The Spiral Staircase

The Spiral Staircase

About the Movie

This move is The Spiral Staircase which was directed by Robert Siodmak in1946. This movie is a thriller movie and has a gothic tone in it. The movie is about a hidden murderer who is behind a helpless girl. The movie ends in the spiral staircase of the home therefore, it is titled that way. The fact that Helen is afflicted due to a circumstance of fate and the murderer is driven by impulses beyond her control also help in possibly defining it as part of the genre. I have seen The Spiral Staircase referred to as noir many times before in books and also on the internet. A true borderline selection I must admit, but full of merit nevertheless. It is a beautifully written gripping thriller, assembled and directed. However, it is quite predictable at times, and I managed to get tension. Although I expected more, is certainly a great film, shot with a lot of intelligence and quite enjoyable.

Murder Scene of Blanche

Blanche is a middle-class woman in the movie who is pretty and is a confidential secretary. She was killed for the reason that she had her own sexual desires and was an intelligent articulate woman. When she is going down the cellar fro packing her things, she hears a noise and turns around. She knows the person but becomes frightened at the strange demeanor of the person. She is unable to see what is coming and couldn't cope up with the stress of the moment. Related to the climatic system, her look has fear where she stares madly at the person and becomes a symbol of impotence. The eye is focused by the camera with a circled light. The view with which the scene is shot is not of Blanche's rather than it is for the audience.

This shot is already shown before in the movie and therefore, the audience is aware of it. The special lights and shadow is used to separate the eye from the face. The light is focused on the look of the killer where the meaning is given that the killer is focused and has a point-of-view shot. The sound has choir fading in the background. The camera dollies around the eye of the killer. The camera then shows the sight of the killer where the killer sees Blance as a subjective shot who is visually distorted where she is staring non-stop at the killer and backing away with fear. The shot from the camera taken of this scene is a superimposition. The character, Blanche is surrounded by the image of the eye literally. The camera affects make the world in her background melting and flowing downwards. Then, another cut by the camera is a non-subjective shot. The gloved hand of the killer is ready and strikes where Blanche is shown much smaller against the hand. The girl cowers against the wall and does not scream. The gloved hand is shown to smash the ...