Double Door

From 1934, "Double Door" has one of the most evil characters I've ever seen, Victoria Van Brett (Mary Morris), and a plot that will have you on the edge of your seat, particularly in the last 10 minutes.

Beautiful Evelyn Venable, who was the model for the Columbia Pictures logo, plays Ann Darrow, who marries Victoria's brother Rip (Kent Taylor). Rip, Victoria, and their sister Caroline (Anne Revere) all live in a Fifth Avenue mansion in around 1910.

The family has money, but Victoria controls it and her entire family. She ruins Caroline's chance at happiness by breaking up her relationship, and she works very hard to destroy Rip's marriage. She takes all their wedding gifts, refuses to let the organ play the rest of the bride's entrance, and swaps a $500 set of pearls, an heirloom for the bride, with some cheap necklace. Then she makes them cut their honeymoon short. Ann is determined to be civil to her. You'd need the disposition of a saint.

Caroline is terrified of her, as one time, her sister had closed her up in some kind of vault and keeps threatening to do it again.

Rip and Ann finally have had enough (though I'd say it took Rip an inordinate length of time) and decide to move out. Victoria wants Rip to stay. She comes up with a plan.

This was Anne Revere's film debut after playing the role on Broadway. She's a wonderful actress who has to have big moments of hysteria. I suppose today it seems over the top, but acting was different then. Revere certainly proved herself to be a gifted actress, eventually winning an Oscar.

Mary Morris also did her role on Broadway, and this was her only film. They must have thrown tomatoes at her from the audience when she did the play, not because of her, but because of the character she played.

This is a nerve-wracking film. I highly recommend it.

"Double Door" focuses on Anne, a young bride in turn-of-the-century Manhattan who finds herself at the mercy of her husband's embittered, older half-sister, Victoria, who controls the family estate with an iron fist. Anne at first attempts to win her new sister-in-law over, but finds that Victoria's manipulation and scare tactics could be lethal.

This dour adaptation of the stage play of the same name (and featuring two stage originals: Mary Morris and Anne Revere) works for two reasons: One, the night-and-day performances from Evelyn Venable, playing the innocent Anne, and Mary Morris, the wretched and vindictive sister-in-law; and two, the sprawling mansion setting, which provides an ominous, classically spooky backdrop for the psychological games to unfold (think "The Old Dark House", but on Fifth Avenue).

Morris, a stage actor who only ever appeared on film here, is the main attraction for most, and while her theatrical style at times pokes through, she is still fiercely effective in this role--the character of Victoria belongs in the ranks of the most wicked female villains in film history, up there with Annie Wilkes, Alex Forrest, and Mrs. Danvers. She is vile, greedy, and controlling, and Morris wrings every last drop of these character elements. Venable plays counterpoint as the likable newcomer who at first hopes to see some good in Victoria, only to find her relentless abuses too much to bear, while Anne Revere is memorable as Victoria's downtrodden sister who has been terrorized by Victoria her entire life (even being locked in a soundproof vault as "punishment").

The majority of the film consists of a back-and-forth dynamic between the Victoria and Anne before it ratchets up in the last act to a quasi-murder mystery, with Victoria's confounding propensity for evil reaching its apparent peak. There is a notable mix of melodrama here with psychological thriller elements and, at times, horror, though for most modern audiences, "Double Door" will play more like a straightforward psychological drama soaked in gloom. As a character showcase of exemplary wickedness, "Double Door" is among the best pre-Code examples. 8/10.

This is an ordinary chamber play all taking place in one house, but it is astoundingly efficient especially staged on film that by appalling close-ups turns it into one of the ghastliest nightmares ever rendered alive, mainly because of perhaps the grisliest female characters in film history played by Mary Morris in all too convincing horror. She is just a kind old lady that wishes everybody well, no one can but believe the best of her, everyone trusts her, but she has an obsession: a heritage of a precious pearl necklace, that she doesn't want to part with, when her younger brother imperils her control of the estate when he marries, so she does anything to prevent that marriage, in a positive warfare campaign of intrigues verging on virtuosity. It's a masterful play, and its screening does it more than justice, as Charles Vidor successfully underscores and enhances all the effects, that constantly keep piling up to ever more overwhelming strokes of innovation. No wonder the play kept Broadway on edge. In character it reminds a little of J. B. Priestley's "An Inspector Calls", but this is much more gruesome. In short. It's a killer.

