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Robert Wise's 'The Haunting' weaves the dark tale of a questionably sane young woman and a sinister house which holds a terrifying past. Invited to join anthropologist Dr. Markway (Richard Johnson), ESP expert Theodora (Claire Bloom), and probable heir to the estate Luke Sanderson (Russ Tamblyn) in order to dispel the near mythical tales that surround the house, unstable Eleanor Lance (Julie Harris) agrees to spend a few nights in the house following the death of her mother. As they slowly begin to discover, the horrific and seemingly unbelievable tales may hold more truth than the skeptical guests might have previously expected. With a seemingly unstoppable supernatural force lurking in every shadow, the probability of anyone escaping the evil clutch of the cursed mansion seems increasingly remote. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Between his phenomenally sunny musical successes 'West Side Story' (1961) and 'The Sound of Music' (1965), director Robert Wise found time to make this brooding, low-key shocker, based on the novel 'The Haunting of Hill House' by Shirley Jackson. The material seemed to free up Wise's baser talents: The off-kilter, black-and-white photography goes a long way in intensifying the production's minimal special effects, and the actors uniformly overplay their parts, giving the film a streamlined momentum it might have lacked otherwise. Though the story's lesbian subtext was toned down for the film, the sleek Claire Bloom injects some much-needed sexual tension into the proceedings; the film is less about the group's battle against poltergeists than about the inner struggle between the virginal Eleanor Lance (Julie Harris) and her conflicting desires. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
Things that go bump in the night bump overtime in 1963's 'The Haunting', the quintessential haunted-house film from genre chameleon Robert Wise. The setup is as straightforward as they come: An anthropologist (Richard Johnson) arranges for a handpicked group of guests to stay at a remote New England mansion to investigate legends that it is haunted. Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, and Russ Tamblyn play the guinea pigs in this experiment, which unfolds into a classic ghost story where the spirits in question really do make quite a nocturnal racket. Don't expect much in the way of visual effects however: 'The Haunting' is a Monkey's Paw-type thriller where what you don't see turns out to be scarier than what you do. Wise accomplishes this feat with some exquisite lighting and camerawork that simply immerses the viewer in an atmosphere of eerie mystery that, like the prolonged foreplay of an expert lover, continues long after other films would have climaxed. Harris provides a strange voiceover throughout, gradually revealing her character's strange affinity with the forces at work, while reinforcing the discomforting sense that the line between what is tangibly real and what is delusional can be difficult to draw. And some intriguing erotic tensions wind their way through the group, tensions that seem to become yet another layer of psychic danger. Ultimately, a lot is left to the imagination in 'The Haunting' making it a masterpiece of thoroughly distilled suspense. ~ Gregory Baird, Barnes and Noble
All taken from
"Robert Wise on his films, From editing room to director's chair", by Sergio Leemann
Silman-James Press, July 1995, ISBN: 187950524X
Robert Wise got the idea of 'The haunting' while he was in pre-production for 'West side story'. One day, while reading Shirley Jackson's book...
I was reading one of the very scary passages - hackles were going up and down my neck - when Nelson Gidding... burst through the door to ask me a question. I literally jumped about three feet out of my chair. I said, 'if it can do that to me sitting and reading, it ought to be something I want to make a picture out of'.
About Ettington Park and the belgian infra-red film...
The exterior was a several-hundred-years-old manor house out in the country... It was a pretty horrifying-looking thing under certain kinds of lights, and I accentuated that by shooting some of the exteriors with infra-red film.
About the not-quite-ready-to-use Panavision's lense...
I shot the film in Panavision and, at that time, there wasn't any wide-angle lens in anamorphic... I wanted to make those hallways look long and dark and dank.
... The president of Panavision warned Robert Wise...
'We have developed a 30mm, but it's not ready for use yet. It's got a lot of distortion in it'. I said, 'That's exactly what I need for certain places - I want the house to look almost alive'.
About the spiral staicase...
The spiral staircase in the library was such an effective prop in the picture. It was scary when you were up on that thing and it was rocking around. The one shot we did on it that fascinates people the most is when the camera is at the bottom and goes up. We designed the banister of the stairway to be so wide and thick that it would fit a small rig with wheels on it - a little, light dolly that would hold a hand-held camera. We had our camera on that and we had a control wire underneath, all the way down. We simply took the camera up to the top on this rig, started it, rolled it down, and then reversed the film. It was all done on that balustrade.
