It took Christopher Lee’s obituary in the New York Times to remind me of Corridor of Mirrors (Terence Young, 1948). About two years ago I came across information suggesting that Corridor of Mirrors may have influenced Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958). The film was not available at my local video store, Netflix, or Hulu. On Amazon I was able to find a couple out-of-print VHS copies going for about a hundred bucks each. I bought one and had a buddy transfer it to DVD. A Sharpie was used to hand-scribble the title onto the disc and it then got added to a spindle of other DVD’s. The spindle disappeared as more DVD’s got added to the tower. Movies for a rainy day. It was raining hard outside my window when I read the following sentence from Lee’s obituary: “Lest he tower over his fellow actors, Mr. Lee remained seated throughout his first film appearance, as a nightclub customer in Corridor of Mirrors.”
TCM will be honoring Christopher Lee on June 22nd with many memorable movies. It wouldn’t make sense to include Corridor of Mirrors amidst this lineup for the obvious reason that, aside for the fact that they wouldn’t even let him stand up (Lee was 6 feet 5 inches tall) it’s only a cameo. “Take a look, standing in the entrance. Lord Byron,” Lee says, as Eric Portman walks into his nightclub. Portman then whisks up Edana Romney into a dance that we later learn has been going on for centuries.
Edana Romney co-wrote the script with producer Rudolph Cartier, working from a novel by Chris Massey (aka: Christopher Massie). The dresses were designed by Owen Hyde-Clark and executed by Maggy Rouff. The Art Director, Terence Verity, also deserves a shout-out, and provides a Hitchcock connection by dint of his work two years later on Stage Fright (1950), although perhaps his most memorable work would come when bringing George Orwell’s dystopian view to life in 1984 (Michael Anderson, 1956). Corridor of Mirrors tries to fuse together elements of timeless mystery with gothic opulence. If the narrative falls short of initial expectations, the film does succeed in providing a very atmospheric fairy tale of an unusual sort.
After a great title sequence that recalls some of the fun Orson Welles had shooting with mirrors in The Lady from Shanghai (1947), the story begins with Mifanwy Conway (Romney) having her domestic bliss interrupted by haunted dreams and a strange telegram asking for a meeting at Madame Tussauds Waxworks next to the figure of Marie Antoinette. Conway boards a train and in voice-over thinks to herself: “How highly respectable they think I am, and have been. I with my beautiful home, perfect husband, and wonderful children… How shocked they’d be if they knew the secret of my visit to London. I’m going to see my Lover.” Or at least a wax figure of her lover in a corner of the museum reserved for murderers. As Conway stares at the wax model of Paul Mangin (Portman) she drifts to that moment when she first met him seven years ago. The next 75 minutes take place within that flashback, and this time is bracketed by 10 minutes minutes at both beginning and end that place her in the present, with a long-held secret finally being revealed at the waxwork museum.
Are there similarities to Vertigo? Yes, a few. Paul pursues Conway as obsessively as Scottie going after Novak’s character, and at one point reveals a picture to Conway that was drawn centuries ago that has her exact likeness. He offers this as proof of their being reincarnated lovers bound together by predestination. Paul’s obsession also leads to murder, or does it? Best to leave some mysteries for the viewer.
Corridor of Mirrors is often cited as reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast (Jean Cocteau, 1946) and also marks Terence Young’s feature-film debut. Young was working on another film around the same time, a comedy/musical called One Night With You which was released a few days later in the same month Corridor of Mirrors debuted in the UK. Although Young would later be known for his many contributions to the James Bond franchise (Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Thunderball) it’s worth noting that one of Young’s earlier gigs was as a writer for On Approval (Clive Brook, 1944), which recently enjoyed a revival and was a crowd-pleaser at the TCM Classic Film Festival.
One anonymous Amazon customer reviewer points out that when television first came to their tiny town in North Carolina in 1950, Corridor of Mirrors “was the movie that they played repeatedly. It was shown at least once a day, usually at night for nearly two years.” Funny to think that now, with video-on-demand and thousands of channels and a dizzying number of media platforms to choose from, this once ubiquitous title (in North Carolina, anyway) is down to two VHS tapes only available to buy through Amazon at a somewhat steep price. Ebay currently is of no help, unless you want to buy some publicity photos from Argentina. The quality of the tape in my possession makes it hard for me to suggest anyone else spend the equivalent of a weeks-worth of groceries on a murky image with tracking issues. Especially as the true majesty of the pic is to be found within the set designs, locations, and elaborate costumes. The good news is that Cohen Media has a 2K digital restoration available to enterprising arthouse exhibitors such as myself who might want to showcase Corridor of Mirrors properly. I’d be tempted to screen it alongside Vertigo and Beauty and the Beast as part of a bigger theme, but what would that theme be? Tragic love? Obsessive lovers? Timeless love? How many films fit that bill? It could be endless, and one has to be careful lest it all spiral out of control.
