Potently invoking Hitchcock’s REBECCA (1940) and SUSPICION (1941), Fritz Lang’s SECRET BEHIND THE DOOR... shrouds a well-to-do heiress under the unrelieved dread that her husband has an ulterior motive to snuff her (only this time, monetary concern is not a major impetus).

After the death of her brother Rick Barrett (Cavanagh), who bequeaths her a large sum of fortune, Celia (Bennett) is stuck by a coup de foudre while peregrinating in Mexico before her intending marriage with the straight-and-arrow lawyer Bob Dwight (Seay). Told through her voice in her head (a ploy Lang utilizes efficiently to propel the narrative momentum and spell out her inner thoughts), it is interesting to see under what circumstances her eyes meet his for the first time, their attraction shimmers with danger from the very start, ensorcelled by the mystique of Mark Lamphere (Redgrave), the pair hastens to the altar in situ, and Celia becomes Ms. Lamphere, but to her, Mark, the architect is a total stranger, she feels that she has a life-time ahead to get to know a man she truly loves, but even before they set their feet back on the US soil, Mark’s labile behavior during their honeymoon pours cold water on Celia’s marital anticipation and after the initial disquietude, she is bent on finding out the psychological reason behind that, even it means to put herself squarely in the harm’s way.

More and more secrets emerge when Celia moves into Mark’s domicile, his previous marriage which leaves him a son David (Dennis), his spinster sister Caroline (Revere), and a (presumably) disfigured secretary Miss Robey (O’Neil), plus the smothering atmosphere and rumors about his mother and first wife, both pushing up daisies now. Mark is in evidence, under a plethora of petticoat sway, especially the hand that rocks the cradle, which might be significantly accountable for his none-too-sane mindset.

But the most startling revelation is that Mark has a macabre hobby of collecting and recreating “murder rooms”, a quixotical idea but is effectuated with almost risible formality by everybody acting dead serious about it, as if it is a workaday thing. Celia is further intrigued by the seventh room, which Mark claims it is finished but allows no one to see. The secret behind that closed door will confirm Celia’s mortal fear (with Miklós Rózsa’s thrilling, sonorous accompaniment in its crescendo), but also emboldens her to put on the caper of an amateur headshrinker and finally disinter Mark’s psychopathic roots (lilacs and closed doors are two key clues) once and for all, Lang might take liberty with the high concept of psychoanalysis, but as a cinematic mystery, he holds fast to an arresting, alluring tale (starkly Gothic set design and expressive shadow and mist play are right up Fang’s alley) that the couple needs to rescue each other (one mentally and another physically) before forming a salutatory union, in another word, a happy-ever-after trite.

Joan Bennett’s star glamor aside, she really strengthens her spine to telegraph a gritty facade that befits a heroine who will sillily go out on a limb and ready to die for the man she loves, and Michael Redgrave’s suave persona is intermittently disrupted by the demon sizzling under the skin and makes a persuasive plea in his self-trial figment. Both Anne Revere and Barbara O’Neil leave strong impressions playing the friend-or-foe cards with a beguiling ghost of ambiguity. In the event, SECRET BEHIND THE DOOR... is an above-average entry among Lang’s oeuvre, an edge-of-the-seat, albeit derivative startler submersed in his expressionistic conceit and intoxicating syntax.

referential entries: Alfred Hitchcock’s REBECCA (1940, 8.3/10), SUSPICION (1941, 7.6/10); Lang’s MINISTRY OF FEAR (1944, 6.4/10), THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW (1944, 7.5/10).

類(lèi)型中的精神分析范本《蝴蝶夢(mèng)》-《煤氣燈下》-《門(mén)后的秘密》-《愛(ài)德華大夫》。對(duì)于朗導(dǎo)而言，也是《血紅街道》和《綠窗艷影》沿線上的慣性創(chuàng)作。相比于那兩部作品，回到封閉空間-古堡驚悚類(lèi)型的朗終于能在光影上完全發(fā)揮其魏瑪時(shí)期表現(xiàn)主義的全部效能。幼年雷德克里夫認(rèn)為母親將其反鎖房?jī)?nèi)而對(duì)一切深?lèi)?ài)的女性產(chǎn)生懷疑和毀滅欲望，實(shí)際上操控一切的則是腹黑女仆。

