mcannady1 I had submitted a review not long ago, but after reading some of the reviews here, wanted to comment on the leading actress, Edana Romney.I think she was a wonderful choice of actress for the film. She could register various emotions in a sophisticated manner; love, sadness, boredom, and even terror realistically. In British films, an actress can often register these feelings in a more subtle manner, as Edana had. I did think she reminded me of Margaret Lockwood and Patricia Morison. All these actresses were very adept at registering emotions in a slightly subdued manner.That said, I had picked this film from a Nostalgia Video catalog several years ago. It sounded very intriguing with the description and was the first film with Christopher Lee! Many of the cast members (Eric Portman, Edana Romney, Barbara Mullen, etc.) I had never seen before, so it was a unique experience. In the meantime, I have watched several films with the above actors and actresses and really enjoyed them.Corridor of Mirrors is a poignant story of a man living in the past. He meets a beautiful young woman in a nightclub who resembles Lucrezia Borgia. Edana plays the role with sophisticated flair and soon becomes interested in Paul Mangin (Eric Portman), an art and antique collector. When she visits his gorgeous home, she discovers amid the mirrors and many costumes of a bygone age, a touch of mystery about the past of the owner.Also, there is a mysterious housekeeper. Veronica, that Paul had rescued during WWII in Italy. Was her story true of her seduction (by Paul) and then his rejection of her? He had relegated her to the basement after becoming tired of her, she said.During the war he had become obsessed with a painting of Lucrezia Borgia, so he becomes enamored of this new young girl who resembled the girl in the painting. On one of her visits, Mifanway Conway is quite impressed by Paul's gorgeous home and the painting he reveals behind some heavy draperies.After that, she finds herself very attracted to this man of mystery. But she discovers early on that he hates the sound of a woman's laughter. She admires gorgeous Renaissance-type costumes on life-like mannequins behind the mirrored doors in Paul's home. It is a scene that is at once eerie, and very impressive, as she dances around to the tune of an old-fashioned music box, wearing a beautiful Renaissance costume Paul had designed.When Mifanway meets the housekeeper. Veronica, she tells a mysterious tale of Paul's seduction of her during the war and then bringing her home to his gorgeous mansion in London. At first, he had treated her like a queen, dressing her in fancy clothing. After he tired of her (having made a great show of dressing her in elegant costumes), he had demoted her to the basement of his home. She claims there had been a long procession of women, but she had always warned them in time.The girl is frightened and saddened and flees from the house, after telling Paul she will not be one of his women. He says she must have talked to Veronica, the housekeeper, who was not normal. He had brought her there to make a home for her. (He had felt sorry for her being victimized during the war). If her story were not true, why did Paul tolerate her in his home? Had she really told the other women negative things about her employer? He claims there were no other women there. Still, Mifanway feels that Paul is too attached to hundreds of years ago, and even has a horse and carriage in London in the 1940's.The story has lush scenery and great photography, and poignant acting, and some frightening and sad circumstances. Amid these situations, we have a murder mystery eventually.Mifanway attends Paul's fancy dress ball that evokes the Renaissance era. After the ball, Paul has had too much to drink and passes out. A nightclub singer has been murdered while he is unconscious. Edana's character leaves prior to this and decides to marry her barrister friend. This she had mentioned to Paul just before he passed out from drinking too much. Paul is the prime suspect and does not care about the conclusion of his trial.I will not create a spoiler, but Paul loses the will to live when the girl marries another man. He does not care about being accused of the murder of the other woman -- and his ultimate fate. He cannot recall what happened the night of the ball and is convicted of Caroline's murder. Mifanway visits Paul in jail and mentions that she will marry soon.A few years after Paul's execution, Mifanway is receiving threatening blackmail letters about her affair with Paul. This person is the real killer and threatens her marriage. The young woman who is happily married and has three little children, is in a quandary about the outcome. Fearing exposure to her barrister husband, who has a strict moral code, Mifanway considers paying the blackmailer.The story takes on an eerie touch when Mifanway is ordered to meet someone at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. She is to stand before Paul's likeness. An effigy has been made of Paul standing near the replica of John Wilkes Booth.This said, there are some interesting twists and turns at the end, culminating in a mysterious suicide. An intriguing film with interesting characters!

mark.waltz It takes patience to try to get fully in this "Svengali" style story with a few unique twists. Artistically, it is a triumph, stunning to watch for the care that went into it, but somehow as flat as the painting of heroine Edana Romney in her period clothes. There are moments when a joyous spirit overtakes this melodrama, but it is often dour and maudlin.Romney may be a graceful beauty, but she lacks the charisma of other dark haired British beauties. Resembling Merle Oberon with a bit of Margaret Lockwood thrown in, she's equally flat in important emotional scenes that required under playing rather than the shouting she resorted to. However, the camera loves her, as evidenced in a sequence when brooding artist Eric Pittman whirls her around on a restaurant floor the moment he spits her. It takes forever for him to reveal to her why, although the audience pretty much knows. I could see this as an opera with its mixture of melodrama, mystery and potential tragedy. It is certainly a masterpiece of technology, showing how far advanced the British were if you look at some of their best films from the 1940's. At times, this seemed very modern, and the sets seem to shine in 3-D to the point of infinity. Something tells me that this takes repeat viewings to truly be appreciated, although I would undoubtedly look on at Romney in the same way.

Spikeopath 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

dbborroughs Deep brooding melding of numerous ideas and themes including riffs from Hitchcock, Beauty and the Beast, Val Lewton, Lewis Carrol, and on and on. Its the very Gothic tale of a woman who meets a man who may have loved her in the past. A triumph of the filmmakers art the story left me cold. I suspect that watching the film well after midnight was a bad idea where its lush visual pleasures helped me to nod off. I know that the films insistence about being about something didn't help, I wanted a 1940's mystery, what I got was psychological drama. I'm going to have to watch this again down the road when its much earlier in the evening.(It is great to look at though)