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21 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
Psychiatry was the essence of Lang's thriller..., 5 December 2004
Author: ironside (robertfrangie@hotmail.com) from Mexico

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Psychiatry, plus a suggestion of the Bluebeard legend, plus a lot of Gothic glooms, was the essence of Fritz Lang's thriller…

The situation is the familiar one of the girl who falls in love and marries a millionaire about whom she knows little, and finds that the home to which he takes her is one of those gloomy mansions which seem to have been built for the mysterious shadows they throw…

She meets there three people whose existence she had not suspected: her husband's sister, who has been running things and wants to carry on (does anyone remember Judith Anderson's Mrs. Danvers in 'Rebecca'?); his secretary, who had hoped to marry him, and always wears a scarf round her face to hide scars from a fire; and his rather hostile son, who had no more been mentioned than the fact of a previous marriage…

The moody husband (with a death fixation…) has a 'collection' of reconstructions of rooms in which murders have been committed… We visit them all except one: this is kept hurtfully locked…

Is this the room of the first wife, and did her husband murder her? Well, although he too has a guilt complex, he did not kill her. Not loving her, he wished her dead – and blames himself… To get this across, Lang stages an imaginary trial, with the husband as both accuser and accused… We end up, many shadows later, with Redgrave and Bennett having a showdown in the locked room…

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17 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
An above average offering from the great Fritz Lang, 20 December 2004
8/10
Author: The_Void from Beverley Hills, England

The Secret Beyond the Door is Fritz Lang's melodramatic suspense tale that seems to have taken more than it's fair share of influence from Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca. Before the story even starts, we're waiting to find out one thing - what's the secret? This somewhat puts the movie on the back foot from the start, as all that we see is build up to the big finale, which basically means that the pay off has to be pretty good otherwise the whole film will fall apart. The final twist, in fact, doesn't really do the build up justice; but it's not absolutely terrible, and I would still rate this film as at least 'good', but just don't tune in expecting anything brilliant. This is certainly no 'M', for example. The plot follows a young woman that goes on holiday and meets a charming middle-aged man. The two later get married and she accompanies him back to his house where she meets his son, and finds his collection of rooms, one of which is kept locked up. What is the secret beyond the door...?

Fritz Lang's bleak cinematography and haunting use of music help to create the atmosphere that a story of this nature needs in order to work effectively. The focus on the door helps to create the tension as to what the secret is throughout the movie, and Fritz Lang seems keen to capitalise on that as we see Joan Bennett's narration change from how she feels personally to driving herself crazy as she tries to decipher what's behind the door. The characters in the story are interesting, and they need to be as this film is mostly character based. We follow Celia Lamphere, and we are given her thoughts by way of the aforementioned narration. Narration is often found in scripts that have been written by people that don't know how to write good scripts. However, in this case it actually helps the film to move along. In order for the story to work, we need to know what the character is feeling, so in this case narration is helpful to the story.

As I've mentioned, the ending isn't all that good, but the suspense builds nicely and there's much to like about this film. If you're new to Fritz Lang, though, I certainly recommend the classics 'M' and 'Metropolis' before this, and also from his American films; 'Fury', 'Scarlet Street', 'Beyond a Reasonable Doubt' and 'While the City Sleeps' get my thumbs up.

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17 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
Lovely Hollywood mystery fluff for rainy days!, 19 August 2002
Author: Xanadu-2

I enjoyed it much more the second time around. At first it was far too unbelievable. It hardly made any sense then and I never felt I cared what happened. I bought the video because of Joan Bennett and Fritz Lang making another film noir. Now when i saw it, I loved it and just sat back enjoyed all the hokus-pokus fluff that is delivered quite seriously. It´s supposed to be like "Rebecca" and that´s why I didn´t like it the first time. Too many plot holes! There´s even an exotic ms. Danvers type around with a veil...Too much!

Why would Joan marry and stay with someone so utterly stiff and charmless as Michael Redgrave?? The male lead should have been given to someone more mysterious and attractive. They were hoping for a new Laurence Olivier...

Joan is a treat as always. I love how she comes across as a spoiled debutante who can hardly care to utter her lines with any conviction. She´s a good actress -just a bit too laid back at times. I love her, she is so stunningly beautiful and cool in her Hollywood wardrobes.

I love the whole atmosphere of the movie. It´s slow at first and then from the honeymoon in Mexico and forward so mysterious! I love her bedroom with the tapestry! The thing with the room-collecting was quite farfetched but fun. Who would REALLY aquire complete scenes of murders at home???? I´m going to see it again soon and learn some lines. They don´t make them like they used to!