This is a movie that I learned about when searching for horror films from 1934. I found this one streaming on YouTube. What was interesting was I wondered what the title meant. Other than confirming I had the correct movie through the director, actors and the runtime, I came into this one blind.

Synopsis: a domineering money-bags' suppressed incestuous urges go into overdrive when her half-brother brings a new bride home to the family's gloomy Fifth Avenue mansion.

Where I'll start is introducing who the people from the synopsis are. The domineering rich woman is Victoria Van Brett (Mary Morris). Her mother passed away so her father remarried. That is how she has a half-brother, Rip (Kent Taylor). There's also another sister of Caroline (Anne Revere). Something to point out here is that this other sister has a nervous nature. This is due to how controlling Victoria is and it has worn her sister thin.

Anne Darrow (Evelyn Venable) is the young woman that Rip is marrying. Mr. Chase (Halliwell Hobbes) shows up from Tiffany's. Being kept there was a set of pearls. In the will when Mr. Van Brett passed away, these were supposed to go to the bride of Rip. They originally belonged to Victoria's mother and she wants them back. She instead has Caroline give her a set of pearls that she was going to give to the housekeeper of their mansion. Victoria demands them to give to Anne instead. The title of this movie refers to a vault that Mr. Van Brett built so he could get absolute quiet to sleep. Victoria has converted it to a safe. She puts the pearls in there. We also learn that she tortured her sister by locking her in there once.

Victoria does everything that she can to ruin the wedding of Rip and Anne. This prevents them from using an organ that is in the mansion. She then tries to write Rip out of the will. She is also manipulating those around her. Rip doesn't care about what had left to him. Anne wants to do whatever she can to get Victoria to stop hating her. When Victoria sees that Rip won't give in to her demands, she decides to smear the character of Anne. She tries using the friendly relationship this younger woman has with a Dr. John Lucas (Colin Tapley). Victoria will even use murder if she must.

That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that I wasn't sure if this movie was going to go fully into horror. I'd say that it doesn't for almost 75%. Even what they do to push it closer into the realm wouldn't necessarily be considered if this was done today. I think that part of this is when it was made, being the 1930s. I'm still going to include it, especially since both the Internet Movie Database and Letterboxd have it listed as a genre.

Now that I have that out of the way, I want to delve more into our main character here of Victoria. She is ruthless. We see that she is petty. I can appreciate that to an extent. How far she takes it though is crazy. She tortured and bosses her sister around to the point where she is now nervous by nature. She nearly killed her the one time to be honest. Victoria has a negative outlook on life. She doesn't believe that Rip deserves the money since her father remarried and that is how he came about. She believes that Anne is only marrying him for his money. She will stop at nothing here to win. I like how things develop and escalate. The depths of the hate in Victoria is great and I thought that Morris did a great job at conveying it.

Where I should then go would be the other characters and how they are affected by her. Rip seems to like the prospect of having this job with the company that made their family rich. He doesn't want to put up with Victoria, but Anne doesn't want to drive a wedge through the family. What she doesn't realize is that Victoria doesn't like her. She never will. She will do whatever she can to get Anne out of the picture. I never got the idea that she wanted to marry Rip like the synopsis said. She just doesn't believes that Anne's intentions are good. As things go on, Anne can't take it anymore and Rip is willing to just leave with her. When Victoria sees what she is doing isn't working, she ramps up how far she will go. There's also Caroline, who is struggling with how she is treated and it has made her anxious to the point where she can barely function. I thought that Venable, Revere and Taylor were good here to see how Victoria influenced them.

I should then finish out with the rest of the cast. I like Guy Standing as Mortimer Neff. He's someone who works in the business so we see him talking to Rip. He also interacts with Victoria. He's no nonsense. He also won't be pushed around by Victoria. What is good there is that he doesn't necessarily fall into rumors and wants the truth, no matter what it is. Tapley is good as Dr. Lucas. His friendship with Anne becomes problematic only for the fact that it is used against Anne to drive a wedge with Rip. I like how he's friends with Rip as well so it makes it harder to know the truth. I'll say that the rest of the cast were good for what was needed in rounding this out.

