A killer who targets women with imperfections is on the loose. Everyone suspects the next victim will be Helen, who is mute and works as a caregiver for a wealthy old woman. Who is the killer and is Helen safe?

George Brent stars in this, along with a marvelous cast. I am not familiar with Brent's work, but he was amazing here. And working under Robert Siodmak? What more can you ask for? The Siodmak brothers were a strong force in their day, and sadly forgotten by many today.

If you like film noir, thrillers or subtle horror, this film is really a must-see. The title is a tad misleading. Near as I can tell, the spiral staircase plays no important role in the film. But, still, a must-see regardless of title.

When I picked up the Leonard Maltin Guide, it compared this film to a Hitchcock suspense and so I thought I'd give it a try. In many ways, though, I liked this film much more than many of Hitchcock's 1940s films. It was far more suspenseful and well-written than I'd expected and I found myself really getting sucked into the film.

Dorothy McGuire plays a mute who cannot talk because of a hysterical reaction to a trauma she experienced as a child. Despite being unable to talk, she seems very well-liked by those around her because she is a fundamentally decent person. However, some of these friends are terribly concerned for her, as an at-large maniac has just recently murdered three people--seemingly because they had some disability. In particular, a nice doctor (Kent Smith) and her employer (Ethel Barrymore) urge her to move out of town. In addition, Smith wants to take her to Boston to have a specialist see her about her inability to speak.

Throughout the film, excellent camera-work (with lots of great angles and shadows), music, direction and writing serve to create a lot of believable tension and suspense. About the only possible negative is that because there is a relatively small cast, it isn't all that hard to guess which one is the maniac--though I must say this was still handled quite well. A top-notch movie that has somehow gotten overlooked--it's every bit as good or better as such contemporary Hitchcock films as SHADOW OF A DOUBT, ROPE or THE SABOTEUR.