Double Door

With so many movies in the early-30's about high society I didn't think I'd be in the mood for yet another one. Boy was I wrong. "Double Door" was an astounding movie.

The movie took place in New York City in 1910. The focus was the Van Bretts, one of the oldest families in New York and one of the oldest and wealthiest families on Park Avenue. A woman named Victoria 'Vicky' Van Brett (Mary Morris) was the torch bearer and matriarch of the Van Brett family. She was a mean, dictatorial, spiteful old woman. If you look up "old hag" in the dictionary her face will be there. She was akin to May Robson's character in the movie "You Can't Buy Everything" (1934).

Vicky ruled the Van Brett family with an iron fist, and at the moment she was cross with her younger half-brother Rip (Kent Taylor) for marrying a nurse. How could he marry an "upper servant"!?

In that respect, "Double Door" was just like several other movies of that era in which a romantic rich boy desires to marry a girl from a lower class. It's always a fight for love. And in every case the woman has to prove that she's not marrying the man for his money, only out of love. More specifically, "Double Door" is similar to "Shopworn" (1932), "Another Language" (1933), and "Silver Cord" (1933) in which the mother is the most vociferous against her son's sweetheart.

In "Double Door," Vicky made no attempts to hide her contempt for Rip's bride, Anne Darrow (Evelyn Venable). Even though Vicky wasn't Rip's mother she fit the part due to the large difference in age and the fact she had to fill the role as his mother when both his parents died. Vicky was set on driving Anne away if it was the last thing she did.

Vicky had so much control over Rip, Anne, and her younger sister Caroline Van Brett (Anne Revere) because she controlled the purse strings. She was the executor of the Van Brett estate so all Van Bretts and all the servants had to bend to her will; and what an unyielding will she had.

Mary Morris was excellent as Victoria Van Brett. Although she was not even forty when this movie was made, she had the mannerisms, voice, and movements of a woman at least sixty-years-old. Even when she stared (or glared) she conveyed so much. I'm sorry she didn't do more. When I looked up her filmography she only had "Double Door" to her credit. It could be that she was a stage performer and only did this movie because she'd done it in theater before. In any case, I thought her performance was Oscar-worthy.

Anne Revere was also exceptional as Caroline Van Brett, Vicky's sister. She was a forty-two-year-old woman with the mentality of a two-year-old. She was so utterly handicapped by Vicky's dominance that she never developed. She was a sad sight. She spoke and behaved like a child--always in search of Vicky's love and approval.

Kent Taylor and Evelyn Venable were passable as Rip and Anne, the newlyweds. Anne's manner of speaking didn't seem to fit to me considering she was a nurse before marrying Rip. She spoke proper and posh as though she was from society herself. The only thing I can think to attribute that to is her training or taking lessons in order to fit in with her husband's family and friends.

A lot of credit has to be given to the writer, Elizabeth McFadden, and the director, Charles Vidor, who was able to make the play work on screen. I'm giving out flowers everywhere on this one. "Double Door" was a true treat.

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Mary Morris is the head of a rich old family on Fifth Avenue. Her younger sister, Ann Revere, and half-brother Kent Taylor live there. She controls the family fortune. She also controls the family, objecting when Taylor proposes to marry Evelyn Venable. * She's a nurse who works for Taylor's friend, Dr. Colin Tapley. Taylor may love her, says Miss Morris, but what what Miss Venable loves is the vast wealth of the family. She also starts playing mind games with her new sister-in-law. Taylor and Venable wish to move up to Westchester, but Miss Morris confounds them, keeping her family close about her. It all comes to a head when she accuses Miss Venable of carrying on an affair with Tapley.

I can understand why people enjoyed this full-blooded melodrama, but I found it rather disagreeable, with Miss Morris' character thoroughly objectionable, Taylor a wet rag, Miss Revere a terrified ninny, and Miss Venable long-suffering. They're one-note characters, a hallmark of old-fashioned mellers, but it's hard to take any of them seriously. I grew up at the edges of big, old money, and that's not a way any of them would have behaved; even my great-aunt Esther knew you couldn't be such an obvious creep. You needed some subtlety.

Still, it's all put together in a highly workmanlike fashion in Charles Vidor's second credited feature. Harry Fishbeck's shadow-filled photography captures the dusty and gloomy feeling that the show envisages, and Miss Morris gives a performance as a vile crone at the age of 39 that would have gotten her thrown out of my mother's bridge game, after her sister had trimmed her thoroughly.

*interestingly, Miss Venable's character is named Anne Darrow, just like Fay Wray's character in KING KONG.

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.

Victoria Van Brett (Mary Morris) is a horrible, bitter old woman. She also happens to be rich and in control of the family fortune....and she uses it to control and torment her family. When her niece and nephew try to marry, she does her best to break up the relationships. Why? Well, because she can...and because she enjoys destroying people. But how far she is willing to go....that might just shock you!

This is an incredible film. The opening credits are among the most jarring I've ever seen. You hear Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" and as you hear this creepy music play, scary faces of the folks who star in the film appear abruptly and fly towards the audience in closeups. You really have to see it to appreciate how jarring it is and I actually yelled out when the faces appeared!

The shame of this film is that Ms. Morris only made one film...this one. Otherwise, her acting was confined to the stage...which is a real shame as she was amazing. One of the creepiest and most evocative performances of the 1930s...that is how good she was.

Overall, this is a seldom seen but fantastic movie...one that you won't soon forget....especially when it comes to that double door!