About the door that breathes...
Another simple effect was the door that buckles. The door was all laminated wood, layers of wood on top of others. All I had was a strong prop man on the other side who would push it and move it. That's all it was and it scared the hell out of everybody.
Year of Production: 1963
Distribution: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc (MGM)
Running Times: 112 mins
Format: black and white 35mm
Ratio: Panavision [anamorphic] 2.35:1
Sound: mono
Genre: Mystery, Supernatural, Horror, Drama, Suspense, Thriller, Classic, Realism, Psychotronic
Keywords: blood, car, classic, England, evil, experience, ghost, haunted, haunted-house, heirs, horror, house, lesbian, life, mansion, Mother, news, novels, off-road, psychic, research, road, terror, time, tree, women, Plot Lines Ghost, Haunted (house), Supernatural-forces (battling against)
~ all technical details provided by the encyclopedia of fantastic film and television
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And also...
Susan Richard [Nurse]
Mavis Villiers [Landlady]
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The film was based on the novel 'The haunting of Hill House' (1959) by Shirley Jackson.
According to Robert Wise, Shirley Jackson herself suggested the title 'The haunting' for the movie; title that she also had considered for the book.
The story was brilliantly adapted for the screen by Nelson Gidding, who made numerous changes in the original story.
Although sometimes classified as an 'horror' movie, the story of 'The haunting' is much more complex than a simple 'haunted house' story. If you watch it a couple of times, you realise that there is much more than that...
Eleanor was just not allowed to be happy. She had nowhere to go, no one to hold in her arms, no job, no money, no friends, nothing... She could not remember ever being truly happy in her adult life. She had spent all this time - 11 years - taking care of her invalid mother, until she died. Disconnected from the real world, Eleanor's life was made of small guilts, small reproaches, constant weariness and unending despair. It just wasn't fair. All she wanted was to be cherished. The only person in the world she genuinely hated, now that her mother was dead, was her sister. Eleanor didn't think twice when she received this strange invitation from Dr. Markway. She was ready to go; she would have gone anywhere. Somewhere where she would belong. And leave all this past behind. She ended up in Hill House, and thought she could be happy there. She was indeed happy in Hill House, but just for a while. And then it happened.
Let Dr. Markway introduce you to the house:
An evil old house, the kind some people call "haunted", is like an undiscovered country waiting to be explored.
Hill House has 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...
Scandal, murder, insanity, suicide... The history of Hill House was ideal. It had everything I wanted. It was built 90 hard, very hard years ago by a man named Hugh Crain as a home for his wife and daughter is the most remote part of New England he could find. It was an evil house from the beginning, a house that was born bad.
A team of four researchers specialized in the analysis of supernatural manifestations. Except that some of them didn't know they were researchers. They didn't even know why they were there and what was going to happen. No one knew what was going to happen. Dr. Markway didn't know what to expect from Hill House but he surely had much more than he had probably ever dreamed of. Eleanor started it all. The house wanted her from the beginning. The show started the very first night, with Eleanor being the obvious centre of attention. Eleanor was willing to accept a lot for his sake. And she did. She accepted too much. She was given a last chance in the park. She could have turned her car around and gone away. But she was already running away and had nowhere else to go. So she stayed... and broke the spell of the house.
A strange relationship between Eleanor and Theo. It all started with a pure and innocent young girl, Eleanor, looking for good company, looking for a place in a group, looking for someone who would cherish her. Well, she wasn't exactly that innocent and she found out quickly who she wanted. But, so inexperienced, she was too blind to see what was really going on.
Theo also knew exactly who she wanted, but it wasn't quite socially acceptable I suppose. Anyway Theo wouldn't bloody care. Theodora's world was one of delight and soft colors. She wasn't used not to getting what she wanted, and right now.
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My dear "haunting" fellows, what a shock! Mother is here and has always been! Yes, a picture of Mother on the mantelpiece. Look closely and the doubt is not possible. Who else would be on the mantelpiece?
I've watched this movie countless times, once in a movie theatre, many many times at home, from the television program, from a VHS, Laserdisc, Video CD and DVD ... And still, I had never noticed this detail before. Until suddenly, this winter (Dec 4, 2004), a very nice friend of mine who owns a video projector invited me to spend the night at his place. He suggested I should bring my favourite film to watch together. Guess what I brought. We sat close to the image, on purpose, to be fully immersed in it. And there, face to face with the 3-meter diagonal image I saw her. Mother was here! Special thanks to EVL ...
