203. Secret Beyond The Door (1948)

Directed By Fritz Lang

Synopsis

Rebecca, Jane Eyre, this chick, all marry into the wrong family. But thanks to Freud all is resolved!

Review

No one loves Fritz Lang more than me... well maybe his mother. But really I don't get why this is such a worshipped film, frankly it has a good idea for a story in it but all is ruined by psychoanalysis that seems to have come from the bottom of a cereal pack.

There are some pretty nifty flourishes by the part of Lang, like when she is pacing around the room after he leaves to New York, and her anxiety is excellently expressed through some nifty camera tricks.

The skeleton of the story is fascinating, however and this is one of those rare cases of a film which demands a good remake, of course I know that if this is ever remade in today's climate it will be yet another teen horror film, but it could do with an adult remake. Now 1948 audiences might have been less sophisticated when it comes to psychology and that would explain a lot, but the whole "forgive your mother and you won't be evil anymore" is just a really bitter pill.

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From IMDB:

References:

Rebecca (1940)
Suspicion (1941)

Referenced in:

Merci pour le chocolat (2000)

No films of it on Youtube so here's an excerpt from a Godard film in which Jack Palance gets annoyed with Fritz Lang: