The Haunting

Director: Robert Wise

Overview

Anthropology professor Richard Johnson investigates reports of psychic phenomena at a "troubled" New England mansion known as Hill House. He is joined by Julie Harris and Claire Bloom, women of radically different temperaments who share a common gift for ESP. Cynical Russ Tamblyn, who stands to inherit Hill House, goes along with the paranormal investigators, hoping to get a few laughs. He doesn't -- nor does Harris, the person most adversely affected by the various ghoulies, ghosties and things that go bump in the night which reside throughout Hill House. Both Julie Harris and Claire Bloom insist to this day that they experienced genuine ghostly disturbances during the filming of The Haunting. Conversely, director Robert Wise noted that he wanted to undergo a paranormal experience, but never did.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/09/2010
UPC:	0883929151394
Original Release:	1963
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Home Video
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W, Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:52:00
Sales rank:	12,136

Special Features

Closed Caption; ; Commentary by Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn, Director Robert Wise and Screenwriter Nelson Gidding; "Great Ghost Stories" Essay; Theatrical Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Julie Harris	Eleanor Lance
Claire Bloom	Theodora
Russ Tamblyn	Luke Sanderson
Fay Compton	Mrs. Sanderson
Rosalie Crutchley	Mrs. Dudley
Lois Maxwell	Grace Markway,Bud
Valentine Dyall	Mr. Dudley
Diane Clare	Carrie Fredericks
Ronald Adam	Eldridge Harper
Freda Knorr	Second Mrs. Crain
Janet Mansell	Abigail at 6
Pamela Buckley	First Mrs. Crain
Howard Lang	Hugh Crain
Mavis Villiers	Landlady
Verina Greenlaw	Dora
Claud Jones	Fat Man
Susan Richards	Nurse
Amy Dalby	Abigail at 80
Rosemary Dorken	Companion
Richard Johnson	Dr. John Markway
Humphrey Searle	Composer

Technical Credits

Nelson Gidding

Robert Wise	Director,Producer
Nelson Gidding	Screenwriter
Tom Howard	Special Effects

Editorial Reviews

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. Jackson's story would be adapted for the screen again, in 1999's sub-par The Haunting.