Sire Alain de Maletroit: “They’ve begun by disliking each other. . . hatred will come later.”
Enjoy the visual splendor of the original one sheet poster for The Strange Door
A melodramatic horror thriller with more than a tinge of romance, 1951’s The Strange Door, directed by Joseph Pevney, and based upon Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Sire de Maletroit’s Door”, pairs together two all-time legends to great effect.
Set outside of Paris in the 17th century, Charles Laughton is Sire Alain de Maletroit, the fattest cat in the region. Prancing around his expansive castle (adorned with a trap front door that cannot be opened from the inside – talk about strange), he is, in fact, quite like a feline – hopping up onto furniture, leaning against walls, demonstrating a playful if menacing flamboyant attitude to anyone he meets. Surrounded by a group of equally as vile ‘yes’ men, they thrive off of Maletroit’s malice.
Setting in motion a most horrid revenge plot, he has set his sights on handsy womanizer Denis de Beaulieu (Richard Stapley), framing him and then forcing him (seemingly through his own free will), into his own gothic abode. Imprisoning this woebegone swashbuckling (formerly wealthy) vagabond and then planning on marrying him off to his long-trapped niece, Blanche (Sally Forrest), it is a vexing ploy that is not immediately understood – and might even seem confounding to many.
Stuck in the middle is poor Voltan (Boris Karloff), a lowly servant who is petrified of his Sire and truly cares for the mistreated young woman (and her father before her). Spending most of his time looking through secret peepholes from behind the walls, he knows much but does little. . . fear is his main driving force.
Set nearly exclusively in the ominous castle (outside of a tavern scene and a few exteriors), it is this setting that drives the movie. Built in the Middle Ages by a famed torturer, its sturdiness – impeding; history – immoral; passageways – imposing; people within it – implicit. . . all in all, it feels impregnable. If it does hold any beauty or mystique, it is erased by its prison status for Denis and Blanche. Really, the only question is, will this couple, forced together by way of the most unusual of circumstances, be able to find a way to escape the grasp of this maniacal man and his castle.
Though definitely a touch too melodramatic, The Strange Door thrives by way of its performances. . . especially Laughton, who steals the show, and lest we forget Karloff, who could best be described as creepily sympathetic. There is also a playful performance from everyone’s favourite Batman butler, Alan Napier, as Count Grassin. Lastly, the narrative’s climactic centerpiece, both sadistic and sinister, will remind many of a legendary moment that would come twenty-six years later with the first Star Wars feature. So, open the door on this strange tale of horror and romance, it may have you rethinking the old saying – a man’s home is his castle.