6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
After a whirlwind romance in Mexico, a beautiful heiress marries a man she barely knows with hardly a second thought. She finds his New York home full of his strange relations, and macabre rooms that are replicas of famous murder sites. One locked room contains the secret to her husband's obsession, and the truth about what happened to his first wife.
Starring: Joan Bennett, Michael Redgrave, Anne Revere, Barbara O'Neil, Natalie SchaferDrama | 100% |
Film-Noir | 54% |
Romance | 25% |
Mystery | 11% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Fritz Lang's "Secret Beyond the Door" (1947) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The only supplemental feature on the release is an exclusive new audio commentary by author and film historian Alan K. Rode. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Secret Beyond the Door arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.
In the United States, Secret Beyond the Door made its high-definition debut with this release from Olive Films in 2012. I do not have this release in my library. However, I have in my library this French Region-B release, which Carlotta Films produced in 2014. I was able to do some comparisons between the two.
Kino Lorber's release is sourced from a new 4K master, which was prepared at Paramount Pictures in 2022. Unfortunately, I have to report that this master is quite disappointing. It makes the entire film look soft and in many areas unnaturally flat. The most obvious drops in quality occur during indoor and darker outdoor footage, but even well-lit close-ups do not look particularly convincing. The softness is of the kind that digital filtering can introduce. I compared different areas of the film on the two releases, and most of the time the discrepancy in quality was pretty dramatic. The older release produces sharper, not sharpened, grainier and better detailed visuals, often with superior clarity as well. There is one exception. The new master clearly handles a wide range of shadows and shadow nuances better, but the missing grain and proper delineation make this improvement meaningless. Image stability is good. I noticed a few minor blemishes and dark spots, but there are no large distracting cuts, warped or torn frames. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are included for the main feature.
The quality of the audio track is not easy to judge. There are small yet noticeable fluctuations in terms of dynamic intensity and even balance, which I assume are inherited. However, I suspect that time has also left its mark. The upper register is healthy, but in a few spots some extremely light background hiss sneaks in. There are no audio dropouts or distortions to report.
To some extent, Fritz Lang's Secret Beyond the Door might have been influenced by Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca, but it clearly has an identity of its own, and it is a strange one. There is a very strong Gothic atmosphere in it, which almost feels mismanaged. Still, Stanley Cortez's superb lensing makes this film very easy to recommend. Unfortunate, Kino Lorber's release is not easy to recommend because it is sourced from a recent 4K master that could and should have been a lot more convincing.
1946
1945
1940
Limited Edition to 3000
1959
4K Restoration
1948
4K Restoration
1973
1955
1946
Warner Archive Collection
1947
1950
1946
1945
1947
1946
1950
1945
Limited Edition to 3000
1950
1955
Warner Archive Collection
1967
1945