User reviews

In the late 60's, having not made the box-office impact he so desired in America, Charles Bronson began acting in European films, where he immediately became a hit, establishing the enigmatic screen persona he is still known for today. Some of the films he made during that time were great, others weren't, but all held entertainment value of one kind or another. One of the more intriguingly off-beat was 'Someone Behind the Door', following a neurosurgeon who takes a strange man suffering from amnesia into his home, seemingly to recover his identity. However, as time marches on, it becomes clear that the doctor has other, far more sinister plans in mind, and his manipulation of the amnesiac's memories are just the beginning.

Directed by Nicolas Gessner, 'Someone Behind the Door' is an occasionally tense psychological thriller that isn't particularly well-written, but features two fine central performances from Bronson as the amnesiac and Anthony Perkins as the neurosurgeon, as well as artistic, stylish cinematography from Pierre Lhomme.

There is an atmosphere of dread and mystery that is palpable from the opening shots, which grows in intensity, ever-building towards an explosive finale. Lhomme's odd use of space and his irregular framing heightens this feeling of intrigue- as well as being visually stimulating to watch. It may not be the work of Sven Nykvist, but it is effective at creating and maintaining the tone of quiet, enigmatic agitation that runs throughout the film.

Perkins and Bronson might seem like an odd combination, but they work together brilliantly (apparently enjoying an off-screen friendship to boot). Bronson powerfully underplays his role, seeming like a cat cornered in a veterinary surgery- his fear, vulnerability and frustration is quite palpable. Bronson shows us the pain someone suffering from amnesia would undergo in a subtle, quiet and very effective manner. Later in the film, when his past is made known to himself and the audience, it is a highly impactful moment solely because of his strong, measured performance (as the writing in the screenplay really is consistently average). There are relatively few times in his career when he would have the opportunity to display his range as an actor- here you can witness one of his more interesting performances.

Perkins was a massively talented, versatile performer and proves that fact once again here. As the duplicitous neurosurgeon, he is seedy, vile and utterly watchable. He brings a natural charm and levity to the role that is most appreciated, as the character is quite contemptible- one could imagine a lesser actor playing him as a one-note, manipulative villain. Perkins was more intelligent than that, making the fellow oddly likable- though still utterly monstrous.

Jill Ireland also has a small role as Perkins' wife, though her performance makes little impact, and the character isn't one of much- if any- depth. However, this is less of a problem with her than it is with the writing. The screenplay is credited to four people- including Gessner and Marc Behm, who wrote the story to 'Charade', among others- and while it has some interesting and tense moments, it is terribly mediocre.

While the central conceit is intriguing- if far-fetched- the story is far too predictable, the dialogue too stilted and the characterization too tenuous to leave a positive lasting impression. Without the depth of Bronson's performance, his character would be incredibly boring and under-written, and without the joy of Perkins' one, his character would be a caricature of an evil doctor- nothing more. How the four writers couldn't come up with some good dialogue or meaningful characterization is confounding, considering they all proved their talent when working on other projects.

All that said, the film is entertaining and suspenseful, due in large part to the stylish camerawork and fine central performances from the lead actors. While 'Someone Behind the Door' suffers from derivative, lifeless screenwriting at times, it's not a bad film, containing some genuinely surprising moments of real tension. For fans of Bronson and Perkins, it's highly recommended- though fans of Gessner's signature, strange brand of cinema might be a little bit disappointed.

Two legendary movie stars make the most of the situation in this enjoyable, if not exactly that believable, drama. Anthony Perkins is Laurence Jefferies, a neurosurgeon working in Britain who intends to do something about his cheating wife Frances (Jill Ireland, a.k.a. Mrs. Charles Bronson). He realizes that an amnesiac (Bronson) whom he's just met will make the perfect patsy. All he has to do is convince the stranger that Frances is *his* wife, lay out evidence of the affair, and let the stranger get revenge on behalf of him.

