Main Cast: Joan Bennett, Michael Redgrave, Anne Revere, Barbara O'Neil, Natalie Schafer
Release Year: 1948
Country: US
Run Time: 99 minutes
Plot
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. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
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. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Anabel Shaw - Intellectual Sub-Deb; Rosa Rey - Paquita; James Seay - Bob Dwight; Mark Dennis - David; Virginia Brissac - Sarah; Paul Cavanagh - Rick Barrett; Tom Chatterton - Judge; David Cota - Knife Fighter; Frank Dae - Country Squire; Danny Duncan - Ferret-Faced Man; Virginia Farmer - Lavender Falls Couple; Paul Fierro - Fighter; Jesse Graves - Porter; Donald Kerr - Ticket Man; Nolan Leary - Station Agent; Donna Martell - Young Mexican Girl; Kay Morley - Sub-Debs; Pedro Regas - Waiter; Julian Rivero - Proprietor; Paul Scardon - Owl Eyes; Houseley Stevenson, Sr. - Andy; Lucio Villegas - Priest; Eddy Waller - Lem; Crane Whitley; Marie Harmon; Ralph Littlefield - Gothic Man; Harry Denny - College President; Watson Downs - Conductor; Robert Espinosa; Peggy Remington - Dean of Women; Wayne Treadway - Beefy Man
Credit
Fritz Lang - Director, Arthur D. Hilton - Editor, Miklos Rozsa - Composer (Music Score), Max Parker - Production Designer, Stanley Cortez - Cinematographer, Fritz Lang - Producer, John P. Austin - Set Designer, Russell A. Gausman - Set Designer, Silvia Richards - Screenwriter, Rufus King - Short Story Author
