by Tom Fowler

Created on: January 09, 2008

(Based on The Haunting of Hill House (1959 Shirley Jackson)

Spoiler: This is a detailed review, including comments concerning the film's end.

An evil old house, the kind some people call haunted, if like an undiscovered country waiting to be explored. Hill House had stood for 90 years and might stand for 90 more. Silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House and, whatever walked there, walked alone.

With this narration, done by a male voice, begins The Haunting. (Although I have not read the book, the opening and closing narrations may be taken from Shirley Jackson's novel). The Haunting, released in 1963, was produced and directed by veteran director Robert Wise and runs 112 minutes, which is a little long for this story. The main cast of characters include Eleanor Vance, played by the extremely talented Julie Harris, Claire Bloom as Theodora, Richard Johnson as Dr. John Markway, and a young Russ Tamblyn as Luke Sanderson.

Fans of the James Bond films will be pleased that Lois Maxwell, Bond's would-be love interest Moneypenny in the 007 movies, has a small role as Grace Markway, wife of the doctor.

The Haunting just missed being a great movie, but it is very, very good and a classic of the haunted house genre of film making. It, like many films of the era, benefited from being shot in black and white. I can tell already that this will be a hard film to review, because so much of the film's success depends on mood, which director Wise established very well.

Julie Harris's main character Eleanor is established quickly as a sort of a Cinderella figure. Forced by her domineering family to care for her ill mother for many years, she is now anxious to flee the nest and live a little now that her mother has finally passed away. Dr. Markway's invitation to come to Hill House and help with a study of the supernatural is most welcome, as it is believed that Hill House is truly haunted. Several persons have died tragically there in the 90 years of its existence. Harris' portrayal of the vulnerable, sensitive Eleanor is brilliant.

Horror master Stephen King is an admirer of Shirley Jackson and I cannot help but think that he patterned his character Carrie after Eleanor Vance, for it is believed by Dr. Markway that, as a child, Eleanor caused "showers of stones" (Sound familiar?) to be rained down upon the Vance house via telekinetic power. Thus, the doctor's invitation for her to attend the studies at Hill House.

She was the first to arrive and the first to

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