The script (adapted from a novel by Jacques Robert) may not exactly be airtight, but the set-up is still pretty irresistible. Director Nicolas Gessner ("The Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane") handles things in capable if not overly stylish fashion. Part of the effectiveness stems from enjoying the machinations of this doctor, and how he's spent so much time working on solving his problem. True enough that he may be tops in his field, but as we can see, he's been a highly inadequate husband. Perkins is so much fun to watch in this antagonistic role.

But any fan of Bronson will find this particularly compelling since Bronson is not a macho man of action, but a highly suggestible and vulnerable character (who doesn't even receive a proper name). Ireland delivers one of her better performances as the wife; good support is provided by Henri Garcin as the lover, Adriano Magistretti as Jefferies' brother-in-law, Agathe Natanson as Lucy, and Colin Mann as the police sergeant.

The conclusion to the film may come as disappointing to some viewers, since very little is resolved, but others may find it intriguing that the film ends with a question mark. (All those cuts, back and forth, between two of the main characters get annoying quickly, however.)

Thankfully, "Someone Behind the Door" is over and done in a reasonable amount of time, so at least it doesn't go on longer than it really should.

Seven out of 10.

Nicolas Gessner :" For close-ups of hands,I usually inserted my own ,because it's an intricate and tricky operation .But obviously ,I couldn't do it with Tony ,because he had such very characteristic hands "

Fluent in French for he had been learning this language since he was hardly four, Perkins would work twice with Claude Chabrol ("le scandale " " la décade prodigieuse") and that director would probably have made a better film than Gessner on a screenplay based on a play (it was performed on stage in France). The English refused to co-produce the film cause the unions refused American stars as the leads ;it was released in both versions , Perkins' voice is heard in both.

But the movie is not bad ,with a good atmosphere ,and ,it helps, several scenes filmed on location on the wild British coast in Folkestone.Perkins is well cast as a shrink , forbidding ,daunting and formidable under his wide smile .

The contrast between the two personalities ,at once in the movie and in real life,is striking : the flanky elegant aristocrat Perkins and the macho sturdy Bronson ,here cast against type ,and a little ill at ease in a part of an amnesiac who becomes a puppet in the doctor's hands .The fact that Mrs Perkins (Jill Ireland)in the film was Bronson's real life wife adds to the confusion of a somewhat far-fetched plot the ending of which is not really satisfying , but they perhaps wanted an open one.The plot ,although intriguing , is not as efficient as Anthony Shaffer's or Agatha Christie's plays .

"The slight tension between them enhanced their performance" Gessner said ;Bronson was distruthful and feared that his director and co-star could lead into doing things he would regret .Anyway it was not easy to cast against type an actor so sure of himself (and who made much more money at the box office).

It met mixed critical reception in 1971,but since it has aged pretty well , thanks to the two principals, whose relationship is fascinating.

Bronson's fans would be very surprised ,had they the opportunity to see this Nicolas Gessner movie.He's not here the he-man they expect.He plays an amnesiac,caught like a fly in a cobweb by shrink Perkins.In this kind of thriller ,Perkins' "psycho prestige" works and it makes the audience feel he's watching a Hitchcock ersatz-which is not that much bad after all,a Hitchcock ersatz may be much better than a genuine X....... thriller.The main problem lies in the fact that most of the time,it seems like a filmed stage production.Hitchcock could easily get away with such works as "the rope " or "dial M for murder".Gessner has not his genius and his directing becomes sometimes ponderous. Hitchcok's lessons will be much better applied on "sleuth" ,Mankiewicz's triumph the following year,and to a lesser degree,on Penn's "dead of winter" (1987).

Late Jill Ireland plays the female part ,as it was often the case in those days,as far Bronson movies were concerned.Nicolas Gessner continued his work with American actors on his follow-up which would be a long time coming (late seventies) "la petite fille au bout du chemin" (the little girl who lives down the lane)and featured Jodie Foster and Martin Sheen.It was probably his best .Then he worked abroad without great success.His most notable work was for French TV "le château des oliviers " (early nineties,with Brigitte Fossey)which gained the audience's approval.

