Secret beyond the door film

Taking its lead from classic era hollywoods keen interest with all things freudian, and doffing its cap towards a number of women in peril at home films of the 1940s, its a picture thats hardly original. The film stars michael redgrave, anne revere and joan bennett and was produced by her husband walter wanger. The film was a coproduction between the united states and italy. While the mother is fairly unusual in terms of gothic film it does not occur in rebecca 1940, gaslight 1940 and 1944, the spiral staircase 1945, or secret beyond the door 1947 other aspects connect grace to the genre. Unfortunately, the film doesnt live up to that promise.

The secret beyond the door 1947 melodrama research group. Even star joan bennett and director fritz lang regarded the secret beyond the door as the weakest of their collaborative efforts. Secret beyond the door is an english movie directed by fritz lang released in the year 1947. Langs film features several direct references to freud, and explores ideas of supressed memories and the effect of. Fritz lang, whose german expressionist movies helped create film noir, saw his disciple alfred hitchcock surge ahead of him in hollywood. Its a strangely engrossing dream sequence thats beautifully shot and seems to indicate that secret will be an illuminating psychological excursion. It deserves rediscovery, despite a production history that rivals the convoluted plot of this film, which was created by a cast and crew near. When fritz langs secret beyond the door 1948, starring joan bennett and michael redgrave, is seen on tcm in a beautiful, newly restored 35mm print from the ucla film and archive, the film s chilling effects and expressionistic style are undeniable. Like many popular hollywood womens melodramas, secret beyond the door begins with a plot twist.

After their wedding, celia becomes uncomfortably aware that marks mild distrust of women is. Title type runtime cut distributor date certificate. It stars joan bennett, michael redgrave, anne revere, barbara oneil and natalie schafer. Secret beyond the door 1 hr 39 min 1948 drama, film noir, mystery, thriller. This movie had joan bennett michael redgrave in the lead roles of the film. Secret beyond the door is directed by fritz lang and adapted to screenplay by silvia richards from a story by rufus king. Considering the year it was made, it is quite a perverse film. Secret beyond the door1947 on the fringes of film noir. With joan bennett, michael redgrave, anne revere, barbara oneil. Music is by miklos rozsa and cinematography by stanley cortez.

Despite the title, this film has nothing to do with beyond the door 1974 aka beyond the door, or shock 1977 aka beyond the door ii. The script by silvia richards ruby gentry owes a heavy debt to rebecca, down to the reserved tone and the nearly whispered narration of. Secret beyond the door ends with a minor headscratcher in that celia and mark have somehow found a way to now apparently be together happily ever after. Of all the exorcist ripoffs made right after the boxoffice success of the original, beyond the door is the most blatant. Belonging to a flurry of gothic romances in rebeccas wake, secret beyond the door may present a freudian funhouse of mirrors, rooms, corridors, keys and a rich complex of floral macguffins, yet for lang, the real objects are more frightening and resonant than any inherent symbolism. When lang tries to make the film an imitation of hitchcock, it falls spectacularly flat. Secret beyond the door 1947 fritz lang michael redgrave. Secret beyond the door 1947 film noir transgression into the cultural cinematic gutter. The secret beyond the door fritz lang, 1947, with joan bennett and richard redgrave was released at the height of the brief boom in what is styled by this website at least, as the paranoid woman film. Secret beyond the door was diana productions final film. However, theres one huge difference, one that makes the later film harder to. The plot follows a san francisco housewife who becomes demonically possessed in the midst of a pregnancy. So glad to see a clear copy of this film although the movie has its flaws, it holds your interest and joan bennetts clothes by travis banton are really something to.

The newlyweds have a blissful honeymoon until a harmless prank by celia locking mark out of her bedroom evokes a strange response from mark. This could be seen in the classic noirs of the period fritz langs scarlet street being one of the best examples as well as intriguing melodramas such as spellbound, experiment perilous and 1947s secret beyond the door. I believe secret beyond the door was redgraves first american hollywood film. Overall, secret beyond the door is an entertaining film i could certainly think of worse uses for my time but its a bit too uneven to feel. This movie had joan bennett michael redgrave in the lead roles of the film premise no data available. Celia cuts the bottom off a candle to make a wax print of marks secret key. She marries him instead and soon discovers some alarming details about the man.

