Rosalie Crutchley

A mother's love for her children leads to a son's revenge for her death in this dramatic thriller that begins during the Greek civil war. Nick is a writer in New York when he gets posted to a bureau in Greece. He has waited 30 years for this. He wants to know why his mother was killed in the civil war years earlier. In a parallel plot line we see Nick as a young boy and his family as they struggle to survive in the occupied Greek hillside. The plot lines converge as Nick's investigations bring him closer to the answers. —Robert B. Young <youngb@tastemaker.com>

Margaret Fuchs (Valerie Leon) is in bed dreaming: in an ancient Egyptian tomb some priests are burying Queen Tera (also Valerie Leon) who looks like Margaret. As part of the ritual they chop her hand off, take it outside and throw it to the jackals. They go back into tomb and place the lid on the sarcophagus. Outside, a jackal dies on the ground with its throat ripped and bloody as the hand crawls away. As the priests leave the tomb a sandstorm appears and they all die with lacerated throats too. The severed hand crawls away. Margaret awakes from her nightmare. Her father Professor Julian Fuchs (Andrew Weir) comes into bedroom to comfort her. Another man, Corbeck (James Villiers), watches then from the window of an empty house opposite. Next morning the Professor gives Margaret a ring containing a large ruby. She puts it on showing she has a scar completely across her wrist before going off with her boyfriend Tod (Mark Edwards) in his sports car, observed again from by Corbeck from opposite. In a mental hospital two orderlies look at Berrigan (George Coulouris) in his cell which has a desk and some furnishings. He is seeing some lights that look like stars on his carpet. Tod inspects Margaret's ring closely. He thinks it must have come from her father's expedition. Tod says he will take it to a friend who can give them more information. At the mental hospital, Corbeck visits Berrigan. He tries to take an ornamental cobra from the wardrobe but Berrigan attacks him and the orderlies intervene and make him leave. Tod and Margaret visit expert Geoffrey Dandridge (Hugh Burden) to show him the ring but when he sees Margaret he collapses. Star-like lights appear in the ring. Fortune teller Helen Dickerson (Rosalie Crutchley) is looking into her crystal ball to read a fortune for her customer but sees the same star-like lights too. She is alarmed and asks the customer to leave. Later, at the end of the day, Geoffrey sends his assistant home then goes to a cupboard and takes out and opens a box containing a jackal's skull. Corbeck arrives and Geoffrey explains that he has seen a woman with the ring. Corbeck explains to Geoffrey she is Margaret Fuchs, daughter of Professor Fuchs, and it will soon be her birthday and soon be time. That night Margaret dreams again about the soul of Queen Tera living all these years while her mortal body has waited. Her time is drawing near and it was she who guided people to her tomb to find her. In a flashback, explorers Professor Fuchs, Geoffrey, Corbeck, Berrigan and Helen Dickerson enter Queen Tera's tomb. Around the tomb are several ornaments around including one of a cobra snake, the skull of jackal, and a cat. They open the sarcophagus and see Queen Tera's body with the hand severed. The hand is on the floor next to the sarcophagus with the red ruby ring on a finger. The Professor takes the ring off and from its inscriptions identifies the queen as Tera. At the exact same time, Mrs Fuchs is in hospital giving birth to baby but she dies in the process. The baby at first appears to be stillborn but then doctors hear its heart start beating. The severed arm of Queen Tera in the sarcophagus starts bleeding fresh blood. Margaret wakes up from her dream and tells Tod she must leave immediately. In the basement of his house Professor Fuchs opens the sarcophagus and looks at Queen Tera's body. Margaret and Tod arrive, observed by Corbeck opposite, but there is an ominous feeling and sound from the basement. They break down the door to the basement and rush to the Professor who has cuts on his neck. He instructs them to call Doctor Putnum (Aubrey Morris). They put the Professor in bed but he is unresponsive. Doctor Putnum says the Professor will be like that for a few days and cannot reveal much about Professor's wishes other than his work would astound the world of science. That night Margaret goes to the basement and looks at Queen Tera's body. Corbeck arrives and explains the ruby is the symbol of the god to come. The Professor life's work was to discover the legend of the queen and find the truth, and he and Corbeck and their team searched for her tomb together. There was an attack on one of their members in tomb and fresh blood from Tera's wrist at exactly the same time Margaret was born in the image of Tera. Tod arrives and they agree Tera has some kind of astral power which will be directed against them if they don't understand it. They agree they must contact all old members of team to help reunite Tera with her soul. Tod and Margaret visit Berrigan at the mental hospital. When he sees Margaret he is frightened. Margaret realises he thinks she is Tera so she pretends to be Tera and asks for her familiar - her snake. He says he has not got it, then breaks down causing the orderlies to enter and restrain him and Tod and Margaret have to leave. Back home, Putnum is checking on the Professor. He is still unconscious and the doctor says there will be some paralysis on one side. He says the Professor wanted to protect