us that the ghosts are real and not some hallucination from one of the character.

For what it is with Robert Wise’s directing and mise en scène we are in for a treat. The editor of Citizen Kane, knows how to direct a wonderfully haunting (yeah, I did it) picture. Every frame is well shot and, at some points, I saw elements that reminded me of The Shining and Shutter Island. It was probably an influence on both Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese. Especially The Shining, might have been influenced by it more than Kubrick might have wanted it to be. The stairs, the presence of the House and its hold on people makes it a distant parent to the Overlook Hotel.

Finally, The Haunting is one of the most successful ghost films I ever saw and the subtlety of the effects along with the depth of the story and Robert Wise’s sumptuous touch makes this a classic that will surely make my list of the best Horror films of all time. Recommended.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

The Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise, 1951)


This Science fiction classic by Robert Wise the man who directed masterpiece noir films like The Set-Up, musicals like West Side Story (co-directed with Jerome Robbins) and The Sound of Music, horror films like The Haunting and who edited Citizen Kane, did a strong impressive film with The Day the Earth Stood Still. Shot in 1951, during the McCarthyist era, this film tells the coming of a stranger from outer space in a little town of America. The actual alien, in the form of a man is helped by a little boy to hide.

The alien has a message to deliver to planet Earth, stop the wars and unite all nations together to save planet Earth from its own annihilation. It may be bold that the film wants to tell the world to stop the Cold War and make peace. The visitor from outer space represents the terror of the communism. It recalls in Steven Spielberg’s War of the World the kid yelling are they terrorists? Both the rogue menace of their times: in the 1950’s the menace was coming from the communism inside America and in the 2000’s it was(is) terrorism, sometimes from inside the country. The Day the Earth Stood Still is a critic of the current witch hunt of the time. Robert Wise an inside filmmaker of Hollywood surely knew some of the show business people targeted and blacklisted in Hollywood. His film might have been some kind of gesture towards his contemporaries in support to them. Set in the Sci-fi genre, a film had a easier ground to tell a virulent message.

In the form, The Day the Earth Stood Still has a beautiful black and white picture as every other Robert Wise picture. However, the frames are classic but well shot and the subtle but strong “mise en scène” by Wise places this film amongst the greatest films of its time. The directing of a film doesn’t needs to be off the wall, a strong film like Lumet’s style or Polanski’s are almost absent like the best example: a Fordian picture. When you don’t think about where the filmmaker put his camera during the film it means that you are in the presence of a mastered subtle “mise en scène”. Unlike Hitchcock or Scorsese, a subtle directing gives a more realistic approach to a story and we don’t feel like we are at the movies. The Day the Earth Stood Still, is a Sci-fi film and the realistic approach could be absent but instead the way it was filmed makes it even more believable, it is also more efficient that way to believe that an alien actually landed on Earth. The same strategy as M. Night Shyamalan used in his slightly above average Signs.
The Day the Earth Stood Still influenced many Science fictions films to come and still stands as one of the best films in the genre. Even if it’s “propos” isn’t as actual as it was in 1951 it still deserves it’s recognition.

West Side Story (1961)

West Side Story (Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise, 1961)

Winner of 10 Oscars, this adaptation of a Broadway musical could have been a complete disaster considering the latest screen adaptations of Broadway musicals like Rent. West Side Story has been a success on the stage and on the screen. Despite its over dramatic themes and conclusion, its story is more than worth the look. The musical parts bring the best of film.

The "mise en scene" is steady and strongly achieved by the sometimes over sometimes under appreciated Robert Wise (The Set-Up, The Day The Earth Stood Still) and the choreographs by Jerome Robbins are just perfect. Well, it may be one of the things that can tickle, the way the film feels that it is perfect. I tend to like films that are perfect in their imperfections. West Side Story seems like the film has been shot 300 times and the fury and the passion of the moment and of the performances just not feel as real as they really are. Sometimes flaws are a plus, and here, in this very Hollywood feature film it just feels too right. Well, so right it's wrong.

Don't get me wrong, I am a defender of Robert Wise's films and I think that West Side Story stands just where it deserves to stand in the History of Cinema it's just that if it was a film from the 1950's it would have had a better time table, but in the same year a little French film Une femme est une femme, a little musical, directed by a young sensation named Jean-Luc Godard feels fresher today by its rawness and human feelings of its crude colors and its revolutionised film making techniques.


West Side Story is a near masterpiece achievement in film making that every cinephile out there especially musicals and/or Broadway enthusiast should have seen!