Since she did not get her sister's approval to borrow the car, Eleanor was forced ... to take it without any permission. The car is half Eleanor's, but the mean Carrie considers it's her own property. So Eleanor had to wake up really early to take it. It's only 6:40 in the morning when Eleanor picks it up at the garage ...
Eleanor's suitcase is on the back seat, and as she breaks to read the signs and the letter, the suitcase falls...
The licence plate of Eleanor's small car reads "F3251". Does it mean anything special?
The movie was filmed in the UK, but the action takes place in the USA and starts in Boston, Massachusetts.
I've been unable to conclude whether it was an English or American licence plate. I did ask a couple of friends but got contradictory answers. If you know for sure what a Massachusetts licence plate looked like in 1962, please let me know...
Last but not least, could you tell whether these stickers on the windscreen are English or American official stickers?
I've mirrored the image to let you read them.
Have you noticed? They are everywhere! Now that you know it, watch the movie again, and keep this in mind. You will find a mirror in almost every single Hill House 'indoor' scene. In some scenes, several mirrors are present. For instance when they have their very first meal together: there is a mirror behind Dr. Markway and another one behind Luke, reflecting Eleanor and Theodora. It's even more twisted than that: after the first 'attack', when they all gather in Theodora's bedroom, the multiple mirrors of the room reflect each other in a very complicated arrangement. It must have been technically difficult to set all this properly. Having a mirror in a set adds a difficulty: you must make sure that nothing 'technical' (camera, lights, microphone, crew,...) reflects in the mirror. They are so numerous in the house that I'm forced to conclude that it was purposely done, but what is the meaning?
Just a few examples among many scenes!
With Windows/Internet Explorer, press "F5" if your connection is too slow to display all the images. This will force a re-load.
Have you noticed? No wonder that one feels oppressed and observed in Hill House. An army of statues is watching you, watching every move you make, in every corner of the house. I believe it's an artistic choice because these statues are used in a couple of shots in the very foreground.
Just a few examples among many scenes!
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Once you've been told about it, you really can't help yourself from seeing it: a female character is holding the breasts of another female character. Can someone explain this? |
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Have you noticed? The devil is in the place. It's a bit fast; Eleanor is running so you might have missed it. But with a still image, there is no doubt about it. |
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Two heads staring at you ... If you're standing where they can both look at you, they freeze you. This is a legend, but how come we can find so many on them in Hill House? Another very interesting example is the nursery doors, where they seem to create a cold spot (see below for details ... and more light!).
At the very beginning, Dr. Markway selects some assistants...
...in a list consisting of:
Albert Trepuk
Charles Stern
Joshua Walden
Ruth Murray
Patricia Doyle
Theodora-?
Paul Kirschner
Rufus Mathewson
Eleanor Lance
Patricia Doyle (actress) was Robert Wise's wife, from 1942 under her death on Sep 22, 1975.
Note that Dr. Markway selects Patricia Doyle...
The story goes that the names on the chalkboard are all friends or family of writer Nelson Gidding. Albert Trepuk was his stepfather, Charles Stern, Ruth Murray, Rufus Matthewson, and Paul Kirschner were friends, and Joshua Walden was his then 14-year-old son.
The classic office you would expect to see in the sixties. Complete with telephone, lamp, typewriter (the one used to send the letter to Eleanor?), bookshelf, chests of drawers, ... a cluttered space, the usual mess. But how come there is a poster with Mendel's first law of genetics (law of segregation)?
Have you noticed that, on some scenes, we can see lights coming from the house? Rooms that are lit? Or something else?
At the very beginning, when we are introduced to the house, a light is switched on upstairs.
When Mrs Markway arrives, a room is lit on the ground floor.
A wall lamp is also switched on. A few seconds later, when the taxi is gone, the room is still lit but the wall lamp is switched off.
When Eleanor is eventually forced to leave Hill House, again, some lights: one room is lit upstairs, one room is lit downstairs on the right, and there are some lights from the tower too.
Have you noticed that Hill House is not really unchanged after all these years? The decoration remains completely identical with genuine period furniture, but still, the miracle of electricity made its way to Hill House too.
When Abigail is a young girl, the house is lit by gas lamps and candles. There is a huge gas-chandelier downstairs (where Mrs. Crain was carried lifeless) and another one in Abigail's bedroom (left top corner of this screenshot, the flames can hardly be seen). The rooms and corridors are generally poorly lit with glowing halos of light.
