Secret Beyond the Door (USA, 1947) 99 min B&W DIR-PROD: Fritz Lang. SCR: Silvia Richards. MUSIC: Miklos Rosza. DOP: Stanley Cortez. CAST: Joan Bennett, Michael Redgrave, Anne Revere, Barbara O’Neil, Natalie Schafer. (Olive Films)
One of director Fritz Lang’s least-seen, and least-liked, features, Secret Beyond the Door is his third teaming with actress Joan Bennett (shortly after their collaboration on the “sister” films Woman in the Window and Scarlet Street), in a psychological thriller that updates the Bluebeard tale with a dollop of Freud. Ms. Bennett portrays Celia Lamphere who marries an architect (Michael Redgrave) perhaps a little too prematurely, as she later discovers his dark past surrounding the suspicious death of his former wife, and a fascination with murder as he has several rooms modelled after locations of famous slayings. Celia is also curious about another room that always remains locked…
While this film isn’t logically flawed in its storytelling, it’s merely rather bland. Fritz Lang is given rather little to do, as most of the exposition is too talky. Interestingly enough though, the liberal use of Bennett’s voiceover is for once, employed properly, as it adds another layer to the story. (Usually voiceover is a lazy device, used to explain away things either too obvious, or used to avoid filming anything.) The movie however gets a boost from the gorgeous photography of Stanley Cortez, whose rich compositions add to the seeming fairy tale, dreamlike narrative.
“Auteur completists” will want to see it anyway. Thanks once again to Olive Films for releasing it to DVD, even if it is a bare bones edition. But on the other hand, this is such a minor work in Lang’s filmography, perhaps it’s just as well there are no bells and whistles.
Originally published in Vol. #1, Issue 25.
Greg Woods
Greg Woods has been a film enthusiast since his teens, and began his writing "career" at the same time- prolific in capsule reviews of everything he had watched, first on index cards, then those hardcover dollar store black journals, then an old Mac IIsi. He founded The Eclectic Screening Room in 2001, as a portal to share his film love with the world, and find some like-minded enthusiasts along the way. In addition to having worked in the film industry for over two decades, he has been a co-programmer of films at Trash Palace, and a programmer/co-founder of the Toronto Film Noir Syndicate. He has also written for Broken Pencil, CU-Confidential, Micro-Film, and is currently working on his first novel. His secret desire is for someone to interview him for a podcast or a DVD extra.