The Haunting, Friday at Page Hall

 

The Haunting

(UK/US, 1963, 112 min., b/w)

 

7:30 p.m. Page Hall, UAlbany downtown campus, 135 Western Ave., Albany

 

Listed first in a list of the “11 Scariest Horror Movies of All Time” by director Martin Scorsese in the Daily Beast, October 28, 2009

 

 

Ranked #13 of the “25 Best Horror Films of All Time” by the critics of The Guardian (UK), October 22, 2010

 

 

Steven Spielberg regards The Haunting as one of the “seminal films” of his youth and reportedly told director Robert Wise that it was “the scariest film ever made.” – Judy Sloane in Film Review, June 1995

 

 

Between his phenomenally sunny musical successes West Side Story (1961) and The Sound of Music (1965), director Robert Wise found time to make this brooding, low-key shocker, based on the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. The material seemed to free up Wise’s baser talents:  The off-kilter, black-and-white photography goes a long way in intensifying the production’s minimal special effects, and the actors uniformly overplay their parts, giving the film a streamlined momentum it might have lacked otherwise. Though the story’s lesbian subtext was toned down for the film, the sleek Claire Bloom injects some much-needed sexual tension into the proceedings; the film is less about the group’s battle against poltergeists than about the inner struggle between the virginal Eleanor Lance (Julie Harris) and her conflicting desires. Jackson’s story would be adapted for the screen again, in 1999’s sub-par The Haunting. – Michael Hastings,  All Movie Guide

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Broadway Star Colman Domingo's Visit

Colman Domingo received more than one standing ovation at UAlbany on Monday for his inspirational message to students and clips of his riveting performances, not to mention his pledges to revive the soon-to-be-cut UAlbany Theater Department.

Domingo talked about his inner city boyhood in West Philadelphia, his improbable success on stage and screen, his indefatigable pursuit of his personal goals as an actor and playwright, his role in the opening scene of Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, and his friendship and close working relationship with beloved former UAlbany Theater faculty member Lisa Thompson, whom he called his "soul sister."

Domingo last visited the Institute in February 2007 to direct excerpts from Thompson's plays, prior to many of his recent triumphs.

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Doris Kearns-Goodwin's Lincoln on Big Screen

Doris Kearns-Goodwin, a repeat guest at the Institute, is the author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, which will coming to theaters in November 2012 as a movie directed by Stephen Spielberg, and starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln [pictured here].

"And contrary to the rumors that often follow the There Will Be Blood star's methodology, the director says that his lead wasn't pretending to be Lincoln for months at a time. 'Daniel was always conscious of his contemporary surroundings,' Spielberg says. 'Daniel never went into a fugue state. He did not channel Lincoln. All that stuff is just more about gossip than it is about technique."

More about the film in Entertainment Weekly.

Kearns-Goodwin last visited us in 2009 to share the stage with former Governor Mario Cuomo and celebrate the New York State Writers Institute's 25th Anniversary.

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