howardmorley Despite IMDb.com giving a communal rating of 6.9 when I wrote this review, I can only award this film 4/10 mainly because of the poor choice of leading lady and daft screenplay.Edana Romney showed little animation in her part and Chris Massie wrote a ridiculous screenplay.In the initial scene we see her character lounging in bed with a household full of screaming children who are then conveniently not mentioned again.Is not a mother's first loyalty to her husband and children?The former seems unrealistically patient when his wife goes swaning off again from Yorkshire down to London with the pathetic excuse of "its too complicated to explain".No wonder Edana Romney never appeared in another significant film again but I see she lived to the ripe old age of 83 before dieing in California in 2002 (born 1919) so she was 29 when she made this film.She tried her hand at writing screenplays (including helping with this title) which were never commissioned and I can now see why.The movie is too dark throughout despite her character's maniacal laugh, and needed some light as well as the shade but above all some realism in the plot.

Spikeopath Corridor of Mirrors is directed by Terence Young and adapted to screenplay by Rudolph Cartier and Edna Romney from the novel written by Chris Massie. It stars Eric Portman, Edana Romney, Joan Maude, Barbara Mullen, Alan Wheatley, Hugh Sinclair and Bruce Belfrage. Music is by Georges Auric and cinematography by Andre Thomas.A woman travels from Wales to Madame Tussauds in London for a rendezvous with her lover. The rest will be told in flashback…Laughter had a strange effect on him…Corridor of Mirrors is a hypnotic and nightmarish experience, not in that scared to death kind of way, but in a nightmare where nothing allows you to be comfortable, keeping you in a realm of purgatory, what is real – imagined – or otherwise? The crux of the story concerns a man, Paul Mangin (Portman), who lives in the past and is obsessed with Mifanwy Conway (Romney), who not only looks like the portrait of a lady that hangs in the Mangin palace, but on Mangin's insistence was his lover centuries in the past.Would you care to continue the adventure?What follows during the course of the story are subjects ranging from reincarnation, obsessive madness, fetish kinks, seduction, fantasist leanings and murder. To passionate romance, heartfelt regret and soul cleansing. The unusual story, unique maybe? Enjoys toying with audience expectations, even taking famous literary inspirations and fusing them into this Baroque world, with seasoning of the macabre for added spice. As the Mangin/Conway relationship develops, the tension becomes palpable, fear and trepidation vie for control over wistful yearnings. What will win out in the end?What's behind the curtain?The look, sound and feel on offer here is quite simply magnificent. This is Gothic noir nirvana. Young and Thomas shoot the film in what I think is an average of 99% shadows and low lights, it's the darkness in daylight effect as shards of light struggle to pierce the gloom through the Venetian blind slats. Candlelight, Scotch mist, moonbeams, canted angles and otherwise all play their atmospheric part, and then there is the backdrop and props…The Mangin palace is vast in its opulence, complete with the titular corridor of mirrors. Behind each mirror is something that links Mangin's obsession with the past, it is eeriness personified. Mannequins, wax work figures and dolls feature prominently, the Tussauds connection is the Chamber of Horrors, naturally. Spooky harp, spooky housekeeper (again, naturally), and Auric's musical score is a blend of the sinister with poetic whimsy. And the crowning sequence is a Venetian costume ball, a decadent soirée that looks magnificent, but craftily it asks just what is beneath the costume facade of it all?It's a little too bonkers and creaky in plot development at times, but it knows this and embraces the short comings to keep with the unstable off-kilter vibe. Unfortunately it's a difficult film to track down in good quality home format form, but if you can find a reliable source and you love Gothic noir or Baroque fantasies, then this is for you. 8/10

Alex da Silva Edana Romney (Mifanwy) receives a telegram to meet up with an ex-lover Eric Portman (Paul Mangin) in London at the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. She arrives at the pre-arranged rendez-vous next to Marie Antoinette and as she waits, she daydreams……….and we are taken back in flashback to the days of her love affair with Portman. He is a wealthy artist with some definitely strange ideas. He lives in the past. Literally. And he believes Edana is part of his destiny. Theirs is a 400 year love affair which needs sorting out.It's a good-looking film with a huge house at the centre of the proceedings. It's atmospheric and the costumes are great. There is definitely an unworldly feel as the film develops and the story will keep you guessing as to what is going on in the mind of strange Eric Portman. The acting is good all round, including the minor characters, with a mention to singer Joan Maude (Caroline) who plays a crucial role. The dialogue is funny at times with Romney's father, Bruce Belfrage (Sir David), coming out with the classic "…hardest hard-on…". Listen out for it near the beginning of the film when Romney returns home to find Belfrage watching a film. It's hilarious.So, it's time to organize a Venetian ball…………just watch out if you are a female with long dark hair. You never know what type of nutter is in the area.

dbborroughs Deep brooding melding of numerous ideas and themes including riffs from Hitchcock, Beauty and the Beast, Val Lewton, Lewis Carrol, and on and on. Its the very Gothic tale of a woman who meets a man who may have loved her in the past. A triumph of the filmmakers art the story left me cold. I suspect that watching the film well after midnight was a bad idea where its lush visual pleasures helped me to nod off. I know that the films insistence about being about something didn't help, I wanted a 1940's mystery, what I got was psychological drama. I'm going to have to watch this again down the road when its much earlier in the evening.(It is great to look at though)