因此毀容的女仆也想通過(guò)大火帶走男主人的新歡，不想早已被解開(kāi)心結(jié)的男主選擇回身相救。毀滅欲望與虛幻的錯(cuò)覺(jué)在走廊烈火中被對(duì)象化呈現(xiàn)，而男主與女主互相攙扶逃脫的戲劇動(dòng)作又相對(duì)應(yīng)著宣告這種被無(wú)意識(shí)占領(lǐng)的情感空缺告破。同樣的手段被科恩用在《巴頓芬克》的最后，只不過(guò)那個(gè)地方特托羅從潛意識(shí)中的猛然醒悟，被科恩塑造成了與元?jiǎng)”疚谋窘Y(jié)構(gòu)對(duì)應(yīng)一個(gè)套層，又因?yàn)楣诺侣吞赝辛_一體兩面的孿生隱喻，顯得比此片中結(jié)尾更復(fù)雜一些。

電影一直以來(lái)都是音像的藝術(shù)，只不過(guò)近年來(lái)我們對(duì)于電影的畫(huà)面做了過(guò)多的要求，從而忽視了電影本來(lái)的基礎(chǔ)特點(diǎn)——聲音。早在二十世紀(jì)四十年代，電影在技法上遠(yuǎn)沒(méi)有今天這么豐富的時(shí)候，電影的聲音藝術(shù)已經(jīng)被發(fā)展到極致了。創(chuàng)作者們使用不同的聲音來(lái)制造不同的效果，從而將不同類(lèi)型的影片通過(guò)豐富的視聽(tīng)語(yǔ)言展現(xiàn)給觀眾，這就是影視創(chuàng)作者對(duì)于電影藝術(shù)最好的尊敬。

今天給大家推薦的這部影片最大的亮點(diǎn)就是對(duì)于聲音藝術(shù)的運(yùn)用上做到了爐火純青。很多時(shí)候不需觀眾對(duì)于劇情有太多的了解，單憑聲音就能推測(cè)出來(lái)劇情發(fā)展的走向，這就是上世紀(jì)四五十年代電影的魅力?！堕T(mén)后的秘密》屬于一部黑色電影，它所講述的是一個(gè)繼承了基金遺產(chǎn)的年輕的女郎，因?yàn)橐淮五忮苏J(rèn)識(shí)了一個(gè)神秘的陌生人，在幾天的接觸中，她與這個(gè)陌生人私定了終生。于是，在義無(wú)反顧地嫁給了這個(gè)陌生人之后，年輕的女郎對(duì)于他的逐漸展開(kāi)的身世產(chǎn)生了懷疑。

冷靜的頭腦總是會(huì)在激情時(shí)刻過(guò)去后才會(huì)有的，當(dāng)三天的婚禮結(jié)束，西莉亞逐漸的對(duì)于眼前的這個(gè)完美的情人產(chǎn)生了懷疑，這個(gè)叫做馬克的男人雖然迎合了自己對(duì)于另一半的完美想象，但是這種新鮮感過(guò)去后，她馬上冷靜了下來(lái)，眼前的這個(gè)人真的是自己一直在尋找的另一半嗎？

對(duì)于西莉亞來(lái)說(shuō)眼前的這個(gè)男人完美無(wú)瑕，且對(duì)于自己有著某種吸引力，尤其是對(duì)于西莉亞當(dāng)時(shí)的處境來(lái)說(shuō)，找到這樣一個(gè)男人對(duì)于自己來(lái)說(shuō)是幸運(yùn)的，也是非常珍貴的。遭遇到了哥哥的離開(kāi)之后，西莉亞需要一個(gè)男人來(lái)為自己掌握生活的方向，而這個(gè)時(shí)候，出現(xiàn)在西莉亞生活中的馬克極好的完成了西莉亞的期待，他俊朗的外表，成熟的魅力每一個(gè)外在的特性都深深的迷住了西莉亞。因此，在認(rèn)識(shí)不到三天的時(shí)間內(nèi)，西莉亞完全的陷進(jìn)去了這場(chǎng)愛(ài)情陷阱里。