When Abigail is an old lady, the house is lit by electric bulbs. In Abigail's bedroom, we can see several electric lamps and chandeliers. The rooms and corridors are now lit by more powerful electric lights.
Theo, who is an artist herself and probably an art connoisseur, recognizes immediately the work of Bernard Palissy.
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Bernard Palissy (France, 1510-1590) is the most famous figure in the history of French ceramics. As a writer, architect, chemist, and devoted artist he was an archetypal Renaissance Humanist. One of the most characteristic aspects of his work can been seen in the large dishes decorated with reptiles, shells and plants cast from life. Originally a stained-glass painter, Palissy turned to ceramics, experimenting to create subtle, naturalistic glazes that would not, as he wrote, "appear to involve any appearance or form of the art of sculpture, nor any labor of the hand of man." He made molds of actual animals and plants for his dishes, preserving their intricate details through the use of translucent glazes. |
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click here to see the galery with numerous pictures...
Well, on Dec 12, 2003, I went to Paris with a couple of dear friends for a xmas shopping week-end. On Sunday, we had planned to go to 'Le louvre' to see some Palissy... We indeed found them. I must admit it's really strange to see the real objects, it's so true it looks almost alive. Please find below some pictures taken that day.
Paris, musée du Louvre, outside.
click here to see the galery with numerous pictures...
Paris, musée du Louvre, inside.
click here to see the galery with numerous pictures...
Have you noticed that, although we see quite a couple of characters that die in the movie, we never see a drop of blood? All of them are what I would call, 'clean' deaths.
Robert Wise did it brilliantly; he avoided the tacky 'gore' genre and created an 'all time classic' movie that is classy, elegant, stylish, chic, tasteful and somehow very sophisticated. Whenever possible, life leaving a character is suggested by a falling object. It's as efficient and certainly much more graceful than torrents of blood.
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Hugh Crain's young wife died seconds before she was to set eyes on the house. She was killed when, for no apparent reason, the horses bolted, crashing her carriage against a big tree. |
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The 2nd Mrs Crain died when, scared to death, she felt or was strangely pushed down the stairs. |
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Hugh Crain died in a drowning accident. |
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The story goes that Abigail Crain died calling for help in the nursery upstairs while the companion fooled around with a farm hand on the veranda. |
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The companion hanged herself in the library. |
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Eleanor dies when she crashes her car against the same big tree. It ends where it started with Mrs Crain. |
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Well, it's not really a "ménage à trois". It's just the strange behaviour of Dr. Markway with Eleanor Lance and Grace Markway.
When John Markway first meets Eleanor and Theodora, he's immediately really friendly with Eleanor (which makes Theo a bit jealous). He smiles at Eleanor, makes comments such as "You must be Eleanor - I'm unsure at the moment - If it turns out you're not, I'll be disappointed" and "Clever Eleanor! You catch on fast". His wife has not arrived yet, he never mentions her existence, and never mentions the fact that he's a married man. His relationship with Eleanor is just like a shower that runs hot and cold, hot and cold... He never hesitates to have physical contact with Eleanor. He gives her a hug, he touches her, he caresses her face, he pays a real attention to her problems. Eleanor has got a crush on him and thinks he's flirting with her. But she's wrong.
Strangely, when Grace Markway shows up, he's really not cheerful and jovial with her. He doesn't seem really happy to see her. They have been separated for a couple of days and he does not behave like he's been longing for her. He doesn't touch her and she doesn't even get a kiss! He's cold and distant, but polite: he carries her luggage. Instead of spending a night together, like any couple would, he doesn't really insist on spending the night with her and takes her luggage to the nursery, where she'll sleep alone. To be quite honest, I have to add that Grace Markway is not more cheerful than her husband.
Only after Eleanor dies - that is at the very end of the movie -, John takes care of his wife and he first touches Grace...
Theo has got a crush on Eleanor. It's the truth and there is nothing wrong with that. Robert Wise expressed this unconventional love in the movie in a very subtle way. The book is much more explicit. In the movie, it's not that obvious but when you add all the passionate looks, all the sweet touchings, all the knowing smiles, it becomes apparent. Robert Wise discarded from the final cut of the movie a scene from the very beginning where Theo and her girlfriend have a row, ending up with Theo writing "I hate you" on a mirror. This scene would have completely changed the tone of the movie. Although I would sure like to see this discarded scene, I am convinced that it was the right decision to make at that time. Claire Bloom plays her part perfectly: Theo initiates a sexual tension that is underlying, permanent and growing all along the movie. Nobody seems to get what they want: Luke is fooling around with Theo; Theo has got a crush on Eleanor; Eleanor fancies John and John loves Grace, his wife.
