Secret Beyond the Door, The (Universal 1948, Joan Bennett, Michael Redgrave)

Moody drama The Secret Beyond the Door from Fritz Lang is about a wealthy heiress (Joan Bennett) who marries Michael Redgrave, the mysterious publisher of an architectural journal, in a romantic whirlwind and later comes to believe that he’s a demented killer.

Reportedly, Lang had Miklos Rozsa record his score in reverse and then played it back normally on the sound track to add a creepy effect to the music.

Bennett’s real life tragically mirrored this story: In 1951 her husband, producer Walter Wanger, shot her agent, Jennings Lang.

production details
USA | Universal | 99 minutes | 1948

Director: Fritz Lang
Script: Silvia Richards, Rufus King,

cast
Anne Revere as Caroline Lamphere
Michael Redgrave as Mark Lamphere
Rosa Rey as Paquita
Joan Bennett as Celia Lamphere
Barbara O’Neil as Miss Robey
Natalie Schafer as Edith Potter
Mark Dennis as David
Anabel Shaw as Intellectual Sub-Deb

• Forever Amber (1947, Linda Darnell, Cornell Wilde)

• Taking a Shot at Love (Hallmark 2021, Alexa PenaVega, Luke Macfarlane)

• Snowkissed (Hallmark 2021, Jen Lilley, Chris McNally)

• A Winter Getaway (Hallmark 2021, Nazneen Contractor, Brooks Darnell)

• Two for the Win (Hallmark 2021, Trevor Donovan, Charlotte Sullivan)

• Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square (Netflix 2020, Dolly Parton, Christine Baranski)

• The Invisible Man (2020, Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge)

• If I Only Had Christmas (Hallmark 2020, Candace Cameron Bure, Warren Christie)