Outlandish , stagy drama excellently performed by a phenomenal trio . Dealing with a neurosurgeon named Laurence (efficiently performed by Anthony Perkins) who extremely dedicated to his work neglects his cheating wife Frances (Jill Ireland) . As the frustrated , philandering woman accordingly takes a lover, Paul Damien , a French journalist (Henri Garcin) . When he realizes what is going on , Laurence has only one thing in mind : vendetta , and a diabolical idea comes to him . Then he takes a patient , an allegedly killer (Charles Bronson, a cast against type at his 49 years) into his tool for revenge by implanting murderous suggestions into psychopathic amnesia victim , making him believe that Frances is his wife , and after that , instructs him to commit grisly acts . No Memory, No Name , No Conscience! Bronson's Back! This Time He's the Bad Guy . No memory, no name, no mind: This man will act out someone else's insanity and revenge.

This is an offbeat and intelligent drama-suspense with good performances and plenty of plot twists , though some moments resulting to be slow-moving . Based on a short story written by Jacques Robert with adaptation & dialogue from Lorenzo Ventavoli and director Nicolas Gessner himself . Casting is really magnificent with a sensational trio of main actors . Anthony Perkins is very nice as the evil brain surgeon Dr. Laurence Jeffries, a cunning neurosurgeon who implants murderous suggestions , and Jill Ireland is fine as his cheating wife . But is Charles Bronson who steals the show as an amnesiac patient who's used as an instrument of revenge by conditioning him to believe that the adulterous wife is his own and to take the appropriate action . This is an unusual Bronson film , as he casts against type , and he was about 50 years old when he showed up in this picture . It belongs to his period when he played two-fisted characters . As Charles Bronson was at his best period , but it was one of the last movies during Charles Bronson's European phase , combining the American ¨Michael Winner's Death Wish¨series that became him a big star in the US and while playing some 70s westerns ; his westerns made during the 1970s include ¨Chino¨ by John Sturges (1973) , ¨Red sun¨ (1971) by Terence Young , ¨Chato the Apache¨ by Michael Winner (1972), ¨From noon till three¨ by Francis D Gilroy (1976) , ¨Nevada Express¨ by Tom Gries (1975) and ¨The White Buffalo¨ by J. L. Thompson (1977) . The star is partnered by attractive Jill Ireland , his then wife , in fact she previously married David McCallum and often accompanied to Bronson in his films .

The movie displays an atmospheric cinematography by cameraman Pierre Lhomme and appropriate soundtrack by French composer Georges Garvarentz . This uneven motion picture was professionally directed by Nicolas Gessner . He's an acceptable director who has made a few films . As he has shot ¨The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane¨ (1976) his best movie starred by Jodie Foster , Martin Sheen and he directed to Ben Gazzara in ¨Quicker than the eye¨ and to Charles Bronson in this ¨Someone behind the door¨. The film will appeal to Charles Bronson and Anthony Perkins fans. Rating : 6/10 . Acceptable and passable .

Average thriller of a psychological nature about Anthony Perkins as a brain specialist finding amnesiac Charles Bronson and convincing him that his wife is his wife and is having an affair - all the while having a real affair. This is Perkin's way of dealing with the messy affair. There is quite a bit of plodding here as well as some leaps of logic in the script that are not easily believed. Perkins and Bronson are able to create convincing enough characters to make it work relatively well. Perkins plays the malevolent, to a large degree impotent(of taking command of the situation)doctor with his customary workmanlike manner. Bronson does get to act and though looks a little too lost at times fares well enough too. Lovely Jill Ireland plays the good doctor's sexy wife but does little for her role or the film other than looking quite appealing. The end is really not effective as it leaves no real resolution to any of the plot strands revealed. The director does have some obvious talent and the film moves briskly mercifully.

Charles Bronson turns up at a hospital in Folkestone, UK seemingly suffering from acute amnesia. Neurosurgeon Anthony Perkins takes him under his wing and to his home where he uses Bronson's amnesia to his own advantage, persuading him that his own wife and her lover are actually Bronson's and strong action needs to be taken.

