Secret Beyond the Door [Blu-ray]

Director: Fritz Lang Fritz Lang

Overview

Even star Joan Bennett and director Fritz Lang regarded The Secret Beyond the Door as the weakest of their collaborative efforts. Bennett plays spoiled socialite Celia, who falls recklessly in love with the handsome but emotionally complex Mark Lamphere (Michael Redgrave, in his first American film). After their wedding, Celia becomes uncomfortably aware that Mark's mild distrust of women is actually a deep-set, and potentially dangerous, hatred. Even when facing the possibility that she'll be murdered in her sleep, Celia remains loyal to her unbalanced husband. The slowly mounting tension is enhanced by the mood-drenched cinematography of Stanley Cortez and the feverish musical score by Miklos Rozsa. But when it's all over, The Secret Beyond the Door fails to linger in the memory in the manner of such earlier Lang-Bennett efforts as The Woman in the Window and Scarlet Street.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/04/2012
UPC:	0887090046206
Original Release:	1948
Rating:	NR
Source:	Olive
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W]
Language:	English
Time:	1:39:00
Sales rank:	15,570

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Joan Bennett	Celia Lamphere
Michael Redgrave	Mark Lamphere
Anne Revere	Caroline Lamphere
Barbara O'Neil	Miss Robey
Natalie Schafer	Edith Potter
Paul Cavanagh	Rick Barrett
Anabel Shaw	Intellectual Sub-Deb
Rosa Rey	Paquita
James Seay	Bob Dwight
Mark Dennis	David
Virginia Brissac	Sarah
Houseley Stevenson	Andy
Marie Harmon	SubDeb
Kay Morley	SubDeb
Crane Whitley	Lavender Falls Couple
Virginia Farmer	Lavender Falls Couple
Lucio Villegas	Priest
Eddy Waller	Lem
Paul Fierro	Fighter
Julian Rivero	Proprietor
Paul Scardon	Owl Eyes
Danny Duncan	Ferret-Faced Man
Frank Dae	Country Squire
Pedro Regas	Waiter
Donna Martell	Young Mexican Girl
David Cota	Knife Fighter
Tom Chatterton	Judge
Ralph Littlefield	Gothic Man
Nolan Leary	Station Agent
Wayne Treadway	Beefy Man
Watson Downs	Conductor
Jesse Graves	Porter
Donald Kerr	Ticket Man
Robert Espinosa	Altar Boy
Robert Barber	Altar Boy
Tony Rodriguez	Altar Boy
Peggy Remington	Dean of Women
Harry Denny	College President
Miklós Rózsa	Composer

Technical Credits

Silvia Richards

Fritz Lang	Producer,Director
Silvia Richards	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

The opening of The Secret Beyond the Door promises a most unusual and intriguing cinematic experience. It's a strangely engrossing dream sequence that's beautifully shot and seems to indicate that Secret will be an illuminating psychological excursion. Unfortunately, the film doesn't live up to that promise; while director Fritz Lang and cinematographer Stanley Cortez continue to present a film that is visually stunning, the weak, contrived, and unresolved screenplay keeps the film from being the special creation that it could have been. The script's biggest flaws are, unfortunately, considerable: there are too many echoes of Rebecca and Suspicion, it doesn't make credible the heroine's devotion to her husband and decision to stay with him even at the risk of her own life, the husband's failings are not all explained away by the explanation of his psychological problems, and the pop psychology used herein is dated and laughable. The writing does have some saving graces, including some good dialogue interchanges and several supporting characters who are nicely drawn. While these don't outweigh the flaws, Lang, Cortez, and such other assets as the cast and Miklos Rozsa's atmospheric score do. Michael Redgrave is very convincing as the husband, and Joan Bennett works so hard to make up for the shortcomings in her character's execution that one is willing to forgive the film a great deal. Bennett is impressive throughout, taking full advantage of the "big emotion" scenes in the latter part of the film; but pay special attention to her quieter work, especially in the beginning. The erotic charge she feels during the street fight scene and the way in which she works with Redgrave prior to their wedding deserve note. If Secret disappoints, it still has much in it worth recommending.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler