# Stairs in film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [December 26, 2016, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636 "2016-12-26T06:27:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/1 "2016-12-26T06:27:21Z")
Surprised no searches came up for that. Links? Post two film examples where a set of stairs figure prominently, either advancing the plot at points, or having at least _some_ integral part in the film, and then a third example that’s considered more on the minutiae side, a kind of little zinger, that fleetingly adds atmosphere for maybe just one particular scene. - In _The Exorcist_, the spookiest thing for me were the stairs and especially the harsh lighting when going up to the bedroom hall. Seeing von Sydow saying “There is only one”, and then heading upstairs, younger priest in tow, (soundtrack courtesy LB’s phlegmy growling) - whole grain goodness. Also the director’s cut crab-walk up said stairway gets a dubious honorable mention. - (can’t find the post where I mentioned this in another thread) The stairs leading up to Rusk’s apartment in _Frenzy_ appears several times, with Hitchcock’s camera panning behind the actors going upstairs, and in a later instance quietly:eek: pulling back, eventually out into the street. minutiae example: in Blue Velvet, Jeffrey goes upstairs as Lynch’s camera oh-so-slightly pans to a tv showing sneaky-weaky footsteps going up some stairs that are at the same angle as the stairs that Jeffrey’s going up (just behind the tv). ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/2 "2016-12-26T07:01:00Z")
Laurel and Hardy fight a losing battle with a staircase in [The Music Box](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Music_Box). ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/3 "2016-12-26T07:18:56Z")
How about the scene in Vertigo where [Jimmy Stewart chases Kim Novak up the tower stairs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnpZN2HQ3OQ&t=1m49s)? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/4 "2016-12-26T07:21:54Z")
It’s too late for me to sort out which is which, but when it comes to stairs, for some reason My Man Godfrey always comes to mind, but it’s been far too long since I’ve seen the movie to remember why. It may have just been the once scene where he’s being booted out of the house. Noises Off! is a play turned into a movie (an amazing movie at that), but still set up like a play. 95% of the movie takes place on [this set](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zPT2l-UXKYE/0.jpg). The stairs are very predominant, mostly as a means to get from the top of the set to the bottom, but they also play a role in some of the jokes, as well as John Ritter being a bit of a physical comedian, so it’s a fair assumption that something will happen on them at one point or another as well. Also, the other 5% of the movie is backstage and there are stairs back there as well. Another great movie is Arsenic and Old Lace, I’m not sure the stairs themselves figure into the movie in quite the way you’re looking for, but most of the movie is in a living room, but most of the discussion is about what’s going on the basement and all the characters go up and down the basement stairs many times…come to think of it, they go up to the second floor as well, via an open staircase, so there’s that. In Vertigo they climbed the dizzying stair case to get to the top of the tower. Home Alone featured multiple gags involving the upstairs and basement stairs. Auntie Mame has a grand set of stairs in the main living area of the house where the party is. How’s that for a start? One last one…I only saw it once, a long long time ago, but IIRC, stairs were featured prominently in Gone With The Wind, but mostly as a ‘we’re super high class’ type thing, not as a plot point. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/5 "2016-12-26T15:16:49Z")
_In What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?_ there’s a famous scene set on the stairs. Lots of good jokes involving the stairs in Dana’s building in the original _Ghostbusters_. Plus scenes on the stairs leading to the basement storage facility at QB HQ. “Where do these stairs go?” “They go up.” ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/6 "2016-12-26T15:28:25Z")
First thing I thought of looking at the thread title, and I’m sure I won’t be the last: 1. Battleship Potemkin, the Odessa Steps scene [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps-v-kZzfec](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps-v-kZzfec) 1. The Untouchables, Union Station scene [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRJ539f5Ugc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRJ539f5Ugc) and, of course, 1. The opening of Naked Gun 33 1/3 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLVXgs5BS-M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLVXgs5BS-M) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/7 "2016-12-26T15:50:41Z")
