Behind Locked Doors

Directed by Budd Boetticher (1948) ***

Behind Locked Doors is slight, light and short (62 min.) and not the film noir it’s often listed as. It’s ridiculous but also fun if you’re in the mood for what it offers.

Richard Carlson plays an amorous gumshoe approached by a beautiful reporter (Lucille Bremer) on the hunt for a Judge (Herbert Heyes) hiding from the police. After suspecting the Judge is being sheltered in a private sanitarium, Bremer agrees to share the reward money if Carlson will go undercover as a patient at the sanitarium and find the Judge.

Despite the similar plot to Sam Fuller’s later Shock Corridor, there’s nothing too serious or believable here (I also recently saw similar plots used in episodes of The Streets of San Francisco and Lou Grant; there’s always One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, as well). Behind Locked Doors is a low budget, B-movie programmer. Oscar “Budd” Boetticher, Jr.’s atmospheric direction and the fun array of crazy characters and character actors are where it excels. Making lemonade out of the stage-bound scenario and tiny budget, Boetticher shoots the film dark, mostly at night, with noir-ish shadows and sharply designed compositions.

Packed into the bizarre scenario are a crazed, homicidal ex-bullfighter (Tor Johnson), a pyromaniac (Trevor Bardette), Ralf Harolde as a morally torn administrator and Dickie Moore as his son, Douglas Fowley as the sadistic keeper of the keys and a nurse played by Kathleen Freeman (Flo on The Beverly Hillbillies). You’ll recognize most of these faces and it’s entertaining to see them in a film with such low stakes — no pressure for them or us. Perhaps the best line: “Larson! How many times have I told you not to abuse the patients?”

Behind Locked Doors is literally packed with talent. Richard Carlson had a long career in film and TV, especially famous for his ’50s sci-fi films. He also wrote and directed. Boetticher was a star athlete at Ohio State University, before traveling to Mexico, where he learned bullfighting. Not long after, he was directing films for John Wayne’s production company and had a prestigious career.

Behind Locked Doors was made by a fascinating little production company, Eagle-Lion films, which was only in existence for five years. Originally a British company created to release British films in the states, it soon bought out earlier Poverty Row company PRC and began producing new movies in the US. Eagle-Lion was eventually bought by United Artists and their studios shuttered.

Behind Locked Doors is available on Kino DVD. At only 62 minutes, the package should have included some extras.

—Michael R. Neno, 2016 May 27