The Spiral Staircase | 100 Movies Bucket List

 

I hadn't heard of this film before seeing it on the bucket list, but I did like the premise so I was looking forward to seeing it.

I liked this film a lot.

It's really fun watching older murder mysteries; seeing the way that tropes have grown and changed over the years is fascinating. But it's also equally fascinating to see the way things have stayed the same - the eclectic group of characters is definitely something that has continued to be portrayed in modern murder mysteries.

One of the things that this movie explores is violence against women, and in particular, violence against vulnerable women. Looking at this issue through the trope of a murder mystery is very effective at forcing an audience to look at a real issue by packaging it in a fun and somewhat familiar plot.

The film is quite slow moving, which always surprises me in films that have such a short runtime. Particularly for a murder mystery. With only 80 minutes to play with you'd expect the action to never stop.

But the good thing about taking things slowly in this movie is that we really get a chance to spend time with these characters. Whether we care about them or not, we're given the opportunity to build connections with them.

The actors are so great. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Ethel Barrymore was nominated for an Oscar for her performance, particularly because the Academy isn't known for being kind to horror. But it also makes sense because there are some really fantastic performances in this film.

And then on top of that, it had a great reveal - a great antagonist with a motivation that made sense (in their mind anyway), which made it really fun to watch.

I can definitely see why this one is considered a classic. If you're a fan of murder mysteries, definitely give it a watch!