Sunset Boulevard, in which Norma Desmond descends the staircase at the end and delivers her famous line, “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.” And in Gone With The Wind, Scarlett O’Hara descends the staircase, wearing the dress made from the drapes, although it was odd that she didn’t remove the curtain rod. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/8 "2016-12-26T16:09:57Z")
Who can forget that classic scene in Kiss of Death where Richard Widmark ties the lady to her wheelchair and pushes her down the stairs? ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/9 "2016-12-26T16:12:54Z")
The first three movie staircases that came to mind: Psycho: [Memorable Horror Movie Scenes: Psycho - Arbogast's death - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo-ZNyP7N2Y) This fight scene in Tony Jaa’s The Protector: [Tony Jaa One Shot - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE7WijeShQM) Shirley Temple and Bill Robinson in The Little Colonel: [Little Colonel Bojangles Dance - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtHvetGnOdM) ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/10 "2016-12-26T16:15:58Z")
Hitchcock loved staircases. Notorious: Cary Grant helping Ingrid Bergman down the stairs and being confronted by Claude Raines. Suspicion: Cary Grant again, carrying a glass of … milk? poison? up the stairs. Time for a Hitchcock film festival, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/11 "2016-12-26T16:25:06Z")
Friz Freling accompanied by Carl Stalling, putting Bugs and Sam through their paces in [Buccaneer Bunny](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2fbyau). It’s at 5:30. Freling used similar gags in a couple of other cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/12 "2016-12-26T16:28:53Z")
Wendy, backing up the stairs holding a baseball bat, while Jack stalks her in **The Shining**. One of the best scenes in the film. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/13 "2016-12-26T16:31:35Z")
In addition to those already mentioned, Hitchcock’s films where there were important scenes on staircases include \*Number 17, \* (much of the film takes place on a staircase), _The Thirty-Nine Steps_ (ignoring the title, Madeleine Carrol realizes Robert Donat is telling the truth when standing on the top of a staircase), _Shadow of a Doubt_ (Uncle Charlie tried to kill Charlie by sawing through a stair; later, she confronts him at the end as she walks down a staircase with a incriminating evidence), _Strangers on a Train_ (Guy is confronted by a dog when he climbs the stairs to murder Bruno’s father), _Vertigo_ (the famous bell tower shot shows a staircase), _Frenzy_ (when Barbara is being murdered, the camera dollies down a staircase and into the street), and _Family Plot_ (The final scene). Hitchcock once said “Stairs are very photogenic.” ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/14 "2016-12-26T17:10:44Z")
The grand staircase in _The Magnificent Ambersons_ framed major scenes and provided a canvas for Welles’s sweeping (er - technically, Stanley Cortez’s) cinematography. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/15 "2016-12-26T17:58:57Z")
Instead of traditionally falling down the stairs, Mrs Deagle [gets launched up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3cbrfpVmK8) them in Gremlins. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/16 "2016-12-26T18:06:35Z")
How about stairs in TV shows? The disabled woman in the wheelchair that Louie pushes out of the courtroom in _Taxi,_ just to show that she can walk. She can’t, and it’s 12 floors to the bottom. The gag just keeps going. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/17 "2016-12-26T18:24:41Z")
[The Princess Bride](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adVOWBDM-_8) (sorry about the quality, it’s the only clip that turned up). Two stair scenes from _The Great Race_: [the sword fight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAUUVftG9Ns) and [the Montmartre steps](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWbzrBXxm78). ---
**Author:** ![CheshireKat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheshirekat/32/1207_2.png) [@CheshireKat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheshireKat)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/18 "2016-12-26T18:32:01Z")
The ending song in [Beetlejuice](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic87SfqQAAM), with the stairs as a backdrop. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/19 "2016-12-26T18:51:36Z")
DiCaprio in “Gilbert Grape”, up the water tower. “Battleship Potempkin” stairs, in Odessa. (Iv’e personally seen both of them. DiCaprio’s is in Manor, Texas.) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636/20 "2016-12-26T19:00:28Z")
Cinderfella Jerry Lewis arrives at the ball dancing and descending a very steep and grand staircase. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MsgHyRGA88) Clock strikes midnight and he rushes away running up that staircase. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/TPmRuKEd8sM/maxresdefault.jpg "Cinderfella run upstairs") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPmRuKEd8sM) He collapsed and it put him in the hospital for several days. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stairs-in-film/775636.md?page=2)