1948 film
Corridor of Mirrors is a 1948 British drama film directed by Terence Young and starring Eric Portman, Edana Romney and Barbara Mullen.[1] It was based on a novel of the same title by Chris Massie[2] and marked the film debut of both Terence Young and Christopher Lee.[3][4] Stylistically it is a Gothic mystery.[5] It was shot at the Studios Radio Cinema in Paris. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Terence Verity and Serge Piménoff. An independent production by Apollo Film, it was released by Rank's General Film Distributors.
Synopsis
In London, the wealthy and reclusive artist Paul Mangin is fixated on the past and lives in a luxurious house entirely devoted to evoking the atmosphere of earlier centuries. One night in a nightclub he encounters the beautiful Mifanwy Conway. He becomes transfixed by her, convinced that they had once been lovers in Renaissance Italy, before she betrayed him. She is attracted to his cultivated lifestyle, but becomes alarmed by his obsessive manner and by the ominous warnings of his mysterious housekeeper, Veronica. Mangin cautions her that Veronica is insane, but Mifanwy is unconvinced. She tries to break free from his control by visiting the Welsh countryside with the recently-returned explorer Owen Rhys, who wants to marry her.
Her escape is cut short when she receives an invitation to a costume ball organised in her honour by Mangin, who has opened his house to the curious London society. That night, dressed as Cesare Borgia, Mangin is arrested for strangling his discarded former lover Caroline. Convicted at trial, he is hanged for murder.
Several years later, she receives a series of threatening letters and a telegram asking for a meeting at Madame Tussauds, where she sees the waxwork of the now infamous Mangin, surrounded by other notorious murderers. She is met by Mangin's former butler, who sent the telegram. He informs her that Veronica is behind the letters and that her insanity has worsened over time; he plans to put her in an asylum. Veronica enters the wax museum and speaks to Mangin's waxwork, revealing that she killed Caroline out of jealousy, having mistaken her for Mifanwy in the darkness. She then senses that Mifanwy is in the museum and begins threatening her. Mifanwy retorts that Veronica has turned Mangin, the man she supposedly loved, into "an effigy of horror and wax." Dazed, Veronica runs into the street and is hit by a lorry. Mifanwy returns to Wales and the happy young family she has with Owen Rhys. He tells her that Veronica confessed to Caroline's murder before her death, and Mangin has been vindicated.
Critical reception
In his 4/5 star review in the Radio Times, David Parkinson wrote: "the more eccentric the action gets (and the more manic Georges Auric's score seems), the more compelling it becomes. In her sole starring venture, Romney (who also co-scripted) isn't quite up to the task. But Portman is magnificently unhinged and Terence Verity's art direction is outstanding."[6]
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