Struggling actress Katie McGovern (an excellent and appealing performance by Mary Steenburgen) is summoned to a remote country estate to do a screen test for the crippled Dr. Joseph Lewis (superbly played by Jan Rubes) and his obsequious servant Mr. Murray (Roddy McDowall in peak urbane and unctuous form). However, Katie eventually discovers that she's being used as a pawn in an elaborate blackmail scheme. Director Arthur Penn relates the gripping story at a steady pace, makes extremely effective use of the bleak wintry setting, builds a good deal of tension as well as a strong feeling of chilling isolation, helplessness, and claustrophobia, and handles the startling moments of surprisingly brutal violence with admirable taste and restraint. The clever script by Marc Shmuger and Mark Malone keeps the viewer guessing with its crafty twists and turns. The sterling acting by the tip-top cast helps matters a whole lot: Steenburgen does stand-out work in three roles, Rubes and especially McDowall excel as a pair of deeply creepy and devious villains, and William Russ makes a favorable impression as Katie's concerned husband Rob. Jan Weincke's glossy cinematography gives the picture an impressive polished look. Richard Einhorn's elegant score does the subtly spine-tingling trick. A worthwhile movie.

"Routine" is the best word to describe this thriller about a woman trapped in an English house. But, overall, it entertains which is why I still give it a "7."

Mary Steenburgen yells and runs up and down stairs a lot. Yes, there are plenty of holes in the story and scenes where you say to yourself "Why are you doing this?" or "Why don't you do the sensible thing and do ---(whatever)?" It can be a tad frustrating as our Damsel In Distress, "Katie," can't seem to figure things out for a long time.

No matter, I enjoy looking at young Steenburgen's face. She has always fascinated me; that face and soft voice. Roddy McDowell and Jan Rubes co-star as "Mr. Murray" and "Dr. Lewis," respectively, the men who imprison her, and there is a weirdo named "Eveyln," but this is Steenburgen's movie.

There is a nice twist at the end, a clever way our heroine discovers to escape her lunatic kidnapper. It changes the film from being somewhat dumb to somewhat intelligent. I won't say how but it's not spoiling things to say she wins out in the end. That's always the case in films like this.

They say this is a re-make of the 1945 film, "My Name Is Julie Ross," but I've never seen that. Does anyone remember Samanatha Egger in a similar trapped-in-the-English house-movie in 1965 called "The Collector?"

Alfred Hitchcock is arguably the greatest director of the sound era (D W Griffith holding the comparable honor for silent films). It's unlikely this will ever change.

Hitchcock famously said "The director's job is to manipulate the audience." This is critical in a thriller or suspense film, but Arthur Penn fails to do it consistently. The story unfolds at a too-leisurely pace, without the fluctuating tension that would keep the audience on the edge of its seat. The audience has to be thoroughly confused as to the motivations of the doctor and his assistant, but not enough is revealed (or even suggested) to create viewer tension that parallels the heroine's.

The director isn't obliged to interpret a script literally, but too much of Penn's direction is annoyingly literal. Hitchcock's success in repeatedly confusing the audience throughout "Psycho" owes a much to his working closely with Joseph Stefano to create exactly the right situations and dialog to produce the desired effects.

"Dead of Winter" isn't a terrible film -- just a disappointing one.