DIRECTOR: Robert Wise
BOTTOM LINE: As a chic Greenwich Village lesbian named Theo, whose couture is designed by Mary Quant, Claire Bloom is a knockout in Robert Wise’s 1963 movie “The Haunting.” A clever adaptation of the Shirley Jackson novel, it is one of the best haunted-house movies. Theo is one of a panel of experts in the paranormal who are invited to spend a weekend at the notorious Hill House. The house has a long history of strange and tragic happenings. The locals think that it is haunted. Theo always puts the moves on the film’s doomed heroine, Eleanor (“Nell”), who Julie Harris plays in her most emblematic screen performance. However, Theo’s moves are always subtle and done with great care and concern, making her one of the cinema’s most enlightened gay characters up to that point in time. Cheers Claire! You always were a class act.
STREAMING: AMAZON PRIME VIDEO AND APPLE TV+
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