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17 out of 25 people found the following comment useful :-
Staggering and sublime., 8 November 2000
10/10
Author: Alice Liddel (-darragh@excite.com) from dublin, ireland

This has been variously called campy, kitsch, rubbish; I think that, along with 'Rancho Notorious', it is Lang's greatest American film (and therefore A great American film). In a decade of male-dominated film noir, Celia Lamphere (loaded name), like the second Mrs. de Winter and Dr. Constance Peterson, must play detective to save her relationship and her life.

Lang uses the trappings of psychoanalysis throughout, promising enlightenment and healing - a large narrative gap, as Mark chases Celia, puts paid to that: this is a pessimistic anti-Freudian film.

It is also one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen - its atmosphere of dream, its cunning use of architecture and space, its complex sexuality, its trance-like narration, its ellipses, angles and shadows, remind me variously of L'Herbier, Dreyer, Resnais, Antonioni, Molly's soliloquy in Strick's 'Ulysses', Perec's 'the Man who Sleeps'. It is a rare Hollywood art-movie, and there's nothing like it.

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10 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Lovely Bennett in a Memorable Thriller, 7 April 2005
10/10
Author: roxyroxy

"Secret Beyond the Door" is a memorable thriller from Hollywood's Golden Age. Joan Bennett is lovely and stylishly groomed in this shocker about a woman whose husband collects rooms where famous murders have occurred. One of the doors of those rooms always remains locked. Can you guess whose room it is? Bennett is enjoyable as the terrified wife and Michael Redgrave gives a good performance as the tormented husband. Anne Revere gives a realistic performance as his somewhat dominating sister. The eerie music is a big plus and the splendid cinematography adds just the right touch to the suspense. I would recommend this film for those who like a mystery with a forties flavor to it.

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8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Psychologically yours, 3 April 2007
9/10
Author: Petri Pelkonen (petri_pelkonen@hotmail.com) from Finland

Fritz Lang's Secret Beyond the Door... (1948) is a movie with a Freudian plot.Celia (Joan Bennett), a pretty New Yorker is about to marry a man she doesn't love.In a trip to Mexico she meets an interesting man named Mark Lamphere (Michael Redgrave).She marries him instead and soon discovers some alarming details about the man.His mansion is filled with rooms where famous murders took place.One of those rooms is always locked, and Celia must find out what is behind that door.This is a fascinating movie that has been done in a Film-Noir style.Joan Bennett is a perfect lady in the lead.Redgrave's performance as the troubled man is excellent.There are also talents such as Anne Revere, Barbara O'Neil, Natalie Schafer and Anabel Shaw.This is a fine movie for the old movie lovers, whether or not you're into psychology.It's a thrilling tale that will keep you nailed to your seats.And the plot thickens in the end.

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8 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
A secret better left unrevealed..., 30 November 2004
6/10
Author: Coventry from the Draconian Swamp of Unholy Souls

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This 1948 film-noir has one big advantage…and one slight disadvantage. The advantage is that it was directed by Fritz Lang. And everyone only mildly interested in cinema knows that this man was responsible for some of the most mesmerizing milestones of early cinema. 'M', 'Metropolis' or 'Dr. Mabuse' are titles that can easily be considered masterpieces and I'm sure that I'm not the only person who watched 'Secret Beyond the Door' mostly because Lang directed it. The disadvantage is that….it was directed by Fritz Lang! For all the above stated reasons, you automatically have high expectations and this film – even though an intelligent and professionally elaborated movie – simply can't redeem them. * * * spoilers * * * After the sudden death of her beloved brother, Celia (Joan Bennett) goes on a vacation to Mexico where she falls head over heels in love with the handsome Mark (Michael Redgrave). Without giving it much consideration, the couple gets married. Shortly after, Mark becomes rude, more distant and sometimes even disrespectful towards Celia. When Mark all of sudden has to leave for business matters, Celia even discovers an entire past of Mark. He was married before, has a son and keeps several secrets for everyone! The most intriguing one is a forbidden room in his mansion… * * * end spoilers * * *

'Secret beyond the Door' has a great basic plot and that's not coincidentally because it's a variation on the magnificent 'Bluebeard' tale. Unfortunately, the film is a bit long; it suffers from too many tedious parts and there's little excitement at first. Also, even though she sounds gorgeous, Bennett's voice-over is a bit annoying from time to time. The final half hour is very compelling and loaded with atmosphere and tension. Lang works his way up to a terrific finale but the actual 'secret' is very very disappointing! That's really too bad because the story deserved a more credible climax. That's why I initially mentioned that maybe the secret was better left unrevealed. But enough with the negative aspects! The film, with its stylish photography, is beautiful to look at and the acting is nearly perfect. Joan Bennett gives away a touching performance as the insecure, but devoted Celia. Lang's directing is solid as always and lifts the entire production up to a higher level. I picked up somewhere that Lang himself didn't like how 'Secret beyond the Door' looked. This only shows he was a remarkable director…Even when he doesn't fully support what he's making, he still delivers a quality product.

