Robert Wise

An alien presence enters Federation space destroying three Klingon cruisers. As it heads towards Earth, Admiral Kirk returns to the U.S.S. Enterprise and sets course to meet the aggressor.

A stranger attempts to convince a happily married couple that their daughter is actually his daughter reincarnated. In New York City, Janice Templeton (Marsha Mason) is happily married to executive Bill Templeton (John Beck) and they live in a comfortable and fancy apartment with their eleven-year-old daughter Ivy (Susan Swift). One day, Janice is stalked by a weirdo and she tells her husband. Soon afterwards, the stranger contacts them and invites the couple to meet him in a restaurant. Elliot Hoover (Sir Anthony Hopkins) tells Janice and Bill that his daughter Audrey Rose died eleven years ago, burned in a car crash, and her soul has been reincarnated in Ivy's body. Bill and Janice believe that Elliot is nuts, and Bill tells his lawyer to get a restraining order against Elliot. However, Ivy has dreadful nightmares and only Elliot is able to calm her down. When Elliot abducts Ivy, Bill and Janice go to court to have him arrested. But Elliot wants to prove that Ivy and Audrey Rose are the same soul. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil A New York City couple experience bizarre, stalker-like behavior from an English stranger. While they attempt to bar him from their lives, he slides his way in anyway and tries to convince them that their eleven-year-old girl is the reincarnation of his eleven-years-departed daughter, Audrey Rose. —Brian J. Wright <tyrannorabbit@hotmail.com>

May, 1937. Kathie Rauch from Milwaukee, Wisconsin sends a letter to the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. claiming the Hindenburg zeppelin will explode after flying over New York. In the meantime, Luftwaffe Colonel Franz Ritter (George C. Scott) boards with the intention of protecting the Hindenburg as various threats have been made to down the airship, which some see as a symbol of Nazi Germany. Ritter is assisted by a Nazi government official, SS/Gestapo Hauptsturmführer Martin Vogel (Roy Thinnes), who poses as official photographer. However, both operate independently in investigating the background of all passengers and crew on the voyage. Ritter has reason to suspect everyone, even his old friend and former mistress, Countess Ursula von Reugen (Anne Bancroft), who vehemently opposes the Nazi regime. Other prime suspects include card sharks Emilio Pajetta (Burgess Meredith) and Major Napier (Rene Auberjonois), Edward Douglas (Gig Young), a suspicious German-American ad executive, as well as several crew members and even the Hindenburg captains Pruss (Charles Durning) and Lehmann (Richard A. Dysart). As the Hindenburg makes its way to Lakehurst Air Field, events conspire against Ritter and Vogel. They soon suspect the rigger Karl Boerth (William Atherton), a former Hitler Youth leader who has become disillusioned with the Nazis. Ritter attempts to arrest him. Boerth resists. He requests help from Ritter, whose son was killed a year before. Boerth's girlfriend, Freda Halle, was killed while trying to escape arrest as the Hindenburg crossed the Atlantic. Boerth, upon hearing the news of Halle's death, plans to commit suicide by staying aboard the airship as the bomb goes off. Ritter eventually agrees with Boerth to set the bomb to detonate at 7:30 p.m., when the airship should have landed and passengers disembarked. While setting up the bomb (a small C-4 plastic explosive), Boerth drops a knife, which was later revealed to have been stolen from Rigger Ludwig Knorr. Vogel starts to work behind Ritter's back, arresting Boerth and confiscating the Countess's passport. As the airship approaches Lakehurst Naval Air Station at 7:00, Ritter now realizes the landing has been delayed and searches for Boerth to ask where the bomb is. Vogel is caught by Ritter torturing Boerth and gets into a fight with Ritter and is knocked unconscious. An injured Boerth tells Ritter the bomb is in the repair patch of gas cell 4. Ritter attempts to defuse the bomb, but is unable to do so in time and is spotted at the last few seconds by a now awakened Vogel. The bomb explodes, killing Ritter instantly and sending Vogel flying down the walkway. Vogel survives, being carried by ground crewmen, while Boerth dies of his burns. At this point the film changes to monochrome in order to match up with the actual newsreel footage of the disaster. Passengers and crew struggle to survive the fire. The disaster scene ends when the camera pans over wreckage, towards a strip of burning fabric that says "Hindenburg" on it. The following day, with the fire cleared, a list of passengers who died or survived is described briefly, while the wreckage is examined for the inquiry before being cleaned up. The film ends with a tribute to Herbert Morrison's radio commentary, with the memorable quotation, "Oh the humanity," as the Hindenburg flies once again, only to disappear again in the clouds.

