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!

dbdumonteil Terence Young found a huge audience thanks to his James Bond movies ("Dr No" "From Russia with love" "Thunderball" ) ,which remain,along "Goldfinger" ,the best 007 ever made ,the only ones which will endure.One should add he tackled many genres : the historical drama ("Mayerling" ),sword and sandal ("Orazi e Curiazi")and thrillers the best of which is certainly "wait until dark" which features an excellent performance by Audrey Hepburn.And then there's "corridor of mirrors" .It compares favorably with "Beauty and the Beast" (Cocteau) ,"POrtrait of Jennie" (Dieterlé),Peter Ibbetson (Hathaway) and "dead of night" (various directors).It's Young's first effort and his best movie by such a wide margin one cannot imagine which one of his later production could be number two.It's impossible to summarize such a complex tale ,which borrows from fairy tales ("La Barbe-bleue") Wilde's "Portrait of Dorian Gray" Val Lewton's productions and the movies I mention above but brings it all back home.A man is living in the past cause past is certain and future might be dangerous.He seduces a woman and asks for a rendezvous in Madame Tussaud's museum.Taking place in the present and in the past,in a home in the English country,in the famous museum ,in a sumptuous palace with a fascinating corridor of mirrors ,symbol of illusions and of a time which ,no matter what he tries, is passing by the hero,a time which is not on his side ,even if he goes back as far as the Italian Renaissance -with scenes of carnival which may have inspired Fellini for "Casanova" -this is the lost gem of the English cinema.

melvelvit-1 A well-to-do wife and mother (Edana Romney) travels to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in London to rendezvous with an old flame (Eric Portman) executed ten years before as their strange, tragic romance unfolds in flashback.The director of DR. NO blends Hitchcock with Cocteau in this psychological pseudo-"period" melodrama with Gothic overtones that is equal parts REBECCA and VERTIGO as filtered through BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Reincarnation (maybe), obsession, fetish, romance, madness and murder are interwoven in an opulently stylized, dream-like tale. The unusual plot involving a past affair with one of Mme. Tussaud's wax-work murderers is absorbing and holds the interest from the outset. There's a literal as well as symbolic "corridor of mirrors" and many small touches that make the story come alive. Eric Portman plays wealthy Paul Mangin, a man living in the past, who holds a strange fascination for an impressionable young girl and goes from frightening to vulnerable over the course of the film. Edana Romney (a British cross between Mexico's Maria Felix and Hollywood's Faith Domergue) plays Mifanwy Conway (love that name!) and brings this seemingly frivolous character to life as her situation becomes increasingly more disturbing. Their ill-fated union plays out in Mangin's Venetian-style mansion where time stands still and Mifanwy almost comes to believe they were once lovers in fifteenth-century Italy but when she starts using her head instead of her heart, tragedy follows. In a film with many visual images that will stay in the mind long after it's over, the high point comes during a Venetian costume ball and a satisfying denouement ties up every loose end save one -the lady's still a dead ringer for the Rensiassance temptress in a 400 year-old painting Mangin fell in love with during the war. The literary references scattered throughout include "Otello", "Wuthering Heights" and "Through The Looking Glass" while the lovers' first waltz foreshadows Vincente Minnelli's MADAME BOVARY made the following year. Christopher Lee and Lois Maxwell ("Miss Moneypenny" in director Young's James Bond films) have small roles.Unusual and hypnotic.

Swift-12 A recommendable film if you'll overlook and forgive certain elements (the dialog and acting are rather stiff by today's standards). The twisting plot unfolds satisfactorily: in the introduction a woman travels to keep an ominous meeting and recalls a previous love affair. In flashback we learn of her lover's strange obsession to transform her into the image of another woman. He himself seems to belong to another time and place, lost in the past. Is he sane, is he safe to trust? Only after keeping her appointment, do we learn the true nature and motivations of the man.. and of others. This film predates "Vertigo" by a decade, but the similarities are eerie. Enjoy the lush sets and costumes. The score does much to set the tone of mystery and fantasy. And finally, Edana Romney is gorgeous (I think I once knew someone who looked JUST like her... )