The Dark at the Top of the Stairs

Angela tends to play baddies - and she is good at it. In the Manchurian Candidate she was a black widow spider and praying mantis combined - with lipstick. In this movie, she is young and plump and wholesome and pretty - and in one scene with Robert Preston where they share a single kiss, she is more desirable than all the millions of boobs on the Internet.

This film used to be shown on TV (mostly on WGN channel 9 from Chicago). I have been waiting all these years for it to be released to DVD or BluRay so I can own a copy of my own. The acting in it is top rate, and the story is as relevant now as it was the day it was released to the theaters. I love this movie, and I would love to share it with so many of my friends who have come to love vintage movies as much as I do. Can someone PLEASE help me find out the status of this wonderful film, and if it will ever be re-released to the public?? Thanks for any help I can get !!

I'm known as a soft touch when it comes to the films I enjoy but this movie also touched and affected my two teenage sons who accidentally were caught up in it while I was watching it. It is very poignant especially the religious prejudice and the pain & destruction it caused. This is a tasteful story of first love, love lost and love re-discovered. The characters are wonderful. I hope to have an opportunity to tape it or even better to purchase it.

One of the most simple yet moving of William Inge's plays is presented here with some of the finest American actors to grace the screen. This is American cinema at its greatest. Anything else I could say would sound even more trite. If you can find this film (it's never been released on video as far as I know) give it a try. I was able to tape it off of Encore once, and I am forever grateful that they aired it.

I was fortunate to find someone who'd saved this film on videotape so I could archive it on DVD. It is one of the more profound films to come out of that period and one which stands the test of time.

Rubin Flood (Robert Preston) is a victim of progress. At middle-age, he finds himself losing his job because his boss faces bankruptcy. With the coming of automobiles, no one wants the horse-related leather goods he used to sell. Cora Flood (Dorothy McGuire), his wife, is a victim too. Forced to 'make due' with little money even before Rubin lost his job, she must also face the problems of a her daughter, Reenie (Shirley Knight), as she transitions from adolescence to young adulthood ... and the problems of her son, Sonny (Robert Eyer), as he transitions from childhood to adolescence.

Times are tough for the entire Flood family. But, they must come to terms with their problems of love, timidity, suspected infidelity, religious prejudices and the changing times in which they live. While the gadgets may have changed, the problems modern families face are no different than theirs ... making this film one that I think should be 'required' of all high school students to view.

I rate this film 10 out of 10 ... and rate Warner Brothers 'zero' for taking a 'dog-in-the-manger' attitude toward releasing this gem on home video. Preston, McGuire, Knight, and Eyer ... not to mention Lee Kinsolving (Sammy Golden), Eve Arden (Aunt Lottie) and Angela Lansbury (Mavis Pruitt) all turn in stellar performances in their roles. Kudos go to Shirley Knight who was nominated for an Oscar in the film and Lee Kinsolving, who only appeared in one more film and a handful of TV shows before his untimely death at age 36. And special kudos go to William Inge (stage play writer), Harriet Frank, Jr. (screenplay writer) and Delbert Mann for his masterful direction of an enduring work.