The Universal movie based on the Michael Crichton book opens with the Universal logo then "Acknowledgements. This film concerns the four-day history of a major American scientific crisis. We received the generous help of many people attached to Project Scoop at Vandenberg Air Force Base and the Wildfire Laboratory in Flatrock, Nevada. They encouraged us to tell the story accurately and in detail. The documents presented here are soon to be made public. They do not in any way jeopardize the national security." FIRST DAY (February 5, 1971) Two Air Force men, Lt. Shawn (Mark Jenkins) and Sgt. Crane (Peter Helm) peer at the little hamlet of Piedmont, New Mexico, population 68, through night vision goggles. They drive their van into town, all the while they are in direct communication with Vandenberg AFB, Scoop Mission Control. They talk to Lt. Comroe (Carl Reindel) and report progress. They report, "We see bodies, lots of them." Before they can retrieve the satellite they are attacked by, "something in white." Lt. Comroe calls Major Mancheck. Major Mancheck (Ramon Bieri) requests a reconnaissance flyby over the town. He requests, "Infrared. A FLIR scan, all sectors. Film to come direct to Scoop." An F-4 Phantom jet criss-crosses the area taking photographs. The pilot is surprised to see all the dead bodies scattered across a wide area. Mancheck and Comroe review the film. Mancheck declares a State of Emergency, and restricts all personnel to base. He enters a small closet, unlocks a red telephone, and calls a special number. He leaves a message, "I recommend calling a Wildfire Alert. We have evidence here on film of unnatural death caused by Scoop 7 returning to earth." He hangs up the phone. Five scientists are activated and collected: Stone, Leavitt, Dutton, Kirke and Hall. A party in an upscale Berkeley neighborhood in California is underway. Mrs. Allison Stone (an uncredited Susan Brown) answers the doorbell. She is surprised when MP Capt. Morton (John Carter) and his aide (an uncredited Michael Bow) appear and insist on seeing Dr. Stone. Dr. Jeremy Stone (Arthur Hill) reacts as if he knew they would arrive which upsets his wife even more than she already is. Morton calmly tells Stone, "There's a fire, sir." Morton assures Mrs. Stone that Dr. Stone will be fine and they leave. Stone reviews a file on Project Scoop on the drive to San Francisco International Airport. Allison Stone frantically calls her father, a U.S. Senator, and tries to report the strange abduction of her husband. The phone line is cut and a voice warns Mrs. Stone, "This communication is being monitored. The connection has been broken for reasons of national security. You will be briefed at the appropriate time. Thank you for your cooperation, Mrs. Stone." General Sparks (Peter Hobbs) calls Dr. Stone, who is alone on a large commercial jet airliner, and tells him, "I just wanted to inform you that all members of your team have been cleared and are now being called in, except for Professor Kirke. He's in the hospital: Appendectomy." At the Dutton residence, Clara Dutton (Frances Reid) packs a bag for her husband, Dr. Charles Dutton (David Wayne). His daughter enters the bedroom with a cup of coffee and asks, "Germ warfare people, Dad? A lab accident?" His grandson enters the bedroom, and excitedly exclaims, "Grandpa, there's a car, and they got guns." Outside in the snow is a green military vehicle surrounded by three soldiers. At her lab, Dr. Ruth Leavitt (Kate Reid) is working when two Air Force officers inform her of a fire. Her assistant, Bess (an uncredited Midori), gets her some water to take a pill, and tells one man, "All Dr. Leavitt needs is rest." The major (Richard Bull) is in no mood for Leavitt's brand of humor, but is relieved when she tells him, "Relax. I'm going with you." In a hospital Operating Room, Dr. Mark Hall (James Olson) is just about to make an incision on his patient when the hospital administrator (an uncredited Paul Bellantyne) tells him to break scrub and be in the surgeon's conference room in thirty seconds. SECOND DAY (February 6, 1971) A helicopter takes off from Vandenberg AFB at 8:00 a.m. The pilot, Dempsey (an uncredited James W. Gavin) flies Doctors Stone and Hall, in white space suits, to Piedmont, New Mexico. Stone explains to Hall that the satellite isn't radioactive, but may have brought back a space germ. Hall asks why he was chosen. He is told he is an MD, he knows blood chemistry and most importantly that he is single. Stone is annoyed that Hall has not been reading the Wildfire materials he has been sending the doctor. We jump ahead in time to April 14, 1971 and the closed hearing of the Senate Committee on Space Sciences in Washington, D.C. Senator Phillips, the senator from Vermont (Eric Christmas) chides General Sparks about Dr. Stone. Senator McKenzie (an uncredited David McLean) from New Mexico expresses disagreement with his colleague about Dr. Stone. Sparks relays that Dr. Stone didn't know anything about Project Scoop. He and Stone were consultants with NASA on the Lunar Receiving Lab. Stone felt a more advanced lab was required to isolate and study any extra-terrestrial germ that may be encountered in the future. Stone wrote a letter asking that a facility be funded and built for such a purpose. Phillips objected to the cost, $90 million. In the present day, the helicopter approaches the small town. Buzzards are picking at the dead bodies, so gas canisters are dropped to kill the birds. Stone and Hall investigate the town, while the helicopter hovers a safe distance away. They find the townsfolk cut down in mid-stride, all dead. Some appear to have committed suicide. They retrieve the satellite from the residence of Dr. Alan Benedict (an uncredited Jason Johnson), the town doctor. Hall notes that Benedict's blood has turned to powder, and realizes just how dangerous this new organism is to the world. On their way out they hear a baby cry. They only find two people in town still alive: Jackson (George Mitchell) an elderly wino, and an infant, Manuel Rios (an uncredited Robert Soto). Before they leave, Stone tells Mancheck by radio, "The town is finished, contaminated beyond all...Order up a 7-12." In the White House Situtaiton Room, the time is 2:40 p.m. EST. Mr. Grimes (Richard OBrien), special