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9 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Pretty bad, but I loved it!, 7 June 1999
Author: John Mankin (mankin@rff.org)

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"Secret Beyond the Door" (1948: **1/2 out of ****) is the sort of absurd, high-flying forties "kitsch" that I find irresistible. In it, heiress Joan Bennett marries architect Michael Redgrave after a whirlwind courtship in Mexico, then discovers a whole passel of Freudian hang-ups in his closet. Most of them spring from the day his mother locked him in his room when he was ten (or did she?). Fritz Lang gives it the works: distinctive, shadowy camerawork by the great Stanley Cortez ("Night of the Hunter"), the frenzied romanticism of a Miklos Rozsa score, thunder and lightning flashes, swirling mists, stream-of consciousness voice-overs, etc. An enjoyable bad movie, almost as surreal in its way as "Last Year at Marienbad", but much livelier. My head says, "this is ridiculous," but my heart says "all right!"

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
A distractingly-derivative story tarnishes an otherwise entertaining Fritz Lang psychological thriller, 5 March 2008
7/10
Author: ackstasis from Australia

Fritz Lang's creepy and atmospheric psychological thriller, 'Secret Beyond the Door (1948),' faces just one major obstacle that prevents it from being a completely satisfying film experience: the story is quite obviously derived from Hitchcock's 'Rebecca (1940),' which happens to be a superior film in almost every regard. This is not to question the talents or originality of Lang, since, of course, he was already an established director before Hitchcock ever got his break, but you can just tell how much this particular work was influenced by the Master of Suspense. Borrowing elements from the then-prevalent film noir movement, and adding shades of post-marriage paranoia from the likes of 'Rebecca' and Cukor's 'Gaslight (1944),' Lang also mixes in snippets of Freudian psychoanalysis, not unlike what I witnessed last week in Hitchcock's own 'Spellbound (1945).' The final product is not without its charm, and contains various moments of precisely-articulated suspense, but you can never overcome that niggling feeling that you've seen it all done better.

Joan Bennett plays Celia, a young lady who acquires a large amount of money after her brother's death and decides to take a holiday. It is here that she meets Mark Lamphere (Michael Redgrave), a mysterious and charming gentleman who excites in Celia intense suppressed feelings of rebellion and exhilaration. Following their marriage, a hastily-decided proposition that can only lead to trouble, Celia immediately begins to notice peculiarities in her new husband, and, after her arrival at Mark's extravagant residence, she finds the dwelling haunted by the shadow of his previous wife. Mark, it seems, houses an unhealthy preoccupation with murder, and has made a hobby out of collecting entire rooms in which unspeakable atrocities of passion were committed. But what of the one room that is kept securely locked, never to be opened by anyone? Celia concludes that the secret to unlocking the inner depths of her husband's disturbed mind lies within that single room, beyond the forbidden door. Though Silvia Richards' screenplay, from a story by Rufus King, often seems too incredible to take seriously, Lang's film remains an interesting achievement, and is nothing if not entertaining.

I found the promotional material for 'Secret Beyond the Door' to be grossly misleading. The image of Joan Bennett standing before a significantly-distorted door prompted me to expect a film of extreme German Expressionism, in the same vein as 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920).' Fritz Lang, who developed his career in Germany during the 1920s, and having often used elements of the style, would presumably have been very adept at recreating the devilishly-twisted labyrinths of the human mind, but the only scene to even approach my stylistic expectations was the appropriately ambiguous and shadowy dream sequence, in which Michael Redgrave both prosecutes and defends his malevolent tendencies in court {this particular scene may even have influenced Hitchcock's heavily-stylised courtroom trial in 'Dial M for Murder (1954)}. The remainder of the film has the appearance of a typical 1940s film noir, with suitably shadowy cinematography by Stanley Cortez, supplemented by a voice-over by Joan Bennett. Also note the similarity between the character of Miss Robey (Barbara O'Neil) and Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) from 'Rebecca,' most particularly in their respective final actions in each picture.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Haunting, oh-so-Freudian Lang film is quite excellent...once you see it you'll never forget it..., 1 March 2008
9/10
Author: Jem Odewahn from Australia

