"House of secrets" is adapted from the book of Boileau and Narcejac and of course from the movie and new script by Clouzot. it begins like the french masterpiece "les Diaboliques", then adapted a shorter passage from the book and then ends again like Clouzot's movie. We all know that "les Diaboliques" adaptation by the Clouzot brothers was far different from the book, and the husband's resurrection is their idea (and not in the book), so why their name isn't in the writing credits? This tv version has some interesting scenes. When Melissa Gilbert gets frightened with her poor heart condition, she really looks like Vera Clouzot in the Clouzot movie. It is also interesting that a woman directed the movie and adapted it in a french part of the United States, at la Nouvelle Orléans (with carnaval sequences and cajun concert). But the best scenes are with Bruce Boxleitner, a psychotic husband, with two great impressive frightening scenes (not including the bathtub ending, rather poor). I prefer this tv version of "les Diaboliques" much more than french tv version "les Démoniaques with Aurore Clément (the only positive point of this 1991 version).
Review of House of Secrets
House of Secrets
(1993 TV Movie)
"les Diaboliques" in Louisiana : a mix of Boileau-Narcejac and Clouzot
4 March 2020