Tag: robert wise

Robert Wise, “The Haunting”: Film History Series

Robert Wise, “The Haunting”, 1963, Cinematography Davis Boulton, Music Humphrey Searle, Producer Argyle Enterprises, Metro-Golden Mayer

Robert Wise’s 1963 “The Haunting” is a British psychological thriller film, an adaptation of American novelist Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel “The Haunting of Hill House”, that is widely considered one of the best-written ghost stories. This film chronicles the experiences of several people invited by a paranormal investigator to study the ninety-year old Hill House, an allegedly haunted mansion in Massachusetts.

Wise read Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” during the pre-production phase of “West Side Story”, his current project for United Artists. Impressed by the novel, he gave the book to his colleague, screenwriter Nelson Gidding, who had earned an Oscar nomination for his treatment of Wise’s 1958 “I Want to Live!”. Gidding wrote a full- story treatment and later crafted a screenplay which focused primarily on the psychological interactions between psychiatrist John Markway and patient Eleanor Vance. A meeting between Wise, Gidding and Shirley Jackson led to an increased focus on the supernatural aspect which was contained in the original story. It was Jackson who offered the film’s title, “The Haunting”.

Gidding’s screenplay took six months to write. A solitary worker, he did show Robert Wise some of the work as it progressed. Gidding cut the number of characters in the film and shortened the back-story. Most of the supernatural events were kept off-screen and, in order to emphasize the feeling of claustrophobia, the majority of the action was confined to interior spaces. Gidding’s final screenplay was completed just as Wise was finishing his directorial work on “West Side Story”.

Robert Wise presented the finished screenplay to United Artists; however, they declined to take the project. He next offered the project to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as he still owed the studio one last film under an old contract. MGM accepted the project but would only finance the film for one million dollars, an amount Wise knew was insufficient. Understanding that it would be less expensive to shoot the “The Haunting” in England, he approached Borchamwood Studio, MGM’s British subsidiary. The studio’s support plus the financing and tax breaks through Britain’s film subsidy program, the Eady Levy, enabled Wise to make the film he envisioned.

Wise chose American theater actress Julie Ann Harris to the role of the lead character, the psychologically fragile Eleanor Vance. Stage and screen actress Claire Bloom was selected for the role of psychic Theodora (Theo). Richard Johnson, a Royal Shakespeare Company actor who was already signed with MGM, became the choice for the paranormal investigator, Dr. John Markway. The choice of Bloom and Johnson, in addition to the quality of their acting, enabled Wise to fulfill one of the requirements of the Eady Levy. The role of Luke Samerson, the next heir to Hill House, was given to American actor Russ Tamblyn who, under contract with MGM, had earned an Academy Award nomination for his role in the 1957 film “Peyton Place”.

The exterior shots of Hill House were done on the grounds of Ettington Park (now the Ettington Park Hotel) located in the West Midlands county of Warwickshire. The interior sets, designed by English art director Elliot Scott, were constructed at the Borchamwood Studio. Decorated in a Rococo style, these interior settings were constructed to be brightly lit, without dark corners or recesses. Although most film sets forgo ceilings, all the rooms constructed had ceilings to create a claustrophobic atmosphere. As per contract, “The Haunting” was shot in black and white film; however, Wise also used infra-red film to create a more sinister appearance to the physical structure of Hill House.

Robert Wise understood that which is not seen is more fearful than things people can see. He chose early in the production stage of the film to show little of the supernatural on the screen. Wise and cinematographer Davis Boulton decided to use low-angle shots and employed an anamorphic, wide-angle lens to distort distances. A plan to keep the camera constantly in motion employed unusual horizontal swivels and tracking camera shots during many scenes. To enhanced the acting, a pre-recorded soundtrack of voices and noises was played during the acting of tense scenes. Many of those pre-recorded sounds remained in the film after the final editing.

