Secret Beyond the Door...

Lang's direction is much better than the script.

Would have scored higher if it weren't for the final 15 minutes, and in particular the awful final scene. It really gets dragged down with some ludicrous plot twists, which was unfortunate, because until then it was a solid psychological thriller. There's a heavy, foreboding atmosphere, almost like a gothic horror, and Lang's cinematography combined with Bennett's narration give the thing a strange, dreamlike quality. Worth a watch, but a shame about the ending.

Not terribly original, slow to get going, and character motivations are often questionable. Despite all this, it's one of Lang's finest films, thanks to an incredibly rich atmosphere. The cinematography is breathtaking, thick with shadows and contrast and gorgeous images. The score is a little heavy at times, but perfectly suits the mood of dark mystery and twisted romance. Redgrave and Bennett are terrific, and the voiceover is poetic. The third act is haunting, with an amazing climax.

I was scared to death by this gothic tale. Again, without the whole hays code thing, these movies could have been brilliant. Initially lacking a bit in both ends, but some of the scenes are terrific 40's gothic entertainment.

The cinematography is terrific, it really transmits the appropriate sense of dread in all the right scenes with great use of shadows and angles. The story is more psychological horror than noir but whatever you call it. it's captivating, which is what really counts. I wish the ending had less psychobabble but otherwise a great time.

Great direction with some expressionistic touches by Lang lifts this up. But like so many of these 40s psychological crime drama it relies too heavily on pseudo-Freudian psychobabble to explain its character motivations. Redgrave was very miscast. The movie has an extra layer when one consider Lang's personal history about his first wife's dubious suicide.

A misfire, but the combination of Lang's atmospheric cinematography and pseudo-Freudianism (especially when the rooms appear) makes this one of the strangest Hollywood films I've seen in a while. How fitting is it that Joan Bennett starred in Dario Argento's Suspiria in the 70s; watching this it felt like a proto-Giallo that fed the imaginations of Italian genre directors.

This is bad. Really underdeveloped script without any sense of pacing (feelings and attitudes swing so quickly from scene to scene). The score is overbearing to the point of comical. Redgrave has no idea what he is doing.

On the bright side, this flick clips along at a very easy pace and features some of Lang's best direction and photography. Bennett and Redgrave are fine, as is the support cast! Unfortunately the story seems to be a mish-mash of early 40's Hitchcock -- most notably Rebecca, Suspicion and Shadow of a Doubt. That aside, one can argue that this is required Film Noir viewing. Give it a go.

"But you don't always see what everyone else is seeing." http://illusionpodcast.blogspot.com/2015/06/episode-63-films-noir-of-fritz-lang.html

Rather boring.

The final third should have had more meaningful substance.

Shining example of how a director can elevate trite material.

Solid but fairly familiar (outside a few tiny things) noir. Some of the characters, especially the kid, seem totally extraneous. It all ties up a little neatly at the end and some of the twists, such as they are, don't really have a ton of foundation. It's a good enough watch, though.

Artistically enticing from Fritz Lang, but doesn't quite reach the emotional heights of Rebecca (1940) like he was attempting with this psychological twist to the Bluebeard story. Feels a bit stagy in the key scenes, even if the stripped down visuals does make for a nice effect. But of course Joan Bennett is the main reason to appreciate the Secret Beyond the Door... (1947), but I wonder how the American audiences took to British star Michael Redgrave on his Hollywood debut?

I was interested less in the soapy plot than the unusually sweeping use of not only the low-key black-and-white moodiness but madly idealistic, geometrically bizarre sets.