Review of The Strange Door

It's rather ironic that "The Strange Door" was included in the fabulous Boris Karloff collection (horror fans, buy this!!), since his role in the story – albeit important – is rather limited in screen time. If some distributor ever comes up with the luminous idea of releasing a Charles Laughton box set, then this film most definitely should be a part of that, as it is mainly he who steals the show! Karloff is professional and reliable as always, but it's Laughton who dominates every sequence he's in; hands down. "The Strange Door" is adapted from a story by Robert Louis Stevenson (the creator of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde") and it's a truly engaging and atmospheric tale set during the Victorian era in France. Laughton portrays Sire Alain de Maledroit, a malicious nobleman who hates every still living member of his family and wants to destroy them slow & painfully. Therefore he personally selects a reputed troublemaker to marry his niece Blanche and counts on the possibility that he'll emotionally wreck her! And even though Blanche believes that her father is long dead, Sire de Maledroit keeps him locked up in the dungeons beneath the castle. Boris Karloff plays Voltan, the only servant that remained loyal to count Edmond. The story isn't always very plausible and contains quite a few immense holes. I'm sure there are easier ways for Sire de Maledroit to torture his relatives than to rely on the bad attitude of an outsider? Or how is it possible that, for twenty whole years, Blanche doesn't even suspect that her father is kept prisoner in the castle while everybody else knows? Yet, despite these and several other improbabilities, "the Strange Door" is an entertaining Gothic horror film with superb decors, a fair amount of tension and poetic dialogs. The last sequences are particularly exciting, as the castle turns out to be a labyrinth filled with eerie death traps and dark corridors. It's nice to see Karloff star in a heroic role for a change. Recommended!