The Locked Door (1929)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

George Fitzmaurice

Writers:

Channing Pollock (play) and
C. Gardner Sullivan (screen adaptation)

Release Date:

16 November 1929 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery

Tagline:

A drama of sacrifice and supreme love

Plot:

On her first anniversary Ann Reagan finds that her sister-in-law is involved with a shady character from her own past, and determines to intervene.

Plot Keywords:

Cuckold | Shot To Death | Remake | Prohibition | Gigolo

US TV Schedule:

Thur. July 16

6:00 AM

TCM

Cast

Rod La Rocque	...	Frank Devereaux
Barbara Stanwyck	...	Ann Carter
William 'Stage' Boyd	...	Lawrence Reagan
Betty Bronson	...	Helen Reagan
Harry Stubbs	...	The Waiter
Harry Mestayer	...	District Attorney
Mack Swain	...	Hotel Proprietor
Zasu Pitts	...	Telephone Girl (as Zazu Pitts)
George Bunny	...	The Valet
Purnell Pratt	...	Police Officer
Fred Warren	...	Photographer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marie Prevost	...	Roomate

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (MovieTone)

Company:

George Fitzmaurice Productions

Trivia:

Zasu Pitts' first name is spelled "Zazu" in the opening credits.

Quotes:

Frank Devereaux: Shoot yourself in the head, and if you live, you can become a Waiter.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Visions of Light (1992)

Soundtrack:

I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling

Overwrought Melodrama

Other than the fact that this was Barbara Stanwyck's second film and talkie debut, believe me there isn't any other reason to remember The Locked Door. It's a rather turgid melodrama with some stock company heroes and villains. It might very well have been a play on the Cotton Blossom, but for its urban setting.

Barbara Stanwyck showed something in this film though, she wouldn't have had the career she had if she didn't. You can definitely spot the star quality with her.

The film is based on a Broadway play by Channing Pollock that ran 187 performances during the 1919-1920 season. The subject of Prohibition was new at that time, by 1929 it was old hat. In any event it's only part of the story.

Stanwyck and Snidely Whiplash villain Rod LaRocque are on a floating gambling and drinking boat when it's raided. They both jump bail and go their separate ways, Stanwyck thanking the Deity she had no further involvement with LaRocque.

But that's not what fate has in store for her. She marries William Boyd, a widower with daughter Betty Bronson. Guess who Bronson tells dear old Dad and step mom who she's involved with.

When both Stanwyck and Boyd go to confront LaRocque, but separately, that's when the action really starts.

One thing I will say in favor of the film, the camera work reminded me a whole lot of Alfred Hitchcock's famous one set films, Rear Window and Rope, because the story takes place in the last half in LaRocque's apartment. But the hammy acting and melodramatic plot date this film terribly.

Still Barbara Stanwyck's personality certainly stands out.