November Stairs

August Stairs

In descending order
Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931)
The Perfume of the Lady in Black (Francesco Barilli, 1974)
Capriccio all'Italiana (Mauro Bolognini, Mario Monicelli, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Steno, Pino Zac, Franco Rossi, 1968)
Célestine... bonne à tout faire (Jesús Franco, 1974)

May Stairs

The Third Man

After a long interval, we will ascend and descend cinematic stairs again and will hide in the dark corners of the staircases which generate our dreams and nightmares. Another round of celebrating the most vital vertical element of the movies and their spaces. 

Previous posts include: Insane stairs, Sirk stairs, Stairways to hell, Stairs and mirrors, Reincarnation of stairs, High society stairs, Metaphysical stairs, Dialectical stairs, Capra stairs, Stairways to heaven, Poetics of space: stairs.

Capra Stairs

Forbidden (1932)

Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)

None of the early 1930s Frank Capra films has credited any person as set designer, and strange enough, they all have credits for costume designer, and makeup artists, but not for the creators of these elaborate sets. This imaginative architect must be Stephen Goosson, Capra's designer at Columbia and of course, an unlucky fellow from the historic point of view.

Thesis/Antithesis Stairs

Thesis:
Voici le temps des assassins... (1956)
Directed by Julien Duvivier
Production Design by Robert Gys
Set Decoration by Alfred Marpaux & Yves Olivier

Antithesis:
The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks (1924)
Directed by Lev Kuleshov
Art Direction by Vsevolod Pudovkin

Thesis:
?

Obviously a Hollywood movie circa mid 1930s to early 1940s, but I don't remember from which film I took this snapshot. [If you know it, tell me please]

Antithesis:
L'Atlantide (1921)
Directed by Jacques Feyder
Production Design by Manuel Orazi

Metaphysical Stairs

The Uninvited (1944)
Directed by Lewis Allen
Art Direction by Hans Dreier & Ernst Fegté
Set Decoration by Stephen Seymour

The Invisible Ray (1936)
Directed by Lambert Hillyer
Art Direction by Albert S. D'Agostino
Source

Poltergeist (1982)
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Production Design by James H. Spencer
Set Decoration by Cheryal Kearney
Thanks to Katty Y. for this

High Society Stairs

One Hour with You (1932)/Direction: Ernst Lubitsch /Art Direction: Hans Dreier

Harriet Craig (1950)/D: Vincent Sherman/A.D.:Walter Holscher

5th Ave Girl (1939)/D: Gregory La Cava/A.D.: Van Nest Polglase

Insane Stairs

Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)/D: Robert Aldrich/A.D.: William Glasgow

The Servant (1963) /D: Joseph Losey/Production Design:Richard Macdonald

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Poetics of Space#1

Still:
René Burri

Motion:
Fritz Lang's Spies (1928)

Reincarnation of Stairs

Glenn Miller Story (1954)

Written On The Wind (1956)

Only in movies the lavish stairs of the legendary Glenn Miller's mansion in L. A. , as we see in The Glenn Miller's Story, may reincarnates to the Texan house stairs in Written on the Wind, made two years later. Look how the wallpaper, thick curtains and the camera lens have changed the nature of the place. The artificial pillars have been removed, so the architrave to achieve a more contemporary look (Glenn's story ends in 1942 but Written's events happen in the time that film has been made). Since red is a very elemental color in Written on the Wind's color pallet, the green carpets and stone floor of Glenn has been changed to red.

In both pictures art directors are Alexander Golitzen and Bernard Herzbrun, and Set Decoration is made by Russell A. Gausman and Julia Heron. Both pictures are made in Universal Studios, and that will explain everything.

Stairs and Mirrors

The Heiress (1949/dir:William Wyler/design:Harry Horner, John Meehan)

The Spiral Staircase (1945/dir:Robert Siodmak/design:Albert S. D'Agostino, Jack Okey)

Noir Stairways or "Stairways to Hell"

The spiral staircase of betrayal and death in a country house in Suspense (1946/dir: Frank Tuttle/design: Frank Paul Sylos)

The spiral staircase of Horror in The spiral staircase (1945/dir: Robert Siodmak/design: Albert S. D'Agostino & Jack Okey)

A staircase in a dump. Small town hell from Beyond the forest (1949/dir: King Vidor/design: Robert M. Haas)

Stairways; Sirk Style

Same shot, same Mise en scène, repeated by Douglas Sirk after 20 years. First in Accord final (1938) made in Germany, and then in Written on the wind (1956), made for Universal. In both cases a longing look, a gaze, at the top of the spiral staircase, is observing his/her predestination. Walking out means changing lives. The spiral forms and high angles from Expressionist films to Vertigo were evoking a sense of fatal destiny, facing the oblivion and entering the world of nightmare, and here Sirk takes these elements into his personal realm of melodrama.

Stairways to Heaven

Thinking about architecture in film, or let's say “architecture of film,” simply means reviving the memory and presence of architectural elements of the metaphysical world of motion pictures in unconscious mind of a moviegoer, and one of the first elements that comes to mind is staircases in films. This will be the first in a new series of post, concerning the different aspects of this presence in the movies.

این "پُست" اولین کار از یک مجموعه تازه است که قرار است با اتکاء به تصاویر حضور عناصر معماری در فیلم‌ها را با دسته بندی‌هایی تماتیک مرور کند؛ نوعی رجوع به ضمیرناخودآگاه برای زنده کردن دوبارۀ دنیای فیلم‌ها و این بار به جاي زنده کردنشان در حرکت‌ و تصاویر کلی از آدم‌ها ، در سکون و در تمركز بر جزئیات و اشیاء.

A 19th century Parisian stair in Les misérables (1933/dir: Raymond bernard/design: Lucien Carré, Jean Perrier)

Staircase of the "smartest and evidently the richest woman in the U. S., who sleeps with anybody she wants." Female (1930/dir:Michael Curtiz/design:Jack Okey)

A light comedy with a heavy decoration in The Young in Heart (1938/dir: Richard Wallace/design: William Cameron Menzies [PD], Lyle R. Wheeler [AD])

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