assist to the President, meets with Dr. Robertson (Kermit Murdock), science advisor. A Cabinet Secretary (an uncredited Glenn Langan) advises, "It's against the Moscow Treaty of 1963 to fire thermonuclear weapons above ground." Grimes gets a call from the President. He is told that the National Guard will cordon off the area around Piedmont, and a decision to cauterize the area, via a 7-12, will be delayed 24 to 48 hours. Ed, the Assistant to the Cabinet Secretary (an uncredited Walter Brooke) is told to handle the National Guard deployment. Back at the hearing, Sen McKenzie asks who decided on the location for the Wildfire Lab. Sparks tells him that Dr. Stone wanted an uninhabited area. It is close to noon and Dr. Dutton is driving Dr. Leavitt to the Wildfire facility in southern Nevada. The surface structure is disguised to look like an old building run by the Department of Agriculture. They enter the building, and after Dutton provides the guard a pass-phrase, they walk to a storeroom. The floor drops away and they are taken down some distance underground to the first level of Wildfire. Stone and Hall enter a decontamination chamber in their white suits and are irradiated. Dutton tells Leavitt he thinks the capsule may have been brought back with the infection deliberately. Their final step before entry is a palm print analyzer that verifies identification. Dutton tells Leavitt, "It gives you final clearance to enter Wildfire." Hall and Stone greet Dutton and Leavitt, then they all proceed to the communications room on Level 1. Stone asks Sgt. Burk (Joe Di Reda) if there are any messages from the White House. Burk is annoyed, but gives them the brief tour of the teletype machine. "I listen for a little bell in here. Ding-a-ling. That means a message coming in is for the Wildfire Team. No messages yet." The team changes and meets for a briefing. Stone gives Hall a special red metal key on a chain. Stone arms the nuclear device at the bottom of the complex. He explains that in an emergency it is activated automatically, and Hall's key is the only thing that can disarm it. He further explains, "There's a five-minute delay between the time detonation locks in and the bomb explodes." Hall is confused and Leavitt tells him, "You should have done your homework, sport." She explains the "Odd-Man Hypothesis" that unmarried males are best suited to decide on the use of nuclear weapons. Stone shows Hal, via an electronic diagram, where he can find the stations where he can cancel self-destruct with his key. He also explains that it will take 16 hours to descend to Level 5, and that each level is cleaner than the one above. They start the decontamination and immunization process, the time is 5:10 p.m. On Level 4, they rest for 6 hours and are told to meet after that in the cafeteria. THIRD DAY (February 7, 1971) Hall joins the others at a table in the cafeteria. All they consume is a glass of Nutrient 42-5, which Hall describes as tasting like orange juice. Stone explains, "Developed for the astronauts. Eight ounces satisfy all daily nutritional requirements." Stone tells the team he has planned the work in three stages: 1) detection, 2) characterization and 3) control: how to contain and exterminate. They head for Level 5. It is now 4:33 a.m. Hall asks Dutton how he can examine his patients if they are sealed off. He is told that entire rooms are set up like glove-boxes. The two men join Leavitt and Stone in Main Control. Stone is using robotic "hands" to open the satellite. They use a lab rat to see if the open capsule has contaminated the air inside the sealed work chamber. Sure enough, when the sealed cage is opened, the animal quakes and shutters and dies in a few seconds. Next they expose a rhesus monkey to the air, and like the rat, it dies in a few seconds. Stone decides that he and Leavitt will scan the capsule, Dutton will do the necropsies on the animals, and Hall will examine his patients. Hall enters the patient exam/med lab complex. He meets Karen Anson (Paula Kelly) and asks, "What's been done for them?" Karen replies, "Just plasma for the old man, dextrose for the baby." Karen explains the computer, Medcom, handles all medical decisions and lab work. She briefs Hall on the equipment and the body suit glove box. Hall orders blood work, then Karen and Hall enter the exam room via their suits. In the Main Control Room, Stone and Leavitt are examining the satellite with remote scanners. She intimates that what they are searching for was deliberately brought back to Earth. In autopsy, Toby (Ken Swofford) is the technician helping Dutton with his vector studies. Like the medical facility, Toby is in a full body glove box suit. Dutton chides Toby to be more careful and use the "hands" to minimize exposure. They verify that Andromeda is still present and still lethal and transmitted by the air. The use of various filters yields knowledge that the size is 1-2 microns: the size of a bacterium. Dutton calls Stone and Leavitt to let them know what he has discovered, so far. Stone and Leavitt start their scan on the inside of the satellite. They eventually concentrate on a small pebble and some green substance that looks like paint. Hall examines his patients and reviews the blood results. He talks to Jackson but gets very little useful information. He tries to examine the baby, but it is clear he has no experience with babies. Dutton calls to show him the isotope scan: it shows how Andromeda gets into the body. As they suspected, it is inhaled, "The clotting begins in the lungs and spreads outward." Ruth is tired, and annoyed that Stone will not concentrate on the obvious clue, the indentation and pebble, and of course, the green stuff. They zoom in on the green substance and it flinches and grows under 440 magnification. They examine the green material at 1,000 magnification and both see it move. Stone calls for a technician, then operates the hands to remove the pebble for microchemistry examination. The MIC-T (an uncredited Michael Pataki) arrives and praises Stone's technique with the equipment. Hall now knows Jackson's blood is too acid, but not why. He learns the man has an ulcer, but the still doesn't know why the baby is still alive. Meanwhile, a pilot flying over the Piedmont area at 23,000 feet experiences