A brother and sister (Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey) move into an old seaside house they find abandoned for many years on the English coast. Their original enchantment with the house diminishes as they hear stories of the previous owners and meet their daughter (Gail Russell, now a young woman) who now lives as a neighbor with her grandfather. Also heard are unexplained sounds during the night. It becomes obvious that the house is haunted. The reasons for the haunting and how they relate to the daughter whom the brother is falling in love with, prove to be a complex mystery. As they are compelled to solve it, the supernatural activity at the house increases to a frightening level.
Solid ghost thriller that ranks right up there with The Innocents and The Haunting.
Facts and trivia:
The beautiful song "Stella By Starlight" was written specifically for this movie and is featured several times. In the movie Roderick Fitzgerald "writes" it for Stella Meredith.
Gail Russell co-stars with author Cornelia Otis Skinner who portrayed "Miss Holloway". That same year (1944), Gail Russell portrayed Cornelia Otis Skinner in "Our Hearts Were Young and Gay", a film based on the real-life memoirs of Miss Skinner.
Some of the interior sets of Windwood Manor, such as the main staircase and parlor, were re-dressed sets from the 1942 film I Married a Witch (1942).
Helen Walker and Veronica Lake were tested for the lead roles.
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