SECRET BEYOND THE DOOR, THE (director: Fritz Lang; screenwriters: from a story by Rufus King/Silvia Richards; cinematographer: Stanley Cortez; editor: Arthur D. Hilton; cast: Joan Bennett (Celia Lamphere), Michael Redgrave (Mark Lamphere), Anne Revere (Caroline Lamphere), Barbara O'Neil (Miss Robey), Natalie Schafer (Edith Potter), James Seay (Bob Dwight), Mark Dennis (David), Paul Cavanagh (Rick Barrett); Runtime: 99; Universal; 1948)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
The premise of this thriller might be good, but even a great director like Fritz Lang and a superb cast consisting of Joan Bennett and Michael Redgrave can't save this film from its sophomoric use of Freud to give the film's conclusion a pat psychological response to a serious mental disorder presented. The psychology was never convincing, the only thing convincing about this silly film noir is the moody Gothic atmosphere it captured.
Celia (Bennett) and her much older brother Rick Barrett (Cavanagh), are very close. The young socialite relied on him for sound advice on life and in business investments. His sudden death leaves her crushed, but the young family lawyer, Bob Dwight, ably handles the business affairs of the family trust fund she inherits while also falling in love with her. But she has no romantic feelings for the nice guy lawyer.
Vacationing in Mexico, she falls madly in love with an architect, Mark Lamphere (Redgrave), she knows very little about. She has feelings even on her wedding day that there's danger in this marriage. But she puts those cloudy thoughts out of her mind by thinking "this is not the time to think of danger."
Soon she catches her hubby in lies and finds him mistrustful of women, she also learns from her lawyer that he's broke and his home is heavily mortgaged; that he's scraping by only on a magazine he runs. When she joins him in his suburban estate outside of NYC, she's stunned to learn from his sister that he was married before and that his wife died. There's also an unsettling teenager, David, who accuses his father of murdering his mother.
Mark is not only weird in his views on women, but he compulsively collects original rooms in which historical murders have occurred. He reasons that murder fascinates him because it is a stronger emotion than love.
For some unfathomable reason, which in this film is called a reckless love, Celia remains loyal to her possibly murderous husband. She chooses to stay with him even when she unlocks the secret room he keeps locked from everyone and realizes he might have another room prepared for her immortality. For some reason, she thinks she can unlock his mind like she did the room as she learns that he never forgave his mother for supposedly locking him in his room when he was ten.
If Lang was not the director, this film could have been a real stinker. But he evokes as much suspense as you can out of such nonsense, and the visual images by the great cinematographer Stanley Cortez are truly remarkable. The film is worth seeing only for those reasons. But even Lang himself thought this was a poor film, and he'll get no argument from me on that score.
REVIEWED ON 9/15/2001 GRADE: C -
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ
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