The Spiral Staircase

In a village in 1916 Vermont, Helen, a mute girl, attends a silent film screening in a local inn. During the screening, a lame woman limps out of the theatre to her room. She is strangled by a man who was hiding in her closet. Her murder is the third in a string of killings in the community. Dr. Parry, a friend of Helen's, drives her to the Warren home, a large estate outside town where Helen is employed as a live-in companion for the bedridden Mrs. Warren. Also residing in the house are Mrs. Warren's stepson Albert, a local professor; her son, Steven, a charming, rakish playboy; and live-in staff: Mrs. Oates, a housekeeper; her husband Mr. Oates, a handyman; Blanche, Albert's beautiful secretary who is having an affair with Steven, who has recently returned from abroad; and Nurse Barker, who Mrs. Warren verbally abuses. In the mansion while Helen pauses to see herself in a mirror, the killer is spying on her. Before anything happens to her, someone enters the area. Helen finds Mrs. Oates, who discusses the murder and expresses fear for Helen, as the killer appears to be targeting women with disabilities. After Mrs. Warren loses consciousness, Dr. Parry is summoned to the home. Nurse Barker discovers that the bottle of ether has gone missing, and Albert sends Mr. Oates to retrieve some in town. Meanwhile, Mrs. Warren regains consciousness and urges Dr. Parry to take Helen with him. He offers to take Helen to Boston and help her work through the trauma of her parents' death, the shock of which triggered her muteness. She agrees to go, and Dr. Parry makes plans to return in the evening. After an argument with Steven, Blanche asks Helen if she can leave with her that night. She agrees, and Blanche goes down the spiral staircase to the basement to retrieve her suitcase. There Blanche is attacked and strangled by the killer. Helen finds her corpse in the basement and is confronted by Steven. Frightened that he is responsible, she locks him downstairs and flees upstairs. She attempts to wake Mrs. Oates who has passed out, drunk on the professor's stolen brandy. Helen attempts to call Dr. Parry but is unable to speak to the telephone operator. Albert finds Helen frantic, and she writes on a notepad that Blanche has been murdered. As he follows her up the staircase to Mrs. Warren's room, he confesses to killing her out of jealousy, "Blanche, whom I loved, did not love me." Albert then reveals how he got everyone out of the way to get her alone, and that he has a goal of killing the "weak and imperfect of the world." Albert tells her: "I saw you earlier looking at yourself in the mirror, and you had no mouth." Helen flees, locking herself in Mrs. Warren's bedroom. Meanwhile, the constable shows up and is answered at the front door by Albert; he leaves a message for Helen letting her know that Dr. Parry is unable to return that night. Helen returns to the basement to free Steven but finds Albert waiting. He chases her, but they are met by Mrs. Warren, armed with a gun. She shoots Albert, killing him, and Helen screams in horror. Mrs. Warren explains that she suspected Albert was the killer, but wasn't sure because the murders stopped when Steven was away. She notes Albert started killing again when Steven returned to cast suspicion on him. Helen retrieves Steven, who rushes to his mothers side when she breaks down, having used all her strength for shooting Albert. Helen calls Dr. Parry for help on the telephone — and finally, she is now able to fully speak.

Plot from The Spiral Staircase (1946 film)CC BY-SA 4.0