Someone Behind the Door (Kino Lorber Blu-Ray Release)

Is Someone Behind the Door Trash or Treasure?

Blu Ray Distributed By: Kino Lorber / November 19, 2019

Screen legends Charles Bronson (Rider on the Rain, Mr. Majestyk) and Anthony Perkins (Psycho, Five Miles to Midnight) co-star in this suspenseful thriller directed by Nicolas Gessner (The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane). Laurence Jeffries (Perkins) is a neurosurgeon dedicated to his research and neglectful of his beautiful wife Francis (Jill Ireland, Breakheart Pass), who leaves him for another man. The vindictive doctor plots a diabolical scheme—conditioning an amnesiac patient (Bronson) into believing that Francis is his own wife—so that he can take revenge by proxy, with a perfect alibi. Bronson gives one of his best and most convincing performances in this dark tale of deceit and hardened emotions. Beautifully shot by legendary DP Pierre Lhomme (Cyrano de Bergerac, Camille Claudel).

Jamie’s Take (1.5 / 5)

Someone Behind the Door has been widely available for many, many years on various sources of VHS and DVD. It was one of those public domain films that Bronson starred in that one could find everywhere in cheap, discount bins at Wal-Mart or Target (Chino was another one). The first time I saw the movie, I had a hard time judging the film as the picture quality and sound quality were awful and it felt like maybe the movie was slightly edited. Watching the brand new Kino release in gorgeous HD I can now judge the film properly and yes, I can honestly say I didn’t care for it.

The premise behind Someone Behind the Door is actually very interesting and a neat idea: a neurosurgeon (Perkins) sees a man with amnesia (Bronson) in the waiting room at the hospital and starts to question him as to who he is, where he came from, etc. With no memory, Bronson cannot remember and seems confused and frustrated that he has no idea what is going on (a feeling the viewer will eventually feel) so the doctor tells his staff that he will take him to the bus station but ends up taking the man to his home.

The doctor tells this stranger that by staying with him, they can work on his memory and help him remember who he is or where he came from. The doctor starts planting false memories in the stranger’s mind and twists what little memory he has around, convincing the stranger that his wife is cheating on him when in fact it is the doctor’s own wife (Jill Ireland) who is doing the cheating on the doctor. The doctor wants to exact revenge on his wife and what better way to do so than to try and get this stranger to do the bidding himself.

While the premise is interesting (although far fetched) the film suffers greatly from feeling like we, the audience is watching a play. Aside from the masterful Glengarry Glen Ross, most movies based off plays are extremely dull and boring, utilizing one or two locations only with just a few actors. Someone Behind the Door is based off a novel but damned if it didn’t feel like a play. Once the movie ends up at the doctor’s house, it’s dialog after dialog and while Perkins is rather good in his role it is a chore to watch and get through.

I am a huge Bronson fan and I think he was one of our most underrated actors but here, he is absolutely miscast as this stranger. His delivery is at times cringe-worthy and I have to say, this is his weakest performance. Sorry but one should know that you do not cast Bronson in a film that is dialog heavy. His performance comes off as fake, unbelievable and maybe his performance looks weaker due to working alongside the masterful Perkins.

Jill Ireland is also barely in the picture and the reasoning why her character was cheating on the doctor was never quite clear, aside from the fact that he is basically a nut. This may be her only movie she did that involved nudity and it’s quite uncomfortable to see her real-life husband attack her, ripping off her shirt.

The blu ray release by Kino Lorber looks great and I was rather surprised to see that the blu ray contains an audio commentary by the French director Nicolas Gessner. Sounding like Werner Herzog, his commentary is interesting, praising the film’s screenplay and even mentioning that Robert Shaw was the original choice to play the doctor but neither he nor Bronson wanted to work with one another. Gessner has done some good films, one of my favorites is The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane but here, Someone Behind the Door is a bland, slow, at times confusing movie that I cannot see anyone getting any enjoyment out of watching. This is one of those movies you put on if you are having trouble sleeping. Oh and there is no one behind the door in this movie, it’s a pretty dumb title.

There are much better films that Perkins and Bronson were in, this isn’t one of them. Close the door on this bore.