Guest in the House

1944
Approved
1h 40m

IMDb RATING

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Anne Baxter, Ralph Bellamy, Jerome Cowan, Aline MacMahon, Scott McKay, and Ruth Warrick in Guest in the House (1944)

A young manipulative woman moves in with her fiancé's family and turns a happy household against itself.A young manipulative woman moves in with her fiancé's family and turns a happy household against itself.A young manipulative woman moves in with her fiancé's family and turns a happy household against itself.

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 nomination total

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Storyline

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Trivia
Director Lewis Milestone started the film, but after extensive rehearsals and preparation he fell ill and was replaced by John Brahm, who re-shot some of the early scenes.

Goofs
When young Lee enters the house after playing with the boy on the swing, her face and dress are clean. However when she enters her mother's room, she has chocolate smudged on her face and dress.

Quotes
Ann Proctor: You're a little monster! You're going to get out of this house tonight!
Evelyn Heath: I bet I don't.

Alternate versions
Some prints of the film are cut to 100 minutes, and omit, among other scenes, the prologue that turns the story into a flashback, in which Aline MacMahon stands at the edge of a cliff as if looking down at someone who has been killed, and reminisces in voice-over about the events in the story.

Connections
Spoofed in A Pest in the House (1947)

Soundtracks
Liebesträume
(uncredited)
Written by Franz Liszt

User reviews55

Featured review

7/10

Guest in the House (1944)

A psychiatrist bring his fianceé -- a former patient -- back to his family house, and she proceeds with a plan of homewrecking. Anne Baxter, several years before ALL ABOUT EVE, is great as another manipulative, conniving and more than a little unstable femme fatale. There is a significantly longer version of this film, but getting the shorter one was probably for the best. The first two acts are a bit sluggish and repetitive, but things really ramp up for the finale. Brahm brings the same Gothic gloom as he did in his period noirs THE LODGER and HANGOVER SQUARE, as the residence gets more and more claustrophobic and ruled by shadows. There's some wonderful framing technique at play, often emphasizing Baxter's control over the household. Supporting performances are generally quite good, with especially good turns from Aline MacMahon and Marie McDonald (like Marilyn, a bombshell blonde with a knack for comedy, but a tragic life ending in a bottle of pills). The film could use some higher stakes and a little more zip, but it has some mighty fine elements.