Wise’s “The Haunting” opened in Los Angeles and New York on the eighteenth of September in 1963 to mixed reception. Although many in the audiences found it frightening, reviews were mixed; many critics gave it a good review but did not think the film was outstanding. Shirley Jackson, after seeing the film at a premier, thought it was a poor movie which altered the plot of the book radically. Since its original release, “The Haunting” has been reappraised and given good reviews, especially regarding its technical quality. Robert Wise was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Director due to his work on “The Haunting”.   

Notes: In 1990, Ted Turner began his controversial colorizing of black and white motion pictures. While touring Turner’s facilities as a member of the Directors Guild, Wise learned that “The Haunting” was to be colorized. The film has remained in its original black and white format due to Wise’s contract with MGM that specified that the film could only be in black and white.

Front Row Features has a 2023 article by writer Judy Sloane that includes a 1995 conversation between Sloane, Robert Wise and Julie Harris on the filming of “The Haunting”: https://frontrowfeatures.com/features-category-of-interviews-and-spotlights/in-retrospect-robert-wise-and-julie-harris-converge-on-hill-house-33927.html

Top Insert Image: Photographer Unknown, “Robert Wise, Set of The Haunting”, 1962-63, Gelatin Silver Print, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Archives

Second Insert Image: Davis Boulton, “Julie Harris and Claire Bloom”, 1963, “The Haunting”, Film Still, Director Robert Wise, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Third Insert Image: Davis Boulton, “Clair Bloom, Julie Harris, Richard Johnson, and Russ Tamblyn”, 1963, “The Haunting”, Film Still, Director Robert Wise, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Bottom Insert Image: Davis Boulton, “Julie Harris and Richard Johnson”, 1963, “The Haunting”, Film Still, Director Robert Wise, Metro-Goldwyn Mayer

Calendar: September 10

A Year: Day to Day Men: 10th of September

Lost in Thought

September 10, 1914 was the birthdate of American film director Robert Wise.

Robert Wise initially sought a career in journalism and attended Franklin College, a small liberal arts college in Indiana, on a scholarship. In 1933 due to his family’s poor financial situation, he moved to Hollywood where his younger brother had gone several years earlier. His brother David found him a job at RKO Studios where he eventually became an editor.

Wise began his career at RKO as a sound and music editor. As he gained experience, he became more interested in editing film content, rather than sound, and started working for RKO film editor William Hamilton. Wise assisted Hamilton on Alfred Santell’s “Winterset” and later on the 1937 “Stage Door” and the 1939 “The Story of Vernon and Irene Castel”. Wise received his first screen credit for a feature film, shared with Hamilton, for editing on “Fifth Avenue Girl” released in 1939.

At RKO Robert Wise worked with Orson Welles on “Citizen Kane” and was nominated for the 1942 Academy Award for Film Editing. Orson Welles had used a deep-focus technique on his film, in which heavy lights are employed to achieve sharp focus for both foreground and background in the frame. Wise later use this technique in films he directed. Wise also worked as editor on Welles’ next film “The Magnificent Ambersons”, and shot additional scenes for the film.

At RKO, Wise got his first credited directing job in 1944 while working for Hollywood horror film producer Val Lewton. He replaced the original director on the horror film “The Curse of the Cat People”, when it fell behind schedule. The film was a well received horror film which made a departure from the genre at that time. Wise used, as in many of his future films, a vulnerable child or childlike character to challenge a dark, adult world. He began a collaboration with Lewton that led to the production of the 1945 horror film “The Body Snatcher” starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.

In the 1950s Robert Wise proved adept in several genres, including melodrama in “So Big”; westerns in “Tribute to a Bad Man” starring James Cagney; epics in “Helen of Troy”; and science fiction in “The Day the Earth Stood Still” which became one of the most enduring sci-fi films ever made, and among the first produced by a major studio.

Robert Wise has been viewed as a craftsman, inclined to let the story concept set the style of the film. He meticulously prepared his films, putting an effort into the research and detail of his projects. While doing research,  he would often scout background shot locations for his second-unit crews. Directing more than forty films in his career, Robert Wise won Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture for both the 1961 “West Side Story” and the 1965 “The Sound of Music”. He also directed and produced “The Sand Pebbles” which was nominated for 1967 Best Picture.