User reviews

In Terence Young's first movie, Edana Romney is a society girl whiling her time away while the young man she's going to marry is overseas. She falls in with Eric Portman, who seems terribly rich and terrible arty.... but is obsessed with a 300-year-old painting of a young woman and reincarnation. When he gets around to showing it to Miss Romney, it's the spit and image of her, and he thinks he's the reincarnation of the Borgia she left for another man.

The remainder is part 18th Century Gothic literature, part war-weary spiritualism, and part obsessive behavior that Hitchcock would revisit in VERTIGO. Young directs it as a movie about madness, but it could have easily been tilted in favor of spiritualism, especially given the ornate palace sets, a wild medieval party, and the shafts of light that cinematographer Andre Thomas lays among Serge Pimenoff's Cyclopean sets. It's French realism gone mad, and the film makers knowing it. It's terribly arty, and almost self-congratulatory in its excesses. While it takes itself too seriously for my taste, it will certainly appeal to many people.

A recommendable film if you'll overlook and forgive certain elements (the dialog and acting are rather stiff by today's standards). The twisting plot unfolds satisfactorily: in the introduction a woman travels to keep an ominous meeting and recalls a previous love affair. In flashback we learn of her lover's strange obsession to transform her into the image of another woman. He himself seems to belong to another time and place, lost in the past. Is he sane, is he safe to trust? Only after keeping her appointment, do we learn the true nature and motivations of the man.. and of others. This film predates "Vertigo" by a decade, but the similarities are eerie. Enjoy the lush sets and costumes. The score does much to set the tone of mystery and fantasy. And finally, Edana Romney is gorgeous (I think I once knew someone who looked JUST like her... )

This is an eerily effective drama from Terence Young. It all centres around Eric Portman's characterisation of "Mangin". An enigmatic man who arranges to meet the young "Mifanwy" (Edana Romney) who bears a striking resemblance to a woman whose portrait hangs on a wall in his home; a woman he claims to have loved centuries earlier. Could this be possible? What makes this interesting - despite the really quite static acting performances - is the way the story develops. It's quirky. It's darkly menacing - but not in a frightening may, more a sinister and grisly theme that allows us to speculate about what did - or didn't - happen, walking a thin line between history, fantasy and sanity before an ending that left me feeling rather sorry for just about everyone. The photography lends loads to the almost claustrophobic imagery; it's almost as if it were lit by candlelight, with very few fully illuminated scenes. The drawback is the acting, though - neither Portman nor Romney quite delivered as well as I would have liked, and the dialogue is wordy which does drag it down a bit at times. That said, it's a creepy and enjoyable mystery that rarely sees the light of day now, and is certainly worth a watch. Mr. Young's directorial debut, too.

This had a really interesting slow build with lots of atmosphere and gothic mystery. I was really digging it until the rushed ending that tries to tie everything together and ends up undermining the whole thing. It's seriously a terrible final 10 minutes of an otherwise top notch film. Bleh...

I saw that one of my favorite film critics Eddie Muller insisted that this be shown at one of his Noir City Film Festivals even though it wasn't a noir. He said it was too good looking and had been obscure for far too long to not show to film lovers. I have to agree that it looks fantastic.

A woman who is already cheating on her husband decides to flirt with another man who is a weird dandy hipster obsessed with horse buggies and mirrors and speaks in obtuse quips. To up his weirdness, he's convinced he's a reincarnation of a 15th century member of the Borgias family.

Apart from the standard 40s silly melodrama and the very strange flashback that is most of the movie, the cinematography was outstanding. Especially during the 15th century Venetian party where most of the interesting action occurs. The overall look felt very French and sure enough when I looked to see who had lensed it, it was a Frenchman named Andre Thomas who worked in pre WWII France and Germany before fleeing to England to work in the film industry.

Watched on YouTube.

(1948) Corridor of Mirrors PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA

Inspired by the author Christopher Massie which some of it's themes in terms of tone is similar to "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë and for other viewers "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë that has a mother, Mifanwy Conway (Edana Romney) of three. Leaving her current family behind by means of train as a result of a letter she receive so that she can see her former lover. By the time she arrives, the letter instructed her to meet him at the wax museum. And as soon as viewers see a wax figure of the man she was supposed to meet, we are then put back in time a few years back to see how it came about.