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This film has often been unfairly branded as the weakest of the Joan Bennett-Fritz Lang collaborations. It's not. While I loved SCARLET STREET, I may have even enjoyed this film even more. Even if it does share many of the plot elements to films such as REBECCA, Lang's film actually feels very original in both look and concerns, and it's one of the most Freudian-laden (though in a good way- it escapes much of the psychobabble that dogs SPELLBOUND)films of the 1940's.

The film follows Celia (Joan Bennett), a spoiled heiress who takes a last-fling holiday to Mexico before she marries her dull, yet good-natured and secure fiancé. We soon learn that Celia, a rather expressionless and laconic beauty (Bennett's special persona, the lazy beauty, was rarely used so well) on the outside has many emotions running under the surface after she witnesses the thrill of a knife-night. She tells us in voice-over (as she will for most of the film) of her hidden excitement. Mysterious, seductive architect Mark Lamphere (Michael Redgrave)notices this too, and is quickly drawn to Bennett.

After a whirlwind courtship they marry, yet not long after the wedding Redgrave begins acting strangely. He takes Bennett back to his huge Gothic mansion (a superb piece of set design) and a house full of strangers, namely his helpful yet controlling sister Caroline (Ann Revere), his very strange house-keeper Miss Robey (Barbara O'Neil, evoking memories of Judith Anderson in REBECCA) and his unsettling son, David. Celia is at a loss to figure out her husband's strange bursts of temper, his aversion to lilacs, his reasons (or lack of) for not telling her of his first marriage (that produced the son, who blames his father for his mother's death)and his 'felicitous' rooms, which turn out to be grisly, unnerving reconstructions of rooms where women have met their death. All this mystery leads up to the final, "unfinished" seventh room, which Redgrave won't show his wife or guests. Celia decides that she must find out the "secret beyond the door" in the seventh room of she has any chance to unlock the secret to Mark's neuroses. She sees what is in the room, and becomes convinced that Mark intends to kill her.

As you can see, it's a very "different" film, yet so atmospheric that it's almost impossible to look away from it. The film uses every Freudian trick in the book, what with the obsession with doors (unlocking the secrets of the subconscious), dreams (Bennett dreams of daffodils instead of boats, supposedly an ominous sign), mirrors, the number seven (presumed to have some sort of mystical importance, with other Freudian-heavy 40's films such as the British productions MADONNA OF THE SEVEN MOONS and THE SEVENTH VEIL using the number in their title), Redgrave's neuroses and unhealthy attitude towards women, particularly his dead mother (a bit of an Oedipus complex I believe), his controlling sister, his dead first wife- whom he didn't love- and the housekeeper who has a strange hold over him (culminating in a revealing mock-trial scene taking place in Redgrave's mind, where he reveals his love for Bennet yet also his urge to kill her), and Celia's acceptance of death at the hands of her husband (she would rather he kill her than live a life without him). Quite a Love-Death trajectory, isn't it?

However, despite the film's reliance on the audience's belief in Freudian theories to make the events plausible, Lang also aims an arrow at those who purvey psychoanalytic theory as the "cure" for everything. An annoying woman at the Lamphere's party (where Mark reveals his rooms) superciliously announces that all these murders that Mark has patterned his rooms after could have been prevented if the murderer had simply undergone a bit of psychoanalysis. Indeed. And Bennet tries to psychoanalyze her husband just as he is walking towards her, hands outstretched, ready to strangle her....

The acting is generally pretty good (Redgrave suggests his character's neuroses quite nicely), yet the real winner in this film is the directing and the cinematography. Stanley Cortez, who would go all out in beautiful weirdness in the stunning, nightmarish NIGHT OF THE HUNTER seven years later, makes this an eerie dream of a film with his cinematography. The scene of Bennett running through the ghostly night fog is haunting. I have a feeling that this film was cut towards the end- the final 15 minutes seem jarringly paced, and there are precious few solutions given to the fascinating questions posed earlier on in the piece- yet (dare I say it?), as with THE LADY OF SHANGHAI, it's cuts enhance the film's noir atmosphere, the sense of a world out of control, where events are non-sequential and not everyone's true motivations are fully revealed.

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