Secret Beyond the Door

[Hibi]

Sorry for the double post, but does anyone see Secret Beyond the Door on their cable schedule for midnight tonight? (FRI). It's on my cable schedule but I notice there's nothing listed for midnight on the TCM schedule. Wonder if it wasn't set to air when the schedule was made. I'm hoping it's true as I've never seen this Lang film (rarely shown on TCM) and the last with Joan Bennett and Diana Productions.

[ziggy6708a]

Sorry for the double post, but does anyone see Secret Beyond the Door on their cable schedule for midnight tonight? (FRI). It's on my cable schedule but I notice there's nothing listed for midnight on the TCM schedule. Wonder if it wasn't set to air when the schedule was made. I'm hoping it's true as I've never seen this Lang film (rarely shown on TCM) and the last with Joan Bennett and Diana Productions.

Yup.......I see it on my DTV schedule

[jamesjazzguitar]

Sorry for the double post, but does anyone see Secret Beyond the Door on their cable schedule for midnight tonight? (FRI). It's on my cable schedule but I notice there's nothing listed for midnight on the TCM schedule. Wonder if it wasn't set to air when the schedule was made. I'm hoping it's true as I've never seen this Lang film (rarely shown on TCM) and the last with Joan Bennett and Diana Productions.

SBTW is listed on my Cox cable schedule for TCM at 9:00 PST. Prime-time for me here on the west coast so I'll be watching.

Well done Universal film and I away look forward to Joan Bennett.

[ziggy6708a]

[Bronxgirl48]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around this one, because I'm a fan of Fritz Lang and Joan Bennett.

Was it intended to be tongue in cheek? I mean, Joan constantly popping her eyes out as she confronts the (slowly) evolving weirdness, was just annoying to me! She has always been a wonderfully subtle actress in the other Langs -- MAN HUNT, THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW and SCARLET STREET, so I'm guessing this performance was deliberately a bit overdone, including her narration. Grievous waste of Barbara O'Neil.

Those last thirty minutes or so were quite a trip, lol.

[Dargo]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around this one, because I'm a fan of Fritz Lang and Joan Bennett.

Those last thirty minutes or so were quite a trip, lol.

A fine critic who used to post here as JackFavell had a most interesting take on SECRET BEYOND THE DOOR. Apparently that discussion was on the late lamented TCM site rather than here as I had remembered. Her view of the film was as follows:

SPOILER ALERT:

She suggested that everything after Joan Bennett screams when she sees a man in the mist is Redgrave's dream, hallucination, or justification. If you recall, the next scene after the scream is where Redgrave puts himself on trial. JF proposed that the rest of the film is how Redgrave would like things to have been, instead of the reality of his having killed Joan after she screamed.

I don't know that I agree, but it does make a certain kind of sense.

Actually KR, I think that DOES make a lot of sense here.

Well, I think it at least makes as much sense as Joan then going into room-7 and setting the stage for either her own murder by Redgrave OR her helping him to go through some kind of last second cathartic breakthrough like he did in this flick.

(...and where I think this story REALLY went off the rails even more than it already had)

[Andree]

I saw SBTD a couple of years ago on YT. One of those variations on Bluebeard with a bit of Rebecca and
Suspicion thrown in. I found Redgrave to be a rather dull nut case as nut cases go. His collection of
murder rooms was somewhat creepy, but other than that he's just downright odd. Yes, I publish my own little
architectural magazine. Why, how exciting! And the his sister and son aren't exactly welcoming presences. And
when you've got a movie psycho, you expect them to be a movie psycho all the way, but then after years of
mental problems, Joan manages to cure him in a minute or two with her own homegrown therapy. Not very
believable but it does lead to that good ol' Hollywood happy ending. As Martin Balsam said in Psycho in
regard to something else, this flick just doesn't jell.

[Hibi]

What a strange film! This was my first viewing. Before it went off the rails at the end I liked the strangeness of it (Helped by Joan's florid narration. Lots of good dialog in the film) I can see why the film flopped at the time. It was just too out there. Joan looked beautiful in Travis Banton's costumes. But I agree Redgrave was miscast. Someone like Claude Rains would've been better. I recorded it to watch at another time. as there was so much going on in the film. I agree about Cortez' photography.

[Hibi]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around this one, because I'm a fan of Fritz Lang and Joan Bennett.

Was it intended to be tongue in cheek? I mean, Joan constantly popping her eyes out as she confronts the (slowly) evolving weirdness, was just annoying to me! She has always been a wonderfully subtle actress in the other Langs -- MAN HUNT, THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW and SCARLET STREET, so I'm guessing this performance was deliberately a bit overdone, including her narration. Grievous waste of Barbara O'Neil.

Those last thirty minutes or so were quite a trip, lol.

Me too! What a strange film! I can see why the film flopped, but I was entertained!

[Hibi]

I saw SBTD a couple of years ago on YT. One of those variations on Bluebeard with a bit of Rebecca and
Suspicion thrown in. I found Redgrave to be a rather dull nut case as nut cases go. His collection of
murder rooms was somewhat creepy, but other than that he's just downright odd. Yes, I publish my own little
architectural magazine. Why, how exciting! And the his sister and son aren't exactly welcoming presences. And
when you've got a movie psycho, you expect them to be a movie psycho all the way, but then after years of
mental problems, Joan manages to cure him in a minute or two with her own homegrown therapy. Not very
believable but it does lead to that good ol' Hollywood happy ending. As Martin Balsam said in Psycho in
regard to something else, this flick just doesn't jell.

While we're on the subject, don't forget Fear tonight!

[Andree]

While we're on the subject, don't forget Fear tonight!

Thanks for the reminder. I did see one brief promo last week. I usually check the night's schedule beforehand
to see it there are ID shows I want to see or ID shows I want to avoid. And Nancy Grace is back and ID has her. Yuck.
Most movies have some good moments, but I think audiences were right back in 1948 in their lack of enthusiasm
for SBTD.

[Hibi]

While we're on the subject, don't forget Fear tonight!

Thanks for the reminder. I did see one brief promo last week. I usually check the night's schedule beforehand
to see it there are ID shows I want to see or ID shows I want to avoid. And Nancy Grace is back and ID has her. Yuck.

Yeah, I saw the Nancy Grace promos! Thankfully it's on late at night. I won't be watching! Who wants to watch her take on headline cases???

Most movies have some good moments, but I think audiences were right back in 1948 in their lack of enthusiasm
for SBTD.

A weird movie that's for sure!

[Bronxgirl48]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around this one, because I'm a fan of Fritz Lang and Joan Bennett.

Those last thirty minutes or so were quite a trip, lol.

A fine critic who used to post here as JackFavell had a most interesting take on SECRET BEYOND THE DOOR. Apparently that discussion was on the late lamented TCM site rather than here as I had remembered. Her view of the film was as follows:

SPOILER ALERT:

She suggested that everything after Joan Bennett screams when she sees a man in the mist is Redgrave's dream, hallucination, or justification. If you recall, the next scene after the scream is where Redgrave puts himself on trial. JF proposed that the rest of the film is how Redgrave would like things to have been, instead of the reality of his having killed Joan after she screamed.

I don't know that I agree, but it does make a certain kind of sense.

Thanks, kingrat --- wow, Wendy might have been on to something!