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

This is expert, expert film making, rich in atmosphere and mood, and easily as good as the best gothics and psychological 'horror' films of the forties such as Wuthering Heights, Rebecca, Jane Eyre, Seventh Veil, or the Val Lewton works. I don't think there was a single scene that did not hold my attention. I could not begin to enumerate all the little touches and flourishes of lighting, camera angle, dialog, story ideas, etc. but I particularly enjoyed the seamless interweaving of references to Lewis Carroll's Alice (when Edana Romney follows the white cat (white rabbit surrogate) through the labyrhinthine corridors of the mansion, or to Othello/Romeo and Juliet at the Venetian ball, or again to Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast. Some compare this film to to Cocteau (it's on the video box), with its ornate and detailed set, as well as its theme, but Corridor of Mirrors for all its fine acting, atmosphere, and mastery of technique is not genius. It is not poetically simple. But if you liked any of the films mentioned above, you will definitely enjoy watching dark, mysterious leading lady Edana Romney (who also co wrote the screenplay) search for the inner resources to free herself from the spell of an incredibly intense and psychologically compelling, but morbid, life.

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.

"Corridor Of Mirrors" is pretentious and derivative and seeks to emulate elements of 'Citizen Kane'and 'Beauty And The Beast'. The dialogue is stilted and the premise absurd. That said, I have to say that you have never - ever - seen sets like the ones in this picture. The art director should have had at least an Oscar nom for the magnificent interior of the mansion. The main staircase is colossal, and the hallway of mirrors is obscenely sumptuous. It makes you think the picture should have been made in color.

Eric Portman plays a fellow who thinks he is Cesare Borgia reincarnated, and that Edana Romney is his lost love. He is fabulously wealthy and scoots about London in his own Hansom cab (this is 1938!). With a come-hither look in an upscale singles bar, she instantly comes under his spell and is captivated. Complications ensue, but the regal splendor of his mansion overwhelms everything else to the viewer.

Eric Portman always came across to me as a cold fish, and is out of his depth as a romantic leading man. He gets no help from Miss Romney, who is unable to register the proper emotional responses at crucial times and shows herself to be a limited actress.

"Corridor Of Mirrors" is a good but not great movie. The subject matter is very unusual, though, and those set pieces will stay with you long after the movie is over. It was shown at the Columbus,O. Cinevent, 5/12.

Terence Young made his directorial debut with Corridor of Mirrors, a strange Gothic romantic fantasy drama.

Mifanwy (Edana Romney) a married mother is travelling from Wales to London to meet her lover.

She goes to the Chamber of Horrors in Madame Tussaud's, her lover turns out to be one of the wax exhibits. We go to a flashback when Paul Mangin (Eric Portman) first meets young Mifanwy. Mangin is a man out of his time. Dressed in Edwardian clothes, goes about in a hansom cab and thinks he and Mifanwy were lovers in Renaissance Italy.

Mifanwy is Mangin's ideal fantasy woman, a seducer who has spent centuries looking for his perfect muse. There has been others but he is obsessed with Mifanwy who is the closest to his desires. We see the steps that lead to him being accused of murder.

There is an element of creakiness and archness in the acting that lets the film down. Portman is fine but Romney is the weak link. The production values are very good, the story is a little offbeat but it just does not come together well.

Terence Young found a huge audience thanks to his James Bond movies ("Dr No" "From Russia with love" "Thunderball" ) ,which remain,along "Goldfinger" ,the best 007 ever made ,the only ones which will endure.One should add he tackled many genres : the historical drama ("Mayerling" ),sword and sandal ("Orazi e Curiazi")and thrillers the best of which is certainly "wait until dark" which features an excellent performance by Audrey Hepburn.

And then there's "corridor of mirrors" .It compares favorably with "Beauty and the Beast" (Cocteau) ,"POrtrait of Jennie" (Dieterlé),Peter Ibbetson (Hathaway) and "dead of night" (various directors).It's Young's first effort and his best movie by such a wide margin one cannot imagine which one of his later production could be number two.

It's impossible to summarize such a complex tale ,which borrows from fairy tales ("La Barbe-bleue") Wilde's "Portrait of Dorian Gray" Val Lewton's productions and the movies I mention above but brings it all back home.

A man is living in the past cause past is certain and future might be dangerous.He seduces a woman and asks for a rendezvous in Madame Tussaud's museum.Taking place in the present and in the past,in a home in the English country,in the famous museum ,in a sumptuous palace with a fascinating corridor of mirrors ,symbol of illusions and of a time which ,no matter what he tries, is passing by the hero,a time which is not on his side ,even if he goes back as far as the Italian Renaissance -with scenes of carnival which may have inspired Fellini for "Casanova" -this is the lost gem of the English cinema.

