clanciai Review of Corridor of Mirrors

Corridor of Mirrors (1948)

A magic labyrinth of mystery, intrigue, tragedy, splendour and death

[10/10 · 1 November 2018]

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.