trouble. The oxygen mask he is wearing begins to disintegrate. His F-4 Phantom jet crashes in Utah near the Four-Corners area. At the hearing, some months later, it is disclosed that messages for the Wildfire team were routed but the alarm, "was knocked out by a sliver of paper...the sliver had peeled from the roll and wedged between the bell and striker, preventing the bell from ringing." It is now 12 Noon, and Dutton tells Hall he thinks they are being held incommunicado and that what Scoop found was no accident. "I suspect they were looking for the ultimate biological weapon." Stone and Leavitt enter the break room to join their colleagues. Stone proudly announces, "We've isolated the organism. It's in microchemistry." At the crash site in Utah, Major Mancheck arrives with his team and they learn about the rubber dissolving from the pilot's recorded mayday call. An investigator informs them that the F-4 does not contain rubber, but a new synthetic called Polycron. It is similar in characteristics to human skin, which explains the human bones found in the Jet. The investigator tells Mancheck that either a chemical reaction or a micro-organism entered the cockpit which dissolved the pilot's Polycron-oxygen mask which caused the pilot to become disoriented from lack of oxygen and it led the jet to crash. Back at Wildfire, the entire team is now in the Microchemistry lab. Their analysis of the rock indicates it is a plastic of some sort. The green substance is even simpler, it is composed of only four elements: Hydrogen, Carbon, Nitrogen, and Oxygen. A more detailed analysis indicates the total absence of amino acids. Stone refocuses the group to study of the organism, specifically, "We're halfway home if we find out what will keep that from growing." Hall wants to concentrate on his patients, specifically what they have in common. Ruth reviews the growth results, but misses the culture in Alkaline, due to a red flashing message, "No Growth." Ruth zones out and does not hear the alarm for the midnight conference. FOURTH DAY (February 8, 1971) Hall, Dutton, and Stone are meeting. Hall concludes it must be a blood disorder. The bickering between Hall and Leavitt prompts Stone to call for a 6-hour rest period. Dutton suggests they requests a code name be obtained: Andromeda Strain is assigned. Hall notices that messages for the team were never relayed to the team. The 7-12 was never carried out over Piedmont. Stone is furious and calls the communications center to chew the Sergeant Out. He demands to talk to Dr. Robertson in Washington, D.C. Grimes and Robertson inform the Wildfire team of the Phantom Jet that crashed and the dissolving rubber. Stone emphasizes that the 7-12 must be expedited (but Stone and the team dismiss the dead pilot's claim of rubber dissolving-incorrectly assuming that the pilot was infected by Andromeda). At about 3:00 a.m. the team isolates a cell piece of the green substance. They discover it is a crystal, which now explains why Andromeda lives without amino acids. It converts energy into nourishment. Despite its isolation in the electron microscope the crystal divides and multiplies. Stone exclaims, "In a vacuum, bombarded by electrons? It shouldn't even be alive!" Ruth explains that the growth program shows Andromeda can live on anything, "Only gas and light affect it." They finally conclude, to their shock and horror, that a thermonuclear detonation would only allow their new discovery to mutate and grow into a super-colony in one day. They call Dr. Robertson back and Stone directs Robbie to disarm the self-destruct mechanism at Wildfire. When they tell the computer to explain Andromeda's function, it overloads and returns the message: 601. They now know that Andromeda divides and mutates with no Earth-bound checks and balances to stop it. Stone calls up a map simulation to show how it might spread. Dutton and Leavitt are shocked and disappointed to see and learn that Wildfire was developed for germ warfare simulations and Andromeda was already programmed in as the designated weapon. Stone tries to mitigate the situation, then deflect criticism by redirecting their efforts to finding an antidote. A little later, as Hall and Karen are with the baby, a yellow light flashes and a bell rings an alarm. Karen points at the light and explains to Hall, "Contamination!" A voice over the PA explains, "A seal has broken in autopsy. Emergency procedures are in effect." Hall gets Leavitt on the way to the autopsy lab, but Ruth is frozen in place when she sees the flashing red alarm signal light overhead. She falls to the floor and foams at the mouth with a seizure. Hall has trouble getting help with Leavitt, as the personnel around think she is infected with Andromeda. Karen assists with the treatment when Hall tells her it is only epilepsy. Dutton is in the autopsy lab and admits, "I'm scared. Oh, Lord, I'm scared." Stone feeds Dutton pure Oxygen as Hall explains what happened to Leavitt. Hall is surprised that Dutton is still alive. Hall finally concludes that blood pH is the answer. After Hall and Stone run a quick growth program, they finally see that Andromeda can only survive in a narrow band of pH: Acid vs. Alkaline between 7.39 and 7.43. Then Stone notices the lab rat, exposed longer than Dutton, is also still alive. He concludes, "Andromeda's mutated to a noninfectious form." Unfortunately, Stone also notices a message on the console, "EARLY DEGENERATIVE CHANGE IN GASKET." The Andromeda virus is now consuming the Polycron gaskets around the facility, causing the micro-organism to contaminate Wildfire. With all the gaskets decomposed, another red light and alarm sounds and the doors in Level 5 begin to seal off. Hall is unable to get to a substation to deactivate the 5-minute countdown to detonation. Hall cuts his way through the glove box suit and enters the central core. Gas and lasers protect the area from escaped lab animals. Hall climbs to Level 4, but it is now sealed. He shakes off the shock from being struck by two laser shots: one to the back of his hand and one to his face. He gets to Level 3 and inserts his key in the substation. Hall wakes up in the Infirmary some time later with Karen standing next to him. Ruth Leavitt, with her usual brand of irony, tells Hall, "Eight seconds to spare. Hardly even exciting." Dutton tells Hall the super-colony is now off the coast and rain will wash it into the ocean where it will die. At the Senate Hearing two months later, Senator Phillips asks Dr. Stone, "This cloud seeding business, you absolutely sure it worked?" Stone replies, "All reports indicate the experiment was successful." He further admits they are continuing to study Andromeda at Wildfire and postulates that another biological crisis can occur. The senator tartly asks, "What do we do about that?" Stone grimly redirects the question with, "Precisely, Senator. What do we do?" We close with a view of a computer simulation of Andromeda growing (showing that although contained, the Andromeda virus remains unpredictable), and then the ominous error message, "601" flashing on the screen. End credits