Secret beyond the door letterboxd your life in film. Secret beyond the door film carries the diana productions label, a combo of walter wanger, fritz lang and joan bennett who have been responsible for several other diana thrillers. His mansion is filled with rooms where famous murders took place. Joan bennett, michael redgrave, anne revere, barbara oneil, natalie schafer. In a trip to mexico she meets an interesting man named mark lamphere michael redgrave. Assonitis and robert barrett, and starring juliet mills and richard johnson. Secret beyond the door is a 1948 film noir thriller directed by fritz lang, starring joan bennett and michael redgrave worldweary heiress celia barrett bennett impulsively marries a stranger, architect mark lamphere redgrave. Fritz lang acknowledged that hitchcocks rebecca was an inspiration. Secret beyond the door is a 1947 vehicle for director fritz lang. If not for fritz langs masterly direction and stanley cortezs stunning cinematography it would difficult to recommend secret beyond the door, a muddled and quite flawed film noir that is rescued from mediocrity by the talent behind and to a lesser extent, in front of the camera arriving at the tail end of hollywoods brief fascination with psychoanalysis, this is perhaps langs most. Secret beyond the door 1947 fritz lang, joan bennett. Secret beyond the door fritz lang, 1947, exposure, pg. When secret beyond the door is channeling its fairy talecum film noir tale, it is at its most charming. Langs films, probably because he skirted around the production code with such deftness, sometimes tend to deflate at the finish when commercial interests and code enforcement gain importance.

Secret beyond the door is a 1947 american film noir psychological thriller and a modern updating of the bluebeard fairytale, directed by fritz lang, produced by langs diana productions, and released by universal pictures. It stars joan bennett, whom lang also directed in scarlet street as celia and michael redgrave a mark. When epic productions acquired the distribution rights, they retitled the film beyond the door iii, to capitalize on the success of the original film. Secret beyond the door ventures into some astounding arenas even for lang, who was an expert in paranoia, both of the mind and otherwise. In these momentarily fashionable movies, female sobs glance from wall to wall, doors loom large, keys symbolise everything, and worst of all your husband wants to kill you. Secret beyond the door 1947 fritz lang, joan bennett, michael redgrave, anne revere, drama, film noir, mystery july 2, 2017 in this freudian version of the bluebeard tale, a young, trustfunded new yorker goes to mexico on vacation before marrying an old friend whom she considers a safe choice for a husband. The secret beyond the door 1948 with joan bennett director fritz lang duration. The film stars joan bennett and was produced by her husband walter wanger. Secret beyond the door year 1948 distributors general film dist ltd classified dates 23061948 submitted run time 98m 30s approved footage 8865 bbfc reference aff033121. The opening of the secret beyond the door promises a most unusual and intriguing cinematic experience.

Insofar as every fritz lang film you havent seen is an undiscovered country, secret beyond the door flies high over its seemingly anonymous. Celia joan bennett, a pretty new yorker is about to marry a man she doesnt love. Second sight films,general film dist ltd,exposure cinema. Assignment hollywood for michael redgrave handsome michael redgrave, one of englands top ranking box office favorites, is shown upon his arrival in hollywood for his american film debut opposite joan bennett in secret beyond the door, a diana production for universal. When a lovely woman and her new husband settle in an ancient mansion on the east coast, she discovers that he may want to kill her. In this freudian version of the bluebeard tale, a young, trustfunded new yorker goes to mexico on vacation before marrying an old friend whom she considers a safe choice for a husband. But since fritz lang directed secret beyond the door and his visual style makes up for the storys numerous shortcomings, i forgave a lot. She is a woman in peril, seemingly beset by ghostly intruders actually the new owners of the house against whom she. Elucidating her emotional states through an enchanting, noir voiceover, the charming, lonely celia is. Yet in spite of some weaknesses in the screenplay that. 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. While there are plenty of differences, there are enough similarities that you can assume the daphne du maurier was the starting point for the story from secret beyond the door. Firtz lang, walter wanger diana production company, walter wanger productions screenplay. All of the sensationalistic happenings of the first movie occur here head spinning, levitation, green pea vomit, foul language spoken in a demonic voice, but in beyond the door they occur not so much as a manifestation of demonic possession as they do because they.

Secret beyond the door is a 1947 american film noir psychological thriller and a modern updating of the bluebeard fairytale, directed by fritz. Secret beyond the door is very much in the divisive half of langs filmic output. Secret beyond the door british board of film classification. Cinematography stanley cortez film editor arthur hilton original music miklos rozsa written by silvia richards story by rufus king. So much in the last act was a work of art that by the. In 1953, bank of america foreclosed mortgages on ten independently produced pictures on which money was still owed, one of which was secret beyond the door. Secret beyond the door tends to use a barrage of red herrings and inexplicable complications to mask the precise direction of the plot which might still be a tad predictable for some, but at least one case has a elegant beauty to it. Read the full synopsis of secret beyond the door, 1948, directed by fritz lang, with joan bennett, michael redgrave, anne revere, at turner classic movies. Gothic themes of madness mixed with freudian psychoanalysis were particularly in vogue in. No film is more steeped in freudian wish fulfillment than this oddball thriller that has gone down in movie history as fritz langs biggest flop, and one of the biggest. Secret beyond the door is a 1947 american film noir psychological thriller and a modern updating of the bluebeard fairytale, directed by fritz lang.