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.

I have never been a fan of Eric Portman and am therefore no fan of any of the films he appeared in.So I will just say that the photography is excellent and leave it at that

This is a miracle of a film using all the means of magic that were available at the time - it is actually comparable with Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" as there are palpable undeniable parallels. Orson Welles said himself that he started off with one good film and then worked himself down. Terence Young was not a British Orson Welles, rather a dwarf in comparison, but he was an outstanding script writer ("Dangerous Moonlight"), and when he was allowed to direct his first film he reached a level which he was never to reach again. What are all the entertainment tricks of "Doctor No" and "From Russia with Love", what is the romanticism of "Mayerling", what is the intelligence of "Triple Cross" in comparison with the amazing murder intrigue here and the overwhelmingly brilliant use of mirrors, dresses, surroundings, taking in all Venice, in this supremely romantic story of unrequited love, sharpened by madness, metaphysics, transcendental sentimentality, and an intrigue ending up in constantly overlapping surprises. For once Eric Portman has an interestingly sympathtic role to play, a bit of Hamlet and Byron darkness and doom indeed, but on the whole better than expected. Edana Romney is not as bad as some watchers have concluded, she makes you think of both Hedy Lamarr and Vivien Leigh, the latter would have been slightly better, but Edana Romney does not overdo it, although she is given ample breadth indeed. This is definitely a film to return to - many times.

"Corridors of Mirrors" is a British film that looks absolutely gorgeous...with lovely sets and great cinematography. It also has a story that could be interesting...but it isn't.

Mafanwy is in love with a rich man who lives in a gorgeous mansion. The problem is that she doesn't know that Paul is a bit strange to say the least. He believes her to be the reincarnation of a woman who lived during the Renaissance...a woman who was strangled by her lover. And, now that he's her lover, it makes you wonder what's next for this pretty lady!

The film is just glacially slow. As a result, I found my attention flagging about halfway through the film and after a while I simply wanted it to end. Sad...as it could have been very good and was Christopher Lee's premier (as a supporting character).

"Nobody wants to belong to the past. Except me. But perhaps you'll be there with me sometimes."

I loved everything about the two leads (Edana Romney and Eric Portman), their looks so perfect for the period, the way they gazed at each other, and their range throughout a haunting story. Romney plays Mifanwy (or as the natives of a foreign country had called her long ago, "Devil Girl"), and Portman plays a cultured man who takes a liking to her the moment he lays eyes on her in a night club. He inhabits a lavishly furnished house, one full of mystery, and has impeccable taste in the trappings of the past. As the two become lovers, she says of his obsession "Even in my sleep, he would be there, in the corridor of mirrors. Watching me, dressing up for him."

Eventually we're confronted with two possibilities, that he's somehow known her from a past life centuries ago in Italy, which he tells her about, or that he's a manipulative player who strings women along, which a strange woman she comes across in the house claims (Barbara Mullen). It's a fine premise, and Terence Young pulls all the right strings by telling it in an extended flashback, with a liberal dose of dreamy lights, music, and costumes. I'm not quite as sure about the ending, which was a bit drawn out and ended with things a little too conveniently tidied up, but overall, I really enjoyed this.

Terence Young is best remembered as the director of three early James Bond movies, but his work outside that franchise is more uneven. He worked best with thrillers and adventure yarns, turning out competent but un-flashy work. By the 1970s, he unfortunately devolved into hackdom and Eurotrash, but there are gems to be found in his 50s and 60s filmography.

CORRIDOR OF MIRRORS is his debut directorial feature and ironically, the least characteristic film he ever made. Young shunned baroque filmmaking styles, which makes the Cocteau-esque visuals here all the more shocking, so much so that I have to wonder just how much of a hand Young had in the process (I've heard the producers of the film were more of the "auteurs" in this case and I'm tempted to believe that). The production is dizzying, noirish and mystical in its presentation of fatally attracted lovers who become obsessed with images of themselves as 15th century lovers reincarnated in 1930s Britain.

The acting has been criticized by other reviewers here, but I didn't mind any of it. I will admit there's a certain coldness to the characters that prevents me from fully connecting to this VERTIGO-esque tale, but I don't know if that's on the actors or the writers. Still, it's a unique movie, one that has haunted me days after seeing it for the first time. I'm glad it's been given a decent home release.