The session: "Happy Birthday, Charles Laughton"
In honor of Charles Laughton's Birthday, Keith presented an abbreviated (two-week) session of movies he starred in.
Week 2: The Strange Door (1951)
Directed by Joseph Pevney
My Level of Prior Knowledge
I had never heard of it.
Plot:
A highborn madman, infuriated that his sweetheart threw him over for his brother takes elaborate revenge -- and plots even further and more elaborate revenge. Why can't family just get along?
Reaction and Other Folderol:
So soon after I conclude that I just can't get into the movies set in medieval castles, Keith shows us this to prove me wrong. It may be sacrilige, but maybe I just am not into Vincent Price in medieval castles.
At any rate, the early sequence, in which de Beaulieu (did I spell that correctly?) gets snared by Maletroit's (that too?) plot seems to work too well. I'm not sure why that little bit annoyed me, but it did. Happily, things get more interesting and more suspenseful as the film progresses. And in the end, the final exciting sequence (involving the moving wall trap) was played perfectly. If only the plot were a little less convoluted.
Ratings
Me: 9.5
Bob-O: 9.5
Dave: 9.7
Ethan: 9
Joe: 10
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