然而真正的故事才剛剛開(kāi)始，回過(guò)神來(lái)的西莉亞發(fā)現(xiàn)了自己的新婚丈夫遠(yuǎn)沒(méi)有自己想象的那么簡(jiǎn)單，雖然已經(jīng)被愛(ài)情沖昏了頭腦，但西莉亞依舊是保持著一種女人的敏感。新婚燕爾之際，丈夫卻要遠(yuǎn)赴紐約，而且關(guān)于丈夫的身世，西莉亞知之甚少。在這樣的巨大的困惑的攪擾下，西莉亞非常不情愿地接受了丈夫的安排，她只身前往丈夫的家，旅程中滿是疑惑。

在來(lái)到了丈夫的家中，西莉亞發(fā)現(xiàn)眼前的景象遠(yuǎn)比自己想象的要復(fù)雜。丈夫馬克不僅僅有著一個(gè)未曾謀面的姐姐，而且還有著一個(gè)前妻留下來(lái)的男孩。事情的發(fā)展遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)的超出了西莉亞的想象。然而出于對(duì)馬克的愛(ài)，西莉亞還是接受了眼前的一切。不過(guò)隨著馬克的回家，西莉亞發(fā)現(xiàn)，自己的完美情人似乎有著一個(gè)不可告人的秘密，這個(gè)秘密直接決定了西莉亞眼中，馬克的真實(shí)身份。

于是，經(jīng)過(guò)一次次的偵察，西莉亞逐漸的發(fā)現(xiàn)了隱藏在馬克身上的不為人知的事情竟然是他的童年陰影，而這樣因?yàn)橥陼r(shí)候的未解之謎困擾著的馬克，最終變成了一個(gè)燥郁的偏執(zhí)狂，她在對(duì)西莉亞伸出魔爪的時(shí)候，西莉亞及時(shí)的點(diǎn)醒了他，最終，一切歸于平靜。

對(duì)于一部上世紀(jì)四十年代的電影來(lái)說(shuō)，本片所代表的黑色電影的敘事方式自然不會(huì)受到當(dāng)代觀眾們的喜歡和贊譽(yù)。但對(duì)于那個(gè)年代的觀眾來(lái)說(shuō)，這部影片同樣是精彩紛呈的。不管是因?yàn)楸酒O(shè)置的懸念以及故事，而且還有本片不俗的音效設(shè)定。在故事無(wú)法有效的推動(dòng)劇情朝前走的時(shí)候，本片的音效展現(xiàn)出來(lái)了巨大的推動(dòng)力，我們作為觀眾，幾乎可以忽視故事的發(fā)展脈絡(luò)，而直接從音效中找到隱藏著的關(guān)鍵信息，比如說(shuō)困擾馬克的童年陰影以及西莉亞關(guān)鍵時(shí)刻的力挽狂瀾等等。

這些優(yōu)秀的音效成功的推動(dòng)了本片故事的遞進(jìn)，同時(shí)也渲染的驚悚的氣氛。對(duì)于一部距今已有幾十年的作品來(lái)說(shuō)，這樣對(duì)于現(xiàn)有的工具的嫻熟使用實(shí)在是值得我們新時(shí)代的創(chuàng)作者學(xué)習(xí)的。對(duì)于電影的創(chuàng)作者來(lái)說(shuō)，借用現(xiàn)有的創(chuàng)作工具來(lái)對(duì)于作品進(jìn)行全方位的表達(dá)比什么都重要。新技術(shù)固然可貴，但炫技大可不必，電影創(chuàng)作手段是為了豐富電影本身的表達(dá)的，如果脫離了這個(gè)核心，再多的創(chuàng)作手段又有什么用。

《門(mén)后的秘密》固然不是一部非常優(yōu)秀的黑色電影，但作為那個(gè)時(shí)代的作品來(lái)說(shuō)，本片所借用的表達(dá)工具發(fā)揮了巨大的潛力，最終成功的推動(dòng)了劇情的發(fā)展以及故事的表達(dá)。這是值得我們學(xué)習(xí)的。時(shí)至今日，影視發(fā)展到了一個(gè)前所未有的豐富程度，創(chuàng)作者們所能借用的創(chuàng)作工具也極為豐富，然而卻少有創(chuàng)作者使用創(chuàng)作工具且發(fā)揮到其應(yīng)有的效用在，這一點(diǎn)值得我們反思。物質(zhì)條件豐富的今天，想要?jiǎng)?chuàng)作出一部?jī)?yōu)秀的作品如果是難上加難的話，那么創(chuàng)作者本身是不是需要反思自己的初心呢？這是一個(gè)很好的提問(wèn)。

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