The Uninvited

Dorothy Macardle adapted one of my favorite screenplays from her original book The Uninvited published in 1942.

Her ghost story is set in England in the 1930s. It follows two siblings Roddy and Pamela Fitzgerald as they explore Devonshire in hopes of finding a country house.

Roddy is a young successful London literary critic who wants to get away from the city and hopes to install his sister Pamela in a suitable country home so she can recuperate from caring for their ailing father for the past six years.

The two stumble upon a large picturesque home high above the sea on a cliff and fall in love with it. But there is a catch—the home, Cliff End has been empty for 15 years and the man who owns it—a retired navel commander by the name of Meredith does not want to sell it.

Roddy persists since the siblings want the house and he is attracted to the Commander’s sad but lovely granddaughter Stella who lives with her grandfather in a town nearby.

Roddy and Pamela

The Fitzgerald’s prevail as the Commander reluctantly relents and sells them the house. Shortly after moving in they discover Cliff End is haunted.

In a series of frightening events the sibling hear chilling moans, and sobbing, they feel cold air and smell the sweet aroma of mimosa perfume. They also see a startling vaporous apparition.

Roddy spends time with Stella against the Commander’s wishes and finds out her mother Mary Meredith had died in suspicious circumstances when she fell from a cliff near the home.

Another woman, Carmel who was an artist model for Stella’s father had been implicated in this tragedy in a vague mysterious way.

Roddy notices Stella wears the same mimosa perfume that he and Pamela have smelled at Cliff End each time before the ghostly activity occurs. She tells him that she wears it in warm memory of her mother.

The locals tell the siblings that they believe Mary Meredith haunts Cliff End. As the story unfolds Roddy discovers that the reason the Commander does not want Stella to associate with the new owners is he does not want Stella to enter Cliff End.

The Fitzgerald’s end up spending a lot of time trying to unravel the mystery as to why the house is haunted. Stella and the town’s doctor who takes a fancy to Pamela help.

The four end up battling two ghosts—one good, one dark. Macardle provides a story with many twists and turns including a surprise ending.

Her characters are very likable and she keeps the reader or viewer in the moment by setting her story in an ever-changing atmosphere that keeps everyone guessing.

Macardle adapted her book into a screenplay of the same name that was made into a popular film in 1944, which stars Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey and Gail Russell. I talk more about this film here.

What is unusual is many prefer the film to the original book because it gets straight to the ghost story whereas the book has many sub-plots. 

The Hollywood screenwriters that touched up the script changed several character's names--"Rick" for Roddy etc. They also changed the name of the house and made Rick a music critic.