By Adrian Smith

(This review pertains to the UK DVD release. It has not been released in the USA as of this time) 

The Uninvited (1944) directed by Lewis Allen

One of the most eagerly anticipated DVD releases of recent times, The Uninvited is considered a classic ghost story, listed by both Martin Scorsese and current genre favourite Guillermo Del Toro as one of the scariest films of all times. Bearing some similarities in tone to Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940), the film takes wind-swept coastlines and adds menacing spectral activity to the potentially doomed love affair. The Uninvited was one of the first Hollywood productions to present the idea of ghosts being real, and the special optical effects used remain convincing and chilling to this day.

The film is based on a popular novel by Dorothy Macardle, and the screenplay was written by Dodie Smith, who went on to pen the original novel for 101 Dalmatians several years later. In the film Ray Milland plays Roderick, a composer persuaded by his sister Pamela (Ruth Hussey) to buy a deserted house atop a Cornish cliff. For reasons not explained, other than they both appear to be single, they live together in this spacious abode despite the fact that a woman died in mysterious circumstances twenty years earlier. Her daughter Stella (Gail Russell) is strangely drawn to the house, ignoring the demands of her over-bearing father to stay away. As if this was not enough, the sound of weeping echoing around the house keeps them awake at night. To complicate matters even further, Roderick falls in love with this young ingenue, and with the help of his sister he is determined to get to the bottom of the haunting.

It is nice to see Ray Milland in his younger 'leading man' years, shortly before he won his Oscar for The Lost Weekend (1945), and well before he was wallowing in the exploitation world of films like Frogs and The Thing With Two Heads (both 1972, the latter with the immortal tagline “They share the same body... but hate each other's guts!”) The Uninvited is beautifully shot, using light and shadow to great effect. Presented in the original Academy ratio of 1.33:1, it is crisp and clear image. A Blu-ray release of this film would have been ideal, but this DVD is more than welcome, and is better looking than any previous release bar its original cinematic run.

Considering its importance in the development of horror cinema, The Uninvited has been difficult to see for many years, with only a VHS and laserdisc release to speak of, and the occasional late-night TV airing. Although produced by Paramount, the film is now owned by Universal along with the rest of their pre-1948 library. The film has been licensed to independent distributor Exposure Cinema, who also have three Fritz Lang film noir titles scheduled for release. It is a pity that there are not more in-depth extras here, a commentary track from a film historian for example, but it is still a good package. Both radio adaptations of The Uninvited are included, from 1944 and 1949 respectively, which run for around thirty minutes each and star Milland. They are fun to listen to as they follow the film very closely, but do not manage to achieve the same level of fear in the audience. The most significant additional extra is a substantial booklet featuring essays and biographies. It is very well put together, featuring a lot of original artwork and publicity material. Most of these images are also available in the stills gallery section on the DVD.