Fritz Lang's - Secret Beyond the Door - Joan Bennett Fritz Lang Secret Beyond the Door Joan Bennett

(aka 'Le Secret derrière la porte ')

USA 1948

Bennett is the woman who falls for an architect and promptly marries him, not asking as many questions about his past as she should have done. She soon discovers that he has a few skeletons in his cupboard, maybe even literally. Determined to find out the secret beyond the door of his mansion, she soon believes herself to be in mortal danger.

Another of the Freudian thrillers that were so in fashion in the 1940s, director Lang manages to turn on the suspense but is more interested in the art of film-making than what makes his protagonist tick.

Excerpt from Channel 4 located HERE

Poster

Theatrical Release: January 1st, 1948

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DVD Review: Wild Side Vidéo (2-disc) - Region 0 - PAL

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Single Disc:
Distribution	Wild Side Vidéo - Region 0 - PAL
Runtime	1:34:30
Video	1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.67 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
Subtitles	French, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Wild Side Vidéo Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details (all on Disc 2): • "The Dinosaur and the Baby": a conversation between Fritz Lang and Jean-Luc Godard (60 min) - mostly French • The Architecture of Secret Beyond the Door (6:10) - English dialogue of the film with drawings of the sets used • Printable original script accessible via DVD Rom • Photos from the Film • Production Photos • Filmographies (text) of Lang, Bennett and Redgrave DVD Release Date: June 3rd, 2003 Keep Case Chapters: 12

Comments:

This is a pretty good image especially for a single layered disc - not quite as sharp as one might have hoped but it still looks quite clean and more than acceptable for tube viewing. The black levels are very rich. Thankfully, the French subtitles are removable (on my Malata's and my computer) so they are definitely player generated. Unfortunately, the Lang/Godard featurette on the 2nd disc has no English subtitles... and neither do any of the extras although many are visual.

NOTE: Individuals have informed me that the subtitles ARE forced on certain machines - but they can be irradiated in a re-burn. The DVD is a less than 4.75 and the subtitles can be removed and the DVD contents re-burned to a blank DVD with standard DVDR hardware (software is free). See instructions HERE.

Paramount have announced this title for 2006 (this year) in Region 1 (as noted in our March 14th Newsletter HERE). It may possibly look superior so I would be patient if I were you. The film is pure Lang, all the way...

Gary W. Tooze

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