I knew this film had a reputation as a brutal shocker, but I was stunned by how nasty the violence is in Behind the Door (1919)! Far superior to most WWI-thrillers of the period, which were more interested in conveying propaganda than telling a story, Behind the Door is best described as a revenge tragedy.
We see no blood or guts spilled, nor do we see every detail of the awful fate of Oscar Kruger's beloved wife Alice, but what we do see is more than enough to disgust. And the way Oscar takes his revenge will have you thinking of the ending of The Black Cat (1934), only in this film, the vengeance is better presented, with far greater horror and pathos, in my opinion-- and I say this as a major fan of The Black Cat.
The best part of the movie is the character of Oscar, brought to life by Hobart Boswarth. While he goes a little overboard at times, he sells the character's arc so well. Oscar starts out as this sweet, loving man who, by greater degrees as the movie progresses, is forced into savagery and violence by the intolerant small-town hotheads who view his German ancestry as akin to treason and by the German U-boat crew who brutalize his wife and leave him for dead.
The cinematography is stunning, even gothic at times without steeping too far into expressionism.
Not to be missed if you love silent films! Heck, not to be missed if you're still under the delusion that the silent era was some kind of age of innocence.
We see no blood or guts spilled, nor do we see every detail of the awful fate of Oscar Kruger's beloved wife Alice, but what we do see is more than enough to disgust. And the way Oscar takes his revenge will have you thinking of the ending of The Black Cat (1934), only in this film, the vengeance is better presented, with far greater horror and pathos, in my opinion-- and I say this as a major fan of The Black Cat.
The best part of the movie is the character of Oscar, brought to life by Hobart Boswarth. While he goes a little overboard at times, he sells the character's arc so well. Oscar starts out as this sweet, loving man who, by greater degrees as the movie progresses, is forced into savagery and violence by the intolerant small-town hotheads who view his German ancestry as akin to treason and by the German U-boat crew who brutalize his wife and leave him for dead.
The cinematography is stunning, even gothic at times without steeping too far into expressionism.
Not to be missed if you love silent films! Heck, not to be missed if you're still under the delusion that the silent era was some kind of age of innocence.