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The words 'Suffer little children' can be read on the nursery walls. |
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The book that Abigail is reading is the Holy Bible... |
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The sentence
'Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not'.
can be found in the Bible in...
Mark 10:14
But when Jesus saw [it], he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
Luke 18:16
But Jesus called them [unto him], and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
Matthew 19:14
But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus offers this instruction to His disciples as though they really needed this clear word to remove any doubt about His attitude about children. The word 'suffer' means literally to 'let'. It would be better read, 'Let the little children come'. It carries the idea of 'being commanded' to 'welcome the children to come to Jesus!'
I absolutely don't understand the purpose of such a decoration in a nursery. Can someone explain?
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Eleanor is really affected when Grace Markway turns up... She's more than disappointed; she's really disillusioned, marooned and inconsolable. |
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And there are tears in her eyes that she cannot hold any longer. |
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As Eleanor is hypnotized, mesmerized and irresistibly attracted by the spiral staircase in the library, something strange is happening outside. Although this new event is undoubtedly taking place at night, some windows in the tower are lit like in daylights... whilst some others remain as dark as the night. What is really going on here?
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In the book, a beam of light comes from the eyes of the statue. |
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Compare these two images. |
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I'm talking about some details you might have missed because the image is purposely dark or because the movie runs too fast. But when you look at it frame by frame, and if you add some light, you notice them...
Just before something starts pounding at Theo's door, we see the house, then the stairs, then Eleanor. But have you noticed that we see a head in the stairs? More light will reveal it...
Wouldn't you say that the canopy, suddenly the mouth of a threatening monster, is about to swallow Eleanor?
In the book, two heads above the nursery doors freeze you if you stand right where they can both stare at you. Well, they also are in the movie... They look like screaming children faces...
Theodora's clothes are designer's clothes... and a very famous one: Mary Quant!
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This is Theodora's outfit when we first meet her. |
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This is Theodora's outfit when she first meets Dr. Markway and Luke for dinner. It's a bit masculine with a tie... |
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This slight variation of the previous outfit - this time with long sleeves - is not seen in the movie. |
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This is Theodora's outfit when she shows up for breakfast. The black is chic haute-couture but also a bit aggressive |
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Quant, Mary, 1934-, British fashion designer. After opening her boutique in London to sell clothes, she began to design them as well. She was one of the originators of the 'mod' or 'Chelsea' look of the 1960s that helped make London the new center of fashion. Her designs included miniskirts; vinyl boots; dresses with striking geometric patterns and strong colors; and the 'wet' look achieved by tightly fitted vinyl clothing for a young and avant-garde clientele.
Have you noticed? The house is full of genuine expensive period furniture. The 'A3' format MGM promo booklet gives all the details about the valuable items present in the house (or, more precisely, on the set). The most expensive item is a 'gilded Adams chandelier' valued at $1400 (in 1963). The team responsible for the design of the set has really made a fantastic job! The house really looks like an old Victorian house owned by a wealthy man.
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The ugly woolen patchwork blanket is on the rocking chair when the companion is watching over the old Abigail... |
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... and is still at the same place, in the same condition, when Grace Markway explores the dreaded nursery! |
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These plants in the corridor are there when Abigail is a young girl (and the 2nd Mrs Crain is still alive)... |
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... and the same plants are still there at the same place nearly a century later! |
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Eleanor, answering the call from the house, goes from one room to the other, from one corridor to the other. She then enters the music room, where a mirror falls just when she's there. But the mirror does not fall on the floor. It just keeps hanging on the wall.
Well the explanation for this is clearly visible, and more obvious if you add some light. The mirror is attached with a string...
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When Eleanor takes the car from the garage in Boston to drive to Hill House, she's wearing a white t-shirt with a small knot. |
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When she leaves Hill House, somewhere much later, she wears exactly the same outfit. Was it purposely done? Is there a meaning to this? |
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After the gates, Eleanor has to drive a little bit to reach Hill House. This small sequence was undoubtedly shot in studio. And when Eleanor first sees the House, it's obvious that she's looking on her right side... |
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But on the next shot, the House is exactly in front of her, not on her right anymore. And it's normal: this part was shot in exterior at Ettington Park, where the road does come right in front of the house. |
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This is surely a small continuity problem: on these two shots, the sky is dark grey and suddenly becomes 'milky' white. |
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One was shot on regular film, the other on the Belgian infrared film. |
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As Eleanor enters the dinning room to have a breakfast, we can see in the background a dark wall with a lighter zigzag motif.