An interesting oddity this in that it is essentially a two hander featuring an unlikely double act and with the roles reversed compared to what you'd expect. Perkins is therefore the principal lead and the scheming alpha male whilst Bronson is more or less the support player troubled and confused and relying on nasty Anthony Perkins to guide him. It makes for an interesting chamber piece and watching Branson play somewhat against type makes a nice change.

The problem here is that the underlying plot to twist Bronson's mind and get him to do unpleasant things just isn't convincing and when it's all over you're left with a feeling of no, I don't buy that. Pity.

A man is brought to a hospital with a severe case of amnesia and neurosurgeon Laurence Jeffries takes it upon himself to help out the patient. He dismisses it as intoxication, and pretends to take him to the station. However he brings him back to his home, but the motivation for this is unclear, and everything he's doing to supposedly treat him is done in secrecy. The identity of the stranger is becoming clearer, but so are the doctor's true intentions as he begins to manipulate the situation.

Confined, low-key low-budget French/Italian psychological drama with commendable performances by Charles Bronson and Anthony Perkins. The whole-set-up is like a stage show, were it lies heavily upon the expressively versatile performances and ambitiously novel material. The layer-bound premise is totally illogical, but strangely absorbing with its unforeseeable offbeat nature of offering up numerous surprises, and interestingly unlikely developments. However there are some questionable, teething problems involving the scheming, and its possible outcome. There's just too many cracks, to make it bullet proof that you just wonder if there was much thought put in behind it. Still there are elements that are smartly conceived, and this can be contributed to the manipulative tension (where the repressed anger, and violence is played out through a human tool) and mind-messing that director Nicolas Gessner (the man behind the superb 'The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)') ably works in. As well the believably committed turns of the two leads. Bronson and Perkins worked off each other magnificently. Perkins' cold, planned performance with Bronson's disorientated, assailable figure is sincerely pre-figured. There's no doubt this is one of Bronson's best acting turns. Jill Ireland is adequate in her small role. Gessner's sure-footed direction subtly paints a glum, intrusive puzzle with unique filming techniques that slowly strings you along to a powerfully bitter climax, which finally concludes on an inspired final shot of possible sickening regret. Sometimes it loses out by ponderously stretching it out too much with some raggedy editing, and another weak spot was the playful, but unremarkable misplaced music score by Georges Garvarentz. It just didn't add any sort of punch, or feel. Pierre Lhomme's slick cinematography is steadily framed.

Back in the good old days, before the success of "Death Wish" forced him into playing the same role of the angry vigilante over and over again, Charles Bronson was a fine, versatile actor; in this 1971 film, he actually plays the victim of a larger scheme (though he does some victimizing of his own, too), and he's the best - if not the only - reason to see this otherwise static, plodding thriller. Anthony Perkins disappoints as the slightly deranged brain surgeon. The version I saw was in French, though the actors clearly spoke English on the set; this only added to the strangeness of the experience. Oh, and good luck to anyone trying to figure out what the title has to do with anything else. (**)

French shot/English speaking psychological thriller mirroring François Truffaut mirroring Alfred Hitchcock has a perfectly cast Anthony Perkins as a neurosurgeon taking an amnesiac patient to his plush home in order to (supposedly) help the nameless stranger, played by an only slightly miscast Charles Bronson, pacing taut and timid like a caged beast during his pre-fame European Phase...

But this is really Perkins' ride, providing another hiding-a-dark-secret creepy guy role...

And from the mellow cadence, what could have been cat-and-mouse is more like mouse-and-mouse, or mouse and toothless cat, even during Bronson's sporadic tantrums in a noirish plot involving Jill Ireland as the doc's cheating wife (employing a cute Agathe Natanson as their maid, who'd have fit the ingenue role much better)...