her from the artefacts in the basement. Tod reads the Professor's journal. The simultaneous events of the Professor entering the tomb and Margaret's birth were a unity created by Tera. Tera had prepared for an abstract metaphysical state by lying in her sarcophagus, creating an astral body with freewill and a conscious intelligence. He believes this power could be used to keep people alive for a long time in suspended animation. Margaret says she feels Tera is dreaming of loneliness, of ancient land and times, when love was a divine possession. In the mental hospital that night the orderlies tease Berrigan with the cobra then leave it on the desk where he can see it when they leave. He struggles in his strait-jacket then goes still and listens. Suddenly the snake disappears from the desk and he sees its shadow approaching him. The window bursts open and wind blows everything around but he cannot escape. The snake approaches and strikes him. He dies with his cuts to his throat. The next morning the Professor wakes up. Margaret explains he had a terrible shock. She asks about the ring and why would it protect her. The Professor explains the priest severed it because they thought it was source of her evil. She says Berrigan is dead and the snake has appeared in their basement. She mentions Corbeck but the Professor implores her not to have anything to do with him. She asks where Tera's hand is but he cannot answer. Out of the window she sees Corbeck going into house opposite and she goes across to confront him. They argue over the facts but she says they need her and she is interested in the power that she may now have. Corbeck says Tera is beyond good and evil and they need to understand her. He says the relics from her tomb are needed for her resurrection from the dead, to provide power over life and death. He says her father is weak and cannot be a part of it. She says she will do anything to have the power so Corbeck says they will do it together. At Geoffrey's, his assistant tells him about Berrigan's death as she leaves at the end of the day. He realises that the jackal skull is significant and takes it out. Margaret arrives and says she wants the skull. He panics and tries to escape out of the window and down the fire escape but he drops the box. As he looks for it he hears a jackal call. He flees in fright. Tod arrives wondering what is going on. Margaret will not tell him anything and leaves. He looks around and hears the jackal call from outside. He investigates, going down the fire escape where he finds the empty box that housed the skull. Hearing noises then a scream he finds Geoffrey's body with the throat lacerated and bloody. He sees the shadow of a jackal running away. Margaret looks at Tera's body in the sarcophagus. The wrist is still bleeding fresh blood. Corbeck arrives and together they see that both the cobra and the jackal's skull are now present in the basement. Tod arrives and tries to stop Corbeck and Margaret. When they refuse he drives away to get help. Margaret screams wishing Tod dead. Tod crashes his car into a tree, his throat lacerated and covered in blood. She is frightened but Corbeck says she must not weaken and she is coming of age. Margaret collapses to the floor. The Professor staggers down to the basement and sees Margaret lying on the floor. Corbeck explains that Margaret no longer exists and soon Tera will be reborn and the Professor cannot do anything to stop it. Corbeck leaves to get the final artefact, the third and final phase of Tera's soul. Margaret dreams in bed watched by the Professor and Doctor Putnam. The Professor insists Putnum give her an injection to ensure she will not wake but while he is preparing it she wakes up. He tries to convince her to go back to bed but she uses her willpower to kill him. He dies with a lacerated throat like the others and Margaret flees. The Professor returns to find Putnum's body, then Corbeck arrives and helps the Professor move the body downstairs. Corbeck says they need each other and they control Tera not the other way around. Corbeck knows where Margaret has gone. Margaret arrives at Helen Dickerson's house. She is afraid and tries to strike Margaret but cannot do so. Instead she concedes and gives Margaret the statue of the cat. As Margaret leaves, she uses her willpower again to kill Helen. Corbeck arrives and sees Helen's body. Margaret reappears at the door and tells Corbeck to come. The Professor finds the scroll of life in the basement then sees that the statue of the cat has appeared. He looks at the severed hand in its box, then Margaret and Corbeck arrive. Corbeck takes the severed hand and places it back in the sarcophagus next to the wrist. The Professor implores him not to read the scroll saying Tera has abused her power and to wait, but Margaret says she is ready and where there is good there must be the opposite. Corbeck reads the scroll of life, to reunite Tera's soul and body and rekindle her astral spirit. The hand reattaches itself to the wrist. Margaret says to the Professor it was Tera that lead them to the tomb. The Professor realises Tera is in Margaret and Corbeck must not finish scroll. They stab Corbeck to death with some relics but Tera awakes. They try to kill her too but she kills the Professor first. Margaret manages to stab her but the building collapses in on top of them all. In a hospital, the medical staff have no idea who the woman all bandaged in the bed is. Her eyes open wide but cannot speak clearly from underneath all the bandages.

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.