Since this is more of a character study and seeing how rumors affect our belief, there isn't more to go into for story. Let me finish out with filmmaking. I wasn't shocked to learn that this was based off a stage play. That fits. We have a limited cast. This takes place in the house solely. It is a mansion and Victoria isolates different people. That is by design and it shows how convincing she is. Having a place this big helps while also being able to section of characters together. I liked that. We don't have effects here outside of making Morris look aged. It makes her creepier as well. The soundtrack also didn't necessarily stand out. What they did with sound design like a scream and knocking on the wall was good. Credit there.

In conclusion, I'm glad that I checked this movie out. What is interesting is that I don't know if I would put this in horror for about 75% of it. When it went there, it had my anxiety up and seeing how evil Victoria is was great. This is carried by the acting. Morris leads the way as our villain while seeing the effects of what she says and does on Venable, Revere and Taylor was good. This is made well enough. It feels like a stage play with limited sets, but that's not a negative. I'd recommend watching this if you're interested in the history of horror cinema or like movies from this era.

My Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

The main character here is Mary Moore as Victoria Van Brent, the oldest sister and dominatrix in a family whose only remains are herself, younger sister Caroline, and baby brother Rip. They live together in an old creepy mansion full of reminders of the past but devoid of the present.

Victoria - age unspecified but clearly middle aged- always dresses in black, emotionally batters younger sister Caroline to the point where she is just a shadow of a human being, and has got baby brother Rip convinced that his late father is always looking down on him, and that his wishes are Victoria's wishes.

Let me straighten out one little matter. The synopsis says that the film is about Victoria threatening people with a secret torture chamber in the house. There isn't one, so if you are expecting Vic to go mad and don the red robe of the inquisitors and put somebody on the rack, then you will be sorely disappointed.

The film opens on Rip's wedding day to a "commoner" - a nurse named Ann. Her union to Rip will issue in new blood and life to the family. Victoria has her own idea as to who Rip should marry, and it isn't Ann, whom she assumes is after the family money.

Now this had me wondering, why did Victoria wait until AFTER the wedding to take any action to get rid of Ann? Wouldn't it have been easier if Rip was just beginning to see Ann to nip things in the bud? I guess Victoria figures she can get rid of Ann just as easily after she marries Rip as she could before. Now for a woman to never marry in 1910, the time this film was set, was a big deal and a departure from social norms. But Victoria doesn't seem to hate men, she just loves control. The family money just affords her that control. Marriage at the turn of the 20th century for a woman would mean ceding control, and she was not about to do that.

Victoria starts out with passive aggressive stuff to put a rift between Ann and Rip, but when that doesn't work, she turns to a more severe and permanent solution.

This film has great atmosphere, even if it is a bit claustrophobic. If it didn't say Paramount I'd swear it was a Universal horror with its secret panels and dark corridors. One funny thing about the film - you get a big dose of the thoughts and feelings of everybody in the cast except Victoria, who is the central character. Maybe this is to dehumanize her so the audience can look upon her as pure villain - I know I did.

One bit of trivia - This film was based on a play that was very loosely based on the wealthy Wendel family of 19th and early 20th century New York. The last generation -only the third in fact - consisted of one brother and seven sisters who never married. The brother ruled over the sisters with an iron fist, would not let them socialize or marry because he thought heirs would decentralize their fortune, and did not allow electricity or even a phone into the house. So they all lived together in gloom, prisoners of their wealth until the last sibling died in 1931 leaving a fortune worth 100 million in that day's money - two or three billion today. Ironically, with no direct heirs 2303 people came out of the wood work from all over the world claiming to be heirs including an entire village in Germany named Wendel and some actual distant cousins in Czechoslovakia. Eventually, just about every claim was disproven. However, brother John forgot one thing - if nobody knows what you HAVE been doing, then nobody knows what you HAVEN'T been doing either, thus there were many people among the fortune hunters claiming to be illegitimate children of the recluse siblings.

I'd recommend this old spooky film if it ever comes your way.