But 5 seconds later, with a different camera position, the colour of the same wall is really different. The zigzag motif disappeared and the whole panel looks lighter and brighter.
What happened? There could be several explanations for this. I don't believe the wall was changed in any way.
It could be a different roll of negative film, which reacted very differently to the same colour.
It could also be for instance a colour lighting: if you light up a blue motif with a blue light, the motif disappears. If you light up a red motif with a red light, the motif disappears. They might have changed the lighting between the two shots. That's really what I think happened. If you look closely at the first motif, you will notice that a lamp on a nearby table makes a shadow on this wall and in this shadow, you just cannot see the zigzag. Then 5 seconds later, the wall looks completely different and the shadow of the lamp is gone too.
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The movie was shot long before we could take instant pictures, even with a Polaroid. So no one could tell Richard Johnson that his cigarette was in his left hand... |
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...and then suddenly in his right hand. |
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It's not difficult to understand: a camera, just like your eye, can only focus at one distance at a time. That means that it adapts to see sharply the object you're staring at. The other objects that are farther away will be blurred, as well as the closer objects.
Imagine a fly on the window. If you stare at the fly, you will see it sharply but the trees in the garden will be blurred. Now if you stare at a tree in the garden through the window, the fly on the window will be blurred. You can only focus at one distance at a time: the fly or the tree.
The camera has the same property. But sometimes the director would like to see sharply two objects that cannot be seen sharply together in reality. For instance, a scene in the foreground and another one in the background. It seems easy with today's techniques and computer generated effects but in the sixties, it was not... So there is a trick, a technique called "split screen". The idea is to shot the scene twice, one time with the focus on the first object, and a second time with the focus on the second object. Then all you have to do is copy the two sharp parts to make one single image. To make it work, there are a couple of laws to respect: -1- you need to be able to draw a line in the image that will be the limit of the split. It's impossible to have a sharp object on this line. A dark part of the image is ideal. -2- no one or nothing can cross the split during the sequence. You are in the first or in the second part but you cannot travel from one to the other. -3- do not move the camera between the two shots. All you can do is set a different focus but that's all.
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This is the sequence as it appears in the movie. Now think about it: how can you focus on Eleanor and Theo/John at the same time? They are 10 meters away! It's impossible. |
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If you focus on Theo/John, then Eleanor must be blurred. |
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If you focus on Eleanor, then Theo/John must be blurred. |
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To get the final result, two sequences were shot independently. One with Eleanor appearing sharply on the foreground... |
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And another one with Theo/John appearing sharply on the background. |
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Now the trick is to stick these two parts together to create a single image: this image. |
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Not convinced? Look closely at this: it only lasts 3 or 4 frames in the movie: Theo comes from the split line and reveals it... |
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No. The swinging mirror! To get such an effect, you just need to shoot the reflection of the scene in a mirror, and move the mirror while filming. You can move the camera to get the same effect but, trust me, it's easier with a mirror.
Another proof -if needed- of Robert Wise's talent. This scene is absolutely superb and yet easy to set up: As Eleanor moves forwards, the camera moves backwards to keep the distance between them unchanged. So the background becomes blurred; it's normal because it is farther and farther away. And the lights are progressively dimmed as well to end up with a complete darkness in the background. Eleanor is disappearing inch by inch into this house!
That's right. With this wonderful not-ready-for-use lens, it's nearly impossible to get the exact shape of a room. Your brain just can't figure out what is really going on in reality.
Thanks to a special software, I've created a panorama view out of several screenshots. And look at the result: it's so difficult to draw the shape of a room...
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Julie Harris
Claire Bloom
Richard Johnson
Russ Tamblyn
Lois Maxwell
Howard Lang
Pamela Buckley
Freda Knorr
Janet Mansell
Amy Dalby
Rosemary Dorken
Fay Compton
Ronald Adam
Verina Greenlaw
Diane Clare
Paul Maxwell
Claude Jones
Valentine Dyall
Rosalie Crutchley
Ettington Park