The film opens with narration over a silhouette of Hill House at night. The narrator, Dr. John Markway (Richard Johnson) tells us, "An evil old house, the kind some people call haunted is 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. Whatever walked there walked alone." Title and credits follow, then narration continues, "Scandal, murder, insanity, suicide: The history of Hill House was ideal. It had everything I wanted..." The house was built in New England by a man named Hugh Crain for his wife and young daughter. A horse and carriage accident took the life of the first Mrs. Crain (an uncredited Pamela Buckley) before she even saw the house. Hugh Crain (an uncredited Howard Lang) and young daughter, Abigail (an uncredited Janet Mansell) said a few words over the body, but Hugh was left an embittered man. Crain married again, and the second Mrs. Crain (an uncredited Freda Knorr) also died, falling down the main staircase. Hugh Crain left Abigail with a nurse (an uncredited Susan Richards) and went to England where he died in a drowning accident. Abigail kept the same nursery room her entire life. By the time she was eighty (an uncredited Amy Dalby) she was a bedridden invalid. Her nurse-companion (an uncredited Rosemary Dorken) was a local girl and, it is with this young companion the evil reputation of Hill House really begins. The old lady died while calling for help. The companion was trysting on the verandah with a farm hand. The companion inherited Hill House and occupied it for many years, but eventually hanged herself. The house then passed to a distant relative, named Mrs. Sannerson (Fay Compton). Markway visits Mrs. Sannerson where he convinces her to let him use the house for psychic research. He explains, "I shall occupy the house with a group of carefully selected assistants...I must have specially qualified help to take notes and document any evidence of the supernatural I may find." Eldridge Harper (Ronald Adam), Mrs. Sannerson's lawyer, voices his concern about publicity seekers and the propriety of having women in the house. Harper suggests to Mrs. Sannerson that her nephew, Luke, joins the doctor at Hill House, as he expects to inherit the property. Mrs. Sannerson asks point blank, "Exactly what do you and your assistants expect to find at Hill House?" Markway replies, "Maybe only a few loose floorboards, and maybe, I only say maybe, the key to another world." Dr. Markway, taking a leave of absence from his university professorship, finalizes his list of assistants. Only two end up accepting, Eleanor Lance and Theodora (no last name). Eleanor Lance (Julie Harris) is living with her sister. She is nearly broke and weary after looking after her invalid mother non-stop for eleven years. Mother is now dead, and she fights with her sister over just about everything. She begs to use the car, which is after all, half hers. Her brother-in-law, Bud Fredericks (an uncredited Paul Maxwell) tries to act as mediator between Eleanor and his wife, Carrie (Diane Clare). He is sympathetic to Eleanor's plight, but their daughter, Dora (an uncredited Verina Greenlaw) takes her cues from her mother, and taunts her Aunt Eleanor. On the vacation plan, Bud sides with Eleanor, "I think you should have a vacation, Nell." Carrie objects, but Eleanor is not to be deterred and she shows her family how she reacts when pushed to her breaking point. She is normally quiet and meek, but when pushed is loud and assertive. Nell decides to take the car and confronts the garage attendant (an uncredited Claude Jones) for the keys. She departs Boston along U.S. 50 and Route 238 to Hill House. We hear Nell thinking and she reveals she will never return to live with her sister. In fact, most of what we learn of Eleanor is hearing her thoughts. Eleanor arrives at Hill House. The property is surrounded by a stone wall and the entrance by a tall, iron spiked, gate. She honks the car horn, and Mr. Dudley (Valentine Dyall), the cranky caretaker, finally deigns to respond. "What do you want?" he asks. Eleanor explains that she is expected. After an impertinent exchange with Eleanor, Dudley finally opens the gate and allows her to enter the property. Eleanor is the first to arrive and drives up to the house. Along the way she stops to look at it. It is a huge, stone mansion with lots of detail on the façade and steep, pitched roofs. Her first reaction is that the house is vile and it is staring at her. She carries her suitcase to the front door and is greeted by Mrs. Dudley (Rosalie Crutchley). Mrs. Dudley reluctantly allows Eleanor to come inside, but does not utter a word to her. The inside of the house is dark and over-decorated, and Eleanor is escorted to her room. Mrs. Dudley explains the house rules about meals, and that she won't stay in the house after dark. Eleanor checks out the bathroom and hears the next guest arrive. Theodora (Claire Bloom) introduces herself. Eleanor explains they share a bathroom. Mrs. Dudley repeats her meal and departure rules by rote, but Theo and Nell ignore her. Theodora is a bit strange to Eleanor (Theo clearly flirts with Eleanor throughout the film) Theodora's sexual orientation is only hinted at, and we later learn she has the gift of ESP. Theo and Nell explore the house, but they get lost. Both women feel a chill, and Nell observes, "The house, it's alive." Theo seems to feel that the house wants Nell. Dr. Markway appears and explains he left the door opened, but it closed