MovieChat Forums > Secret Beyond the Door... (1948) Discussion > 'An Unquailified Disaster'

'An Unquailified Disaster'

posted 14 years ago by Sproketer
4 replies | jump to latest

As Joan Bennett was supposed to have said, this was a bit of a disaster. I really wanted to let the film's mood, the crisp black and white photography, and Joan Bennett's beauty take over the lack of chemistry between the co-stars and the unbelievability of the story, but it could not overcome the lack of a satisfying conclusion. There were moments I liked, but the thought voiceovers were way overused and a bit silly. Also, it was terribly hard to believe Redgrave's character would recreate rooms (in a poorly designed way by the production designers) as he did and not be thought totally out of his mind and treated as such.

[–] franzkabuki 14 years ago

The idea of such rooms in itself is intriguing and could have been put to a much better use, but only as something the guy building them does not publicly present or advertise. The way he prowled around, introducing them and talking crazy about the related murders was just stupid. On the other hand, the scene when Bennett first ventured to the "secret" room at night, was one of the most impressive scenes in the film. There was something supremely creepy about the lamps burning there bedside although no one had visited it for a long time.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] Falconeer 10 years ago

i have to agree, this film is a boring mess. I figured out the climactic scene about 40 minutes into the film. Joan Bennett was a gorgeous woman, but she wasn't much of an actress.

"IMdB; where 14 year olds can act like jaded 40 year old critics...'

[–] waldenpond88 8 years ago

I hated the filming locations. It was all done in the studio. Especially bad are the South America scenes in the beginning (you can tell right away this was shot on stage).
It got a little better once Joan Bennett goes to upstate New York. But I was waiting in vain for some outdoor scenes. Very stylish, but also very artificial due to a lack of real filming locations.

I watched this twice, because I'm a fan of Bennett and Redgrave, but both made much better films like "The Reckless Moment"/"The Woman in the Window" or "Dead of Night"/"The Lady Vanishes".

It's very obviously a version of "Bluebeard".

[–] Jes' Sayin' (6444) a year ago

Mexico rather than South America