Corridor of Mirrors *** (1948, Eric Portman, Edana Romney, Barbara Mullen, Hugh Sinclair, Joan Maude, Lois Maxwell, Alan Wheatley) – Classic Movie Review 4449

The 1948 British noir mystery thriller film Corridor of Mirrors stars Eric Portman and Edana Romney in her sole starring vehicle, and is the film debut of both director Terence Young and Christopher Lee.

Eric Portman stars as a haunted aesthete art fancier and seducer who thinks that he and his lover (Edana Romney) are a reincarnated Renaissance couple from a picture in this attractive 1948 Hitchcockian British noir mystery thriller. Corridor of Mirrors is a visually exciting and fascinatingly peculiar film, even if it is overwrought and over-inflated.

Paul Mangin (Portman) is jealous that the Mrs Danvers-style housekeeper Veronica (Barbara Mullen) has it in for Mifanwy (Romney). He thinks he may also have loved Mifanwy in a previous life.

Corridor of Mirrors was intended as a showcase for the talents of Romney (who adapted the script with her co-producer Rudolph Cartier from Chris Massie’s novel), though alas here she is not terribly exciting as the star actress, and it proved her sole starring vehicle.

However, the film is worth while for Portman’s crazed performance, the eye-catching visuals (cinematography by André Thomas), Georges Auric’s score, the good cast and the sheer strangeness of it all.

Director Terence Young directs (in his debut) with some brio and it is also notable as the 25-year-old Christopher Lee’s acting debut. Thora Hird plays ‘Old Woman’, a visitor in Madame Tussauds, at the age of 34, but was still happily working over 50 years later.

Also in the cast are Hugh Sinclair, Joan Maude, Lois Maxwell, Alan Wheatley, Valentine Dyall, John Penrose, Hugh Latimer and Noel Howlett.

The film was released on 12 April 1948 (UK) and enjoyed a fair critical and commercial success.

Terence Young (20 June 1915 – 7 September 1994), who got his chance to direct after intended director Cartier was disqualified because of trade union objections, went on to direct three James Bond films, Dr No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), and Thunderball (1965).

South African actress Edana Romney (15 March 1919 – 17 December 2002).

Edana Romney made her feature film debut in East of Piccadilly (1941), playing the victim murdered in the opening sequence, and her second film role in Alibi (1942) was minor. Romney then formed a film production company with Rudolph Cartier and acquired the film rights to the 1941 Chris Massey novel Corridor of Mirrors. Their film took nearly seven years to get to the screen, as several studios wanted to buy the screenplay but did not want Romney to star. Finally the production company financed a showreel of Romney in scenes for the film, which brought Eric Portman aboard.

Romney’s later acting career comprised only four TV roles in the 1950s, though she appeared regularly as a TV personality, presenting Is This Your Problem? (1955-1957), the BBC discussion programme about women’s issues, writing a weekly newspaper advice column and hosting a radio show.

In the 60s she moved from London to California as a high-profile Beverly Hills hostess living at John Barrymore’s former mansion The Hacienda.

She died in 2002, aged 83, in Santa Maria, California.

The cast are Eric Portman as Paul Mangin, Edana Romney as Mifanwy Conway, Barbara Mullen as Veronica, Hugh Sinclair as Owen Rhys, Bruce Belfrage as Sir David Conway, Alan Wheatley as Edgar Orsen, Joan Maude as Caroline Hart, Leslie Weston as Mortimer, Christopher Lee as Charles, Hugh Latimer as Bing, John Penrose as Brandy, Lois Maxwell as Lois, Mavis Villiers as Babs, Thora Hird as Old Woman in Madame Tussauds, Valentine Dyall, John Penrose, Hugh Latimer and Noel Howlett.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4449

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