itself. Markway gives the women a tour of part of the house, starting with the main purple parlor, which they will use as an operations center. He explains that all the doors were set slightly off-center, so they close themselves. Despite studying plans to the house, even Markway gets lost on his way to the dining room. They hear a noise, but it turns out to be Luke Sannerson (Russ Tamblyn) mixing a pitcher of martinis as he enters the dining room. Luke serves each person a martini. They sit down for dinner and discuss their duties and responsibilities. Markway explains that Theo was accepted because of her remarkable power of ESP and Eleanor had a poltergeist experience as a child, "showers of stone fell on your house for three days when you were 10 years old." Luke is a non-believer. His interest is to financially exploit Hill House, after he inherits it, of course. That evening, in the parlor, Markway works on his notes while Eleanor sits quietly on the couch. Theo and Luke play gin rummy at the game table. Theo's ability to see cards allows her to win five games in a row, much to Luke annoyance. She demands he pay her the $12 he owes, but he refuses because she cheated. The four decide to turn in for the night and continue the tour the next morning. Markway gives them papers and asks that they complete them with their observations each night. Sometime during the night, Eleanor wakes, and still in a near dream state, thinks she hears her mother knocking on the wall. Theo hears it from the next room also and calls to Nell. The two women are frightened and both hear the pounding noise. It comes and goes, but louder each time. They finally hear a woman shrieking and laughing that fades away. When Nell opens the door she sees Luke and Markway in the hall outside. The men explain they were chasing a dog and followed it outside, but they did not hear the loud noises the women heard. Markway concludes that something is trying to separate the men and women. The next morning, Markway and Nell join for breakfast. Nell is starting to develop romantic feelings for John Markway, unaware that he is married. She tells him that she spent eleven years taking care of her invalid mother. Nell also voices her fear that she will be turned out of Hill House with no where to go. Markway tells Nell how he came to do psychic research, and that his family disapproves. Theo joins the pair and warns the doctor, "If anyone gets hurt, it's going to be your fault, Markway." Markway explains that no one has ever been physically hurt by a ghost. Luke enters and directs his companions to something he saw in the hall. Someone or something has handwritten a message in chalk on the wall. It says, "Help Eleanor Come Home." Eleanor reacts strongly. She first accuses Theo of playing a cruel joke. The two women bicker and Markway postpones the tour and tells Theo to take Eleanor to her room. The tour starts with the greenhouse. A large stone sculpture sits in the center of the room. It is supposed to be St. Francis curing the lepers, but Luke thinks its a family portrait of Hugh Crain and his wives and daughter. Suddenly, the door slams open and a gust of wind moves the plants. They approach the library, but Nell refuses to enter. The smell reminds her of her mother's sick room. Prominent in the room is a very tall, wrought iron, spiral staircase. Markway points out that the balcony high above is where the companion to Abigail Crain hanged herself. Luke climbs up a few feet on the staircase, but jumps back to the ground when it starts to sway and shake. Eleanor ventures out to the verandah and nearly falls over the balcony as she looks up to the tower above the library. Markway threatens to send her home, but Nell begs to stay. Markway suggests Theo and Nell share a bedroom... "like sisters". That evening, the two women discuss their lives and plans for the future. Nell makes up a story about having an apartment of her own. Just when Theo is about to make a move onto Nell, Markway calls them and Luke into the hallway outside the Nursery. He has discovered a cold spot. He invites all to experience the phenomenon. He gleefully explains, "A cold spot, a genuine cold spot. I guarantee it won't register on any thermometer." Luke dismisses it as just a draft, but Markway says it is the heart of Hill House: The Nursery. In the middle of the night, Nell awakens. She hears a little girl laughing. She asks Theo to hold her hand, as their two beds are almost touching. The laughter continues and Nell complains, "Theo, you're breaking my hand." The laughs turn to wimpering and Nell complains that something is hurting a child and she won't allow that to happen. She yells, "Stop It!" Theo turns on the light and we see Nell is on a day bed about twenty feet from the bed Theo occupies. Nell stares at her hand and asks, "Whose hand was I holding?" The next morning, Markway is in the music room and checks his watch and makes a note about the harp playing itself. Nell enters the room and asks about how it could play itself. Markway explains that it may be preternatural: Something we don't have any natural explanation for right now, but probably will have some day. Nell voices her fear that it is all in her imagination and concludes she may be going insane. She is haunted by the circumstances of her mother's death and that she may somehow be responsible. They both hear the harp play a note and Markway again checks his watch and makes a note in his paperwork. That evening, Luke finds a disturbing book that Hugh Crain made for his daughter, Abigail. Nell and Theo bicker and Markway notes that everyone's nerves are on edge. Theo continues to flirt as well as needle Nell, this time about a budding romance she fantasizes about with John Markway. Nell runs away and Theo catches up to her, and tells Nell that is he is making a fool of herself in thinking that Dr. Markway will ever get involved with her. Nell accuses Theo of being an "unnatural thing" as well as a "nature's mistake." At that moment, a car horn honks and a taxi pulls up in front of the house. Grace Markway (Lois Maxwell), John's wife, arrives. She informs her husband, "A reporter's been telephoning all day. He's on your track. He's heard about you renting this place." Grace begs her husband to abandon the