The Strange Door (1951)

Director:

Joseph Pevney

Writers:

Robert Louis Stevenson (story)
Jerry Sackheim (writer)

Release Date:

1952 (Austria)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

Noble-born cad Dennis (Stapley) has been tricked into a forced stay at the eerie manor of the Sire de Maletroit (Laughton)...

Plot Keywords:

Dungeon | Madman | Strangulation | Torture | Switchblade

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Charles Laughton	...	Sire Alain de Maletroit
Boris Karloff	...	Voltan
Sally Forrest	...	Blanche de Maletroit
Richard Wyler	...	Denis de Beaulieu (as Richard Stapley)
William Cottrell	...	Corbeau
Alan Napier	...	Count Grassin
Morgan Farley	...	Renville
Paul Cavanagh	...	Edmond de Maletroit
Michael Pate	...	Talon

Also Known As:

Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Door (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (nf) (re-rating) | West Germany:16 (nf) (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Movie Connections:

Featured in Monsterama Sci-Fi Late Night Creature Feature Show Vol. 1 (1996) (V)

Soundtrack:

Minuet (3rd movement from String Quintette E major, G.275)

A Victorian Gothic set in Louis XV's France

When Charles Laughton is given good direction and a decent script he'll give you an Oscar calibre performance and has on many occasions, one of them officially. But when he's not, hmmmm............. Well what's a body to do, but make the best of it, have a little fun.

With that gleam in his eye and the shtick with the food, plagiarized from his own performance of Henry VIII, Laughton goes to town in an orgy of overacting as Andre de Maletroit, malevolent lord of the manor in 18th Century France. For reasons I'll not explain Laughton has some nefarious reasons for wanting his niece to marry the worst kind of aristocratic rake.

The niece and the rake are played respectively by Sally Forrest and Richard Stapley none too convincingly I might add. Boris Karloff is an old family servant who Laughton delights in mistreating. He also is defeated by the script and direction so he also resorts to shtick.

Boris Karloff's career is illustrative of the path that Charles Laughton's could have taken. Trapped by his performance as the Frankenstein monster, Karloff stayed in the horror genre for most of his career. It was Laughton's good fortune and acting instincts that kept him from the same fate.

The film is based on a Robert Louis Stevenson story and certainly Stevenson has had great cinema made from his stories like Treasure Island and Kidnapped. Too bad this one can't rate up there.

The Strange Door is the kind of material that in the late 50s, Hammer films would have done so well. Too bad they didn't get a crack at it here.