Behind the Door
About Behind the Door
In a frame set in 1925, Oscar Krug walks into a graveyard above a Maine town and then into the taxidermy shop he used to own. In 1917 the town distrusts him because of his German name. He wins Alice Morse over her banker father's objection, and they go to sea when the United States enters the war. A U-boat under Lt. Brandt sinks his ship and takes Alice from their lifeboat. Later Krug, in command of another ship, sinks Brandt's boat. He gets Brandt drunk in the cabin. Brandt, not knowing who he is, boasts that Alice was abused and died. Krug ties him behind a closet door and skins him alive with his taxidermy tools. Back in the shop, Krug dies at the worktable. Alice's spirit meets his.
Cast & crew
More about Behind the Door
Irvin Willat directed and edited it. Thomas H. Ince produced it. Paramount released it on December 14, 1919. Wikipedia gives 70 minutes, seven reels. J. O. Taylor and Frank M. Blount photographed it. Hobart Bosworth plays Krug. Jane Novak plays Alice Morse. Wallace Beery plays Brandt. The film survives.
Themes
Background
Set in 1917, when a German-American name is enough for the Maine town to turn on Krug.
Making
Willat stages the revenge in a cabin, with Bosworth using the tools of the taxidermy shop.
Look
J. O. Taylor and Frank M. Blount shot the Maine shop, the sinking, and the cabin.
Preservation
A surviving print.
Notes
- The present-tense frame is 1925, six years after the release.
- Krug had been a U.S. Navy sailor before he was a taxidermist.
- The officers walk in after the skinning and see what he has done.
- Brandt tells the story of Alice's death without knowing Krug is her husband.
Scenes
- Brandt boasts, drunk, about Alice's death.
- Krug skins him behind the closet door.