It's no irony that both Bronson and Perkins are ultimately best remembered playing killers the audience sympathizes with, and director Nicolas Gessner uses effective zoom shots and strategic camera angles/setups to the advantage of this "chessboard mystery" (mainly involving one set) where both antagonist and protagonist seem equally sinister and vulnerable...

And despite SOMEONE BEHIND THE WINDOW wielding an art-house short film plot-line stretched to 90-minutes, it doesn't drag either way.

A slow moving thriller with no thrills, suspense or logic to it. Anthony Perkins turns in an unconvincing performance as a brain surgeon and criminal mastermind. Charles Bronson, playing an amnesia victim, spends the whole time looking lost and confused; Maybe he thought he was part of the audience. Jill Ireland looks good but shows no real talent for acting. The lack of a tense background score (Instead, a movement from Dvorak's "New World Symphony" plays on a record player) makes the proceedings seem even more dry and lifeless. The tedium goes on far too long, with scant reward for those viewers who make it to the end. Cannot recommend this film.

Nicolas Gessner adapted well this story from a french bestseller,with two great stars Charles Bronson,and Anthony Perekins.

Now it's really about acting and story,I mean this just could not be a bad movie.

I feel like most of us wanted to see Charles Bronson playing a character we could not decide who is he in this situation.This role shows he's real acting skills are better than what you think.

This film was not just a mirror exercises for him,today when we just crying back real character filling,this film has real right to exist for crime -thriller fans,and all for those wants to see a good drama.

While this is not a feel good movie,you have to understand it's about how important something that now I can not tell you cause,it will hurt your watch.

7/10-recommended.

... it has no ending. Really. You don't know what happens to the characters. Sure, not the first in a movie but this is a somewhat seedy crime movie.

This movie is quite different from Charles Bronson other movies. If you expect to see some car chase, high kicks and punches. It grows slowly to the climax but in the end the audience are left on their own to guess what would happen. Jill Ireland is an added attraction. She played her role very well.

Enjoyed this film starring Charles Bronson,(The Stranger),"The Indian Runner",'91 who plays a man who has lost his memory and is treated at a hospital and taken home by Anothony Perkins,(Laurence Jeffries),"Edge of Sanity",'89. Laurence is a psychiatrist and decides to use this Stranger as an experiment and at the same time play games with his brain that seems to be empty of all personnel remembrance. Jill Ireland,(Francis Jeffries),"The Mechanic",'72 is a very attractive wife to Laurence Jeffries, but is neglected in the bedroom love making and has drifted a part from her husband. This is a rather interesting drama and suspense film, but rather slow paced.

Fans of Both Actors will Enjoy this Slightly-Offbeat European Psycho-Drama-Thriller.

It Showcases the Duo Intertwined in a Story about a Doctor, whose Specialty is Amnesia, and an Amnesiac that has No Clue about Who He is, or Where He is, and is Essentially a "Blank".

Brought to the Hospital, where Perkins Resides, He Immediately, Against All Rules, takes Bronson Home and Tells the "Lost Soul", He will Care for Him and Treat Him as His Patient.

One of the Peripheral Pleasures is that there Definitely is a "Psycho" or Very Disturbed Person Leading this Movie Along.

But it isn't Clear, at First, just Who is the Disturbed One and Who is Not.

That's Part of the Hidden Persuasion and Draw to this Low-Budget, but Well-Acted Movie.

The Film Ends with an Unconventional Last Few Shots, Once the Mysterious Plot is Unraveled, with Jill Ireland, Perkins Wife Involved Throughout the Center of the Intrigue, but with Minimal Screen-Time.

This is Essentially a "One-Set", 2 Actor Film, Restrained by its Budget-Limitations.

So Bronson and Perkins Must Perform, and Perform They Do.

Bronson Especially, Playing Against-Type as s Character, Very Unusual, and Almost Non-Existent in the Over 100 or so Movies He Made as a Man of Few Words and Much Action.

For Fans of Charles Bronson and Anthony Perkins its a Must See.

For Others it's Definitely Good Enough to be...

Worth a Watch.