house and his research. When John refuses, Grace pays the driver, grabs her suitcase and announces she is staying at Hill House, "to join the ghost hunt." When Eleanor casually mentions the nursery as a place to stay, Grace quickly accepts the challenge, "Thank you, my dear. The nursery it is." Markway and Nell try to dissuade her, but Grace responds, "You insult my intelligence. You don't think I'd believe anything you ghost hunters might tell me." Luke notices the door to the nursery is open for the first time. Grace decides to spend the night in the room, despite everyone's warning not to. Markway insists he and the three researchers spend the night downstairs in the parlor. Later that night, Nell and Theo sleep together on the sofa by the fireplace as Markway sleeps in a chair. Luke finishes his tour upstairs and enters the parlor. He heads for a bottle on the mantle. Suddenly, the parlor door slams shut by itself and the others wake with a start. They hear a deep rhythmic banging outside the door. Markway is concerned about his wife upstairs. Next a very loud banging comes from just outside the door. The unseen phantom presses against the parlor door as it bows inward and out like breathing, creaking and crunching against the hinges. The sound moves to overhead towards the nursery. Markway is desperate to check on his wife. Unseen, Nell runs from the parlor, through the music room, and upstairs directly to the nursery room. The doors are open, but Grace Markway is nowhere to be seen. Her bed shows signs of being used. Markway and the others arrive and start the search. Nell wanders away. She finds herself in the greenhouse. Descending into her own little world, Nell dances out onto the verandah. When she hears the others calling to her, Nell runs into the Library. She is drawn to the spiral staircase and the balcony at the top. Before she reaches the top, the rickety staircase begins its swaying, the lateral support bolts pulling away from the wall. Markway calls to her, begging her to carefully walk back down. She ignores him and stands on the balcony. Markway carefully climbs the stairs and joins Nell on the iron balcony platform. Before they walk back down, Nell sees Grace Markway peer at her through a trap door in the ceiling. A little later, Markway is furious and now insists Eleanor leave the house for her own safety. Luke brings her car around and Theo packs her bag. Nell tries to talk them out of her dismissal, but the three insist she leave. They escort Eleanor out to her car. Luke gets back out of Nell's car to retrieve the gate key from Markway. She drives off without Luke. Before she reaches the gate she is distracted by the white-robed figure of Grace Markway and crashes into a tree. The three find Eleanor dead in the half overturned car. She crashed into the same tree that killed the first Mrs. Crain. Grace wanders over to the accident scene. She explains to her husband, "I didn't want any of this to happen. You must believe me, John." She explains that she woke and was frightened. She got lost looking for her husband and ended up in the attic. While Theo blames Grace for Eleanor's accident, Luke takes a different view. "Eleanor did it to herself. It looked to me, anyway, like she deliberately aimed the car at this tree." Markway blames the house. Luke stares at the house and remarks, "It ought to be burned down and the ground sowed with salt." We close with an evening shot of Hill House with Eleanor, now a ghost, narrating from beyond the grave about Hill House and that "we who walk here... walk alone." The end title comes up as well as the final title card 'The Haunting' followed by eerie piano music.

A fight set to music between an American gang, the Jets, and a rival gang, the Sharks, who have moved into the Jets' territory from Puerto Rico. We are introduced to the leader of the Jets, Riff (Russ Tamblyn), and the leader of the Sharks, Bernardo (George Chakiris). The Sharks start the fight when they jump Baby John, one of the most developed characters. The police arrive, led by Lieutenant Schrank (Simon Oakland) and Officer Krumpke (William Bramley), and demands that the gang disperse. When they are alone, the Jets begin to discuss what they will do about the Sharks. Riff declares that they will end the conflict on their terms by challenging the Sharks to one last all out fight, or "rumble". they deliver the challenge to the Sharks at the dance being held that night at the local gym, which is considered neutral territory. Action (Tony Mordente) asks to be Riff's lieutenant for the challenge and council, but the Jets leader insists on using Tony (Richard Beymer), Riff's best friend, and co-founder of the Jets. Tony has since begun to drift away from the gang, and the Jets think he doesn't belong any more. Riff tells them firmly that once you're a Jet, you stay a Jet and reassures them of their invincibility before going off to find his friend ("Jet Song"). Riff meets Tony, who now has a job at a local store run by a man named Doc (Ned Glass), and tries to persuade him to come to the dance at the gym that night. Having no real interest in the Jets' conflict with the Sharks, Tony initially refuses and tries to explain to Riff that lately he expects something very important will be coming into his life, but later reconsiders out of loyalty, when he thinks about what might happen there ("Something's Coming"). We are then introduced to Bernardo's sister, Maria (Natalie Wood). She is complaining to Bernardo's feisty ladyfriend, Anita (Rita Moreno), that she never gets to do anything exciting. Bernardo arrives and takes her to the dance, where she meets some friends, Rosalia and Consuelo. Bernardo meets up with his friends. The Jets meet, and a dance montage takes place ("Dance At The Gym"). Glad Hand (John Astin), the chaperon at the dance, tries to make the gangs mix with a get-together dance, but when he is not looking, the boys swap back to their original partners. In the midst of all the excitement, Tony and Maria see each other, and immediately fall in love. They begin to dance, but are interrupted by Bernardo, who angrily orders Maria home, and tells Tony to stay away from his sister. Tony leaves in a happy daze ("Maria") while Riff invites Bernardo to the "war council", for which they agree