Gardner dabbles in devilish real estate

If there were an Oscar category for "Best Portrayal of a Realtor in a Horror Film," Ava Gardner would have won for her performance in 1977's "The Sentinel." The former Mrs. Frank Sinatra, then in her 50s, played the very astute and somewhat mysterious operator of Logan Real Estate.

Miss Logan's role seemed anything but shady. After she conducted a brief tour and delivered a standard sales pitch, she leased an apartment in a five-story building in Brooklyn Heights to the film's heroine, Alison Parker, played by Christina Raines. For all intents and purposes, Miss Logan was like any true-to-life Realtor, except for one minor detail.

The apartment she rented was the gateway to hell.

Such were the film's trappings: a beautiful young model, a spooky building in New York with creaky stairs and numerous dark rooms (with a lurking goon inside each one), a blind priest who lives alone on the top floor and, of course, a doorway to the afterlife.

Gardner, like the rest of the cast, gave her rendition of a pro, the type one would expect to meet under mundane circumstances. In a book he wrote in the '70s, film critic Rex Reed said that Gardner was cast in the film because she "looked like a real estate agent."

Pamela Wilferd of Liberty Realty found Gardner gave her realty agent role an air of authenticity.

"She knew what she had to say and she was very commanding," Wilferd said. "She took charge of the situation -- that was my impression of her. She knew her business and was very precise about what she was saying -- about the building and its occupants."

Upon entering the second-floor apartment, Miss Logan's sales talk contained the standard pleasantries for Alison: "It's one of the nicer tree-lined blocks in New York -- and only 20 minutes from the center of town." Also: "The furniture fits beautifully. I'm sure you'll agree."

But when we hear Miss Logan discuss the rental rate with Alison, we begin to suspect this real estate agent has more in mind than her commission.

"$500 a month," Miss Logan tells Alison.

"Oh, I'm afraid that's a bit too much."

"$400 is not excessive."

"I thought you said `$500,'" asks a surprised Alison.

"$400," Miss Logan repeated. "A $50 deposit will be just fine."

Plot-wise, changing the price clues the audience into the fact that Miss Logan must ensure Alison's move-in, but real estate-wise, the underhanded tactic was a no-no.

"That is something that we do not do," Wilferd said. "We quote the price, say what it is and they make an offer.

"We have to have permission from the owner or the landlord before we can negotiate like she did, and we certainly wouldn't use her method."

Soon after Alison moves in, she begins to meet the people living in the neighboring apartments, all of them oddballs, to say the least. That night, she even attends a birthday party for her upstairs neighbor's cat, and all of the building's residents join in the festivities.

Given her kooky neighbors and the weird noises she hears at night, Alison suspects something is afoot. So, she contacts Miss Logan again, whom she meets for lunch.

After hearing Alison's story, she tells her, "My dear Miss Parker, aside from the priest and now, of course, you, nobody has lived in that building for three years," then a very subtle, and cryptic smile appears on Miss Logan's face.

"Obviously, she had something to do with the gateway to hell," Wilferd said of Gardner's ominous character. "And that became more obvious as the film went on. She obviously knew more about the building than she had discussed at the leasing appointment."

Still, Miss Logan took Alison back to investigate, which would be the proper action for a Realtor, according to Wilferd. Naturally, when they opened the doors to see these alleged "neighbors," they found no one. But Alison's journey to the gates of hell had just begun.

About 40 minutes and 40 gory scenes later, Miss Logan reappears, this time to rent out another apartment to another unsuspecting party -- a young couple -- who listened to her usual sales pitch.

Right away, the audience is aware that Miss Logan is really an agent for a more supernatural-type agency.

"She enhanced the film's mood very much," Wilferd said of Gardner. "Without her presence, it wouldn't have the same feel or direct impact on the viewing audience.

"But if I had to show that particular apartment ... I wouldn't have had the same enthusiasm. In fact, religious symbols and gateways to hell are not really prominent in my work, so I probably wouldn't even be showing it, thank you."

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