Someone Behind the Door [Quelqu’un derrière la porte] ** (1971, Charles Bronson, Anthony Perkins, Jill Ireland, Henri Garcin) – Classic Movie Review 9416

Charles Bronson and Anthony Perkins star in director Nicolas Gessner’s preposterous but fairly lively and engrossing 1971 Euro-thriller Someone Behind the Door [Quelqu’un derrière la porte], set in England, about an unbalanced neurosurgeon doctor Laurence Jeffries (Perkins), with an unfaithful cheating wife Frances Jeffries (Jill Ireland), tricking an amnesiac psychiatric patient (Bronson) into murdering Frances Jeffries (Ireland), thinking she is his own unfaithful wife.

Frustrated by her neglectful husband, Frances has made the mistake of taking French journalist Paul Damien (Henri Garcin) as her lover.

Bronson and Perkins do quite well under the rather murky crime drama circumstances, based on a short story by Jacques Robert (also responsible for adaptation and dialogue), which are a bit of a stretch for any actor, and Bronson’s wife and regular film partner Ireland co-stars loyally, as usual.

The screenplay by Nicolas Gessner (adaptation), Mark Behm (adaptation), Jacques Robert (adaptation and dialogue) and Lorenzo Ventavoli is based on Jacques Robert’s short story.

Also in the cast are Adriano Magistretti, Agathe Natanson, Viviane Everly and André Penvern.

Someone Behind the Door [Quelqu’un derrière la porte] is directed by Nicolas Gessner, runs 97 minutes, is made by Comacico, Lira Films, Medusa Film and Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie (SNC), is released by Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie (SNC) (1971) (France), GSF (1971) (US) and Miracle Films (1972) (UK), is written by Nicolas Gessner, Mark Behm, Jacques Robert, Lorenzo Ventavoli, based on Jacques Robert’s short story, is shot in Eastmancolor by Pierre Lhomme, is produced by Raymond Danon, Nicolas Gessner and Maurice Jacquin, is scored by George Garvarentz and is designed by Jean d’Eaubonne and edited by Victoria Mercanton.

It is also known as Two Minds for Murder.

Jill Ireland divorced first husband David McCallum, with whom she had three sons, in 1967. The following year, she married Charles Bronson, whom she met when McCallum introduced them on the set of The Great Escape (1963).

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9416

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