The Haunting
You may not believe in ghosts but you cannot deny terror.
Country
Genre
Budget
$1 050 000
Box office
$1 020 000
Director
Actors
Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn, Fay Compton, Rosalie Crutchley, Lois Maxwell, Valentine Dyall, Diane Clare, Ronald Adam
All actors and roles (10)
All actors and roles (10)
Scenario
Producer
Camera operator
Davis Boulton
Composer
Humphrey Searle
Artist
Audition
Irene Howard
Editing
Ernest Walter
Whole Team (13)
Whole Team (13)
Short description
Dr. John Markway recruits three strangers for a sleep-disorder study at the eerie and isolated Hill House. It soon becomes clear his real interest lies in the mansion itself and its sinister history, as they are forced to confront the nature of its horror…
What's left behind the scenes
- The film is based on the novel of the same name by Shirley Jackson (1959).
- After reading Shirley Jackson's novel 'The Haunting of Hill House,' director Robert Wise suggested to a familiar screenwriter, Nelson Gidding, that he adapt the book into a screenplay. Gidding initially felt that, like the acclaimed film 'The Innocents,' all the supernatural events in the book could be explained by the mental disorder of the 'homeless' heroine, obsessed with the idea of her own home. Only a conversation with Shirley Jackson convinced him otherwise.
- Working on the script took six months. Giddings left out most of the mysticism, minimized the number of characters, and moved almost all the action to a 'bad' house. Initially, the film was planned to include a scene of Theodora's emotional breakup with her friend, which would leave no doubt about the former's sexual orientation.
- According to the terms of his expiring contract, Robert Wise was required to film one more movie for MGM studio, which agreed to finance the 'horror' only if its budget did not exceed $1 million. To save on tax deductions, filming took place at the British MGM studio. A condition for receiving a tax break was the involvement of local actors in the filming. Studio executives ordered the toning down of the lesbian subtext in the girls' relationship and forbade the actresses from touching each other on camera.
- In search of a suitable house for filming, Wise requested a list of old mansions from paranormal enthusiasts, where ghosts were rumored to have been seen. He settled on Ettington Hall, a Victorian manor in Warwickshire.
- Actress Julie Harris had long been interested in parapsychology and readily agreed to play the role of Eleanor. During filming, she was in a depressed state and did not get along well with her colleagues, whom she blamed for not taking the project seriously enough. Later it became clear that the actress’s heightened emotional state added extra credibility to the image of Eleanor.
- In 1990, television magnate Ted Turner conceived of colorizing black-and-white films from classic Hollywood to attract a younger audience. Upon learning that 'The Haunting' was included in the colorization plan, Robert Wise, citing the terms of his contract, was able to block the colorization of the film.
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