to meet at Doc's Candy Store. Back at the Sharks' tenement building, Anita defends Maria's right to dance with whom she pleases, as do the other girls, but Bernardo will not listen. A bitter argument ensues, in which it emerges that the girls love their life in America while the boys hate it ("America"). Tony visits Maria at her tenement block, mirroring the balcony scene in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and they confirm their love ("Tonight"). They arrange to meet the next day at Madame Lucia's bridal shop, when Maria has finished her work. The same night, after the dance, the Jets and Sharks meet to decide where their planned rumble will take place. Before the Sharks arrive, the Jets, accompanied by Anybodys (Susan Oakes), a tomboy who desperately wants to be one of them, are visited by Officer Krupke, who warns them not to cause trouble on his beat. When he leaves, they lampoon him, along with judges, psychiatrists and social workers ("Gee, Officer Krupke"). Tony bursts in while the Jets and Sharks are in conference, and demands that they have a fair fist fight instead of a rumble. Riff agrees, and Bernardo reluctantly accepts. The next day, Maria and her friends are working at the bridal shop, and Maria is in an unusually happy mood. The other girls wonder what has come over her, and Maria explains ("I Feel Pretty"). Tony arrives. Everyone except Maria and Anita has left. Anita likes the couple, but is clearly afraid of what might happen if Bernardo knows they are seeing each other. She demands that Maria be home soon, then goes home to pretty herself up -- she and Bernardo have arranged to have a little quality time after the Rumble. Maria demands that Tony stop the fight altogether, but before Tony leaves, they pretend that the bridal clothes in the shop are for them, and imagine their engagement and wedding ("One Hand, One Heart"). Next is a musical montage showing everyone's respective feelings. The Jets and Sharks are ready in case the fight becomes a rumble after all, Tony and Maria are looking forward to seeing each other that night, and Anita is getting ready for her date with Bernardo ("Quintet"). The fight, which is between Bernardo and Ice (Tucker Smith), Riff's second in command, is about to begin when Tony appears. When Tony tries to stop the fight, Bernardo attacks him. When Tony does not retaliate, the Sharks mock him. Unable to stand by and watch while his best friend is mocked and humiliated, Riff punches Bernardo, trying to defend Tony, and the two gang leaders draw their switchblades ("The Rumble"). Tony tries to stop Riff, but Ice and Tiger hold him back. In the midst of the fight, Bernardo kills Riff. Before the stunned members of both gangs can react, Tony, enraged at the murder of his best friend, picks up Riff's blade and stabs Bernardo, killing him instantly. This sets off a free-for-all amidst the gang members. As police sirens start blaring in the distance, everybody takes off, leaving behind the bodies of Riff and Bernardo. Blissfully unaware of what has happened, Maria is waiting for Tony on the tenement roof. She is still in a gay mood, and dances around the roof, until another Shark, Chino (Jose De Vega), who loves her, appears, worn out from the fight. Without thinking, Maria demands to know what has happened to Tony, betraying her feelings. Angered, Chino tells Maria that Tony killed her brother, then leaves. Tony arrives as Maria prays that Bernardo is not dead; realizing that it's true, Maria lashes out at Tony, who can only tell her what happened, and asks her to forgive him before he goes to the police. Maria finds that in spite of everything, she still loves Tony and begs him to stay with her. They reaffirm their love ("Somewhere"). Ice has taken over as leader of the Jets. He tells them they will have their revenge on the Sharks, but must do it carefully ("Cool"). Anybodys appears from infiltrating the Sharks' turf and warns the Jets that Chino is now after Tony with a gun. The Jets scatter out to find Tony, including Anybodys, whose deed officially makes her a Jet. Back at the flat, Tony and Maria are sleeping together. Anita arrives. Maria and Tony make whispered arrangements to meet at Doc's and run away together. Anita comes in, sees Tony running away (and being informed of Chino by Anybodys), and chides Maria for loving him ("A Boy Like That"). Maria will not listen, and Anita looks as though she has to restrain herself from hitting her. But Maria's heartfelt love ("I Have A Love") wins over Anita, for she remembers she felt the same way about Bernardo. Anita then tells Maria about Chino searching for Tony with a gun. Lieutenant Schrank arrives and questions Maria about the events leading up to the Rumble. He knows about the argument, and Maria lies that the boy she danced with was another Puerto Rican. She sends Anita to Doc's on the pretense that she is sending her to fetch a medicine for her headache -- she asks Anita to say she has been detained, explaining she would have gone herself otherwise. Anita's real purpose is to tell Tony (who has now taken refuge in the cellar of Doc's drugstore) that Maria is detained from meeting him. But when Anita enters Doc's, the Jets maul her, simulating a gang rape. In black anger, Anita delivers the wrong message -- she says Maria is dead, shot by Chino for loving Tony. When Doc breaks the news to Tony, he leaves the shop in despair. Tony then runs through the streets shouting for Chino and begging him to kill him too. Wandering onto the playground, he sees Maria, at first thinking that it is only in his mind, then realizing it really is her, but as they run towards each other, Chino appears out of nowhere and shoots Tony. As the Jets and Sharks appear, Maria and Tony reaffirm their love ("Somewhere"), but Tony dies in her arms. Maria takes the gun from Chino and accuses everybody in sight of the deaths of Tony, Bernardo, and Riff. The police and gang members arrive. When they see Tony dead, some of the Jets lift him, and the Sharks join them, while Chino is taken away by the police. As in Romeo and Juliet, tragedy has brought the feuding between the two gangs to an end. Romeo and Juliet equivalents Tony=Romeo, Maria=Juliet, Bernardo=Tybalt, Riff=Mercutio, Doc=Friar Lawrence, Chino=Paris, Anita=Nurse,