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CHARLES BRONSON 'SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR' ANTHONY PERKINS

Year: 1971 Title: SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR Rating: ***1/2

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... more logical than psycho in a psychological thriller... 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 better)... 

Charles Bronson and Anthony Perkins in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR

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

And despite SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR wielding an art-house short film plot-line stretched to 90-minutes, it doesn't drag or where-out its offbeat and intentionally uncomfortable, avant-garde unwelcome either way. 

Charles Bronson and Anthony Perkins in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Charles Bronson and Anthony Perkins in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR

Anthony Perkins in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Anthony Perkins in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Agathe Natanson in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Jill Ireland in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Jill Ireland in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Compare the poster of Someone Behind the Door with the next decade's Yellowbeard
Charles Bronson in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Agathe Natanson in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Charles Bronson and Anthony Perkins in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Charles Bronson and Anthony Perkins in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Birthday presents age 52 blu-rays for three European Phase Charles Bronson flicks
Anthony Perkins (in heaven) with Charles Bronson in Someone Behind the Door
Anthony Perkins (that expression!) with Charles Bronson in Someone Behind the Door
Cute nurse Isabelle Del Rio boring Anthony Perkins in Someone behind the Door
Charles Bronson in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Charles Bronson in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Anthony Perkins in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
SEASPEED From SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
SEASPEED From SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Charles Bronson and Anthony Perkins in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Charles Bronson and Anthony Perkins in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Charles Bronson and Anthony Perkins in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Agathe Natanson in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Agathe Natanson in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR with Anthony Perkins
Agathe Natanson in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR with Anthony Perkins
Charles Bronson and Anthony Perkins in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Agathe Natanson in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR with Anthony Perkins
SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR with Anthony Perkins
Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
TONY PERKINS in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Anthony Perkins and Charles Bronson in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Anthony Perkins and Charles Bronson in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Anthony Perkins and Charles Bronson in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Anthony Perkins and Charles Bronson in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Anthony Perkins and Charles Bronson in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Anthony Perkins and Charles Bronson in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Anthony Perkinss in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR
Anthony Perkinss in SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR with Charles Bronson & Jill Ireland

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