Interesting psychological thriller. (I'd love to know what stage play it is based on.) The angst and drama don't quite hold up to the end but it is a nice ride getting there.

**SPOILERS** Working his usual 16 hour shift at the hospital Dr. Laurence Jefferies, Anthony Perkins, spots a confused and discombobulated stranger played by Charles Bronson in the emergency ward and a light-bulb light up in his head.

Laurence's sexy wife Frances, Jill Ireland, had been cheating on him and is about to leave for Paris to see her secret lover French journalist Paul Damien, Henri Garcin. With this stranger suffering from amnesia Laurence can now get his revenge without ever getting his hands dirty and ending up behind bars.

The stranger wants to go home but doesn't quite know where home is and Laurence volunteers to drive him to the Bogston train station where he can get a train to London where the stranger strangely feels that he comes from.

Found on East Cliff Beach the stranger has a nasty scratch on his chest as if he was being fought off by somebody, most properly a woman. Later in the movie we get a flashback, from the stranger, that he was involved in a rape and murder of a young woman on the beach.

Laurence instead of taking the stranger to Bogston Station takes him back to his home and manically conditions his unbalanced and violent mind, with drugs that he slips into his orange juice, to murder his wife's Frances lover Paul but makes it as if Frances is really his, the stranger's, wife who cheating on him.

Laurence is so obsessed in getting the stranger to murder Paul that he overlooks the fact that he had a gun on him, that Laurence found in the stranger's raincoat,that should have tipped him off how dangerous and violent he really is.

Planting love letters from Paul, and a nude photo of Frances on the stranger's clothes whacks out the stranger's mind. This tricked him into thinking that Frances is his wife, and gets him all riled up and crazy and more then willing to do in her lover Paul.

Laurence also get's his brother in law Andrews, Adriano Magistretti, to get in touch, as a middle man, with Paul so he would come to England and talk his differences over with him in a clam and civilized way but in reality be confronted with the now mad and almost insane stranger. Laurence's plan works to perfection until the stranger and Paul meet at his front door, with him hiding like the coward that he is upstairs. It's then that something terribly goes wrong and the stranger balks. Instead of immediately shooting Paul Frances, who was unexpectedly with Paul outside in his car, Paul realizes that the stranger is not her husband at all but an impostor.

Undoubtedly this was Charles Bronson's best acting but the movie "Someone Behind the Door" is far from his best movie with a totally unbelievably story-line that doesn't give his acting any credit.

Anthony Perkins is so weird that I pity the patients that he's attending back at the hospital, or in his doctor's office, if you consider Charles Bronson, the stranger, as a prime example of his "top notch" medical work.

Jill Ireland is by far the most believable, with her lover Henri Garcin playing Paul a close second, of the actors in the movie with her shock and total confusion at the end of the movie when she meets her "husband" the stranger Charles Bronson, even though he's her husband in real life. The wild and furious fight that they have is inter-cut with the stranger's rape and murder of the young woman that caused his amnesia was by far the highlight of the movie.

Is it just me or did it seem like Charles Bronson was a serious, Academy Award-winning actor in this film? Maybe it is just me. But, most who've seen this flick will concede that it is a bit different from the usual Bronson fare, and that his acting was top-notch. The only thing hurting this movie is its slow pace and its somewhat convoluted plot. Other than that, it's a fairly decent movie. Appreciate the cinematography! 6/10

"Someone Behind the Door" is not bad but not great either. It still is better than most of Bronson's other films but this film is not recognized because it is so rare. I would never have found out about it if it weren't for accidently running across it in a video store. Charles Bronson plays an amnesia victim who is taken in by doctor Anthony Perkins. But Perkins has a plan to kill his wife so he convinces Bronson to murder her. "Someone Behind the Door" might disappoint some of Bronson's fans because it does not have the violence that is other films have.

I really don't know how much money Charles Bronson used to make when he appeared in these overseas films, it must have been a nice chunk of change. This movie is hardly watchable. If you are a fan of the lead actors, you probably won't mind watching this once. Otherwise avoid this film at all costs.