When the film begins, you get a wonderful opportunity to see Anne Baxter doing one of her worst acting performances. She is a meeting her new family for the first time--and she acts like she's stoned! Her wide-eyed goofy acting here was downright embarrassing to watch and the entire family scene seemed fake. It certainly was not an auspicious beginning! Soon you learn that Baxter is a bit of a nut. First, she goes ape when she sees a bird--screaming and over-acting terribly. Second, you see her reading through her diary and it reveals her to be a bit of a nut...no, a HUGE nut. She appears to be very nasty and emotionally disturbed as she reads through the book, but on the outside she appears sweet and thankful for being there. Now IF you could ignore the over-acting and the first scene in the film, all this might have worked. However, it's a case of little subtlety or finesse when the film needed this to make the story work. What makes this problem even worse is when Baxter's character sows dissent within the family. No one seems to notice--even though she is so obvious--making you assume the family is just stupid.
So, you combine many poorly written characters with a bad script and Baxter over-acting and you are left with a bad movie that appears similar to "Leave Her To Heaven"---except "Leave Her" is a GOOD film--with none of the glaring errors you see in "Guest in the House".
By the way, although Baxter could be an effective actress, for another great example of her horrible acting try watching "The Ten Commandments"--wow, is she awful.
So, you combine many poorly written characters with a bad script and Baxter over-acting and you are left with a bad movie that appears similar to "Leave Her To Heaven"---except "Leave Her" is a GOOD film--with none of the glaring errors you see in "Guest in the House".
By the way, although Baxter could be an effective actress, for another great example of her horrible acting try watching "The Ten Commandments"--wow, is she awful.