Inside the Nut House: Behind Locked Doors (1948)

This is another semi-noir drama resurrected by Kino Video that is better than I expected it to be. A product of poverty row studio Eagle-Lion, like a number of good films, Behind Locked Doors tries to give us an early expose of the horrors of being committed to a sanitarium. Quite a bit of the scare value has evaporated since we now know that mental institutions are not prisons with shackles and bars, but the cast is well chosen and the script has a quite a bit of banter that keeps the film moving.

Richard Carlson (Creature from the Black Lagoon) stars as Ross Stewart, a private eye on his first case. He is hired by newspaper reporter Kathy Lawrence (Lucille Bremer) to play crazy and go behind the doors of a private mental asylum, you know, in Lost Angeles - there are plenty of them there. His object is to find a judge who is a fugitive from justice with a ten thousand dollar price on his head. Bremer has a hunch he is hiding inside, protected by a doctor who is an old crony of the judge. She offers a fifty-fifty split if Carlson can prove he is inside.

The movie shows the means by which Carlson gets fraudulently committed - he learns the symptoms of manic depression then puts on an act for the state psychiatrist while his “wife” Bremer requests a letter of introduction to the local private sanitariums, so his name will not be dragged in the mud. When she presents it to the director of the sanitarium she is interested in, they take it as if it is an order from the state that he be admitted. Once inside, however, Carlson learns there are more difficulties than he anticipated. He is put in with the general population but there is a locked ward upstairs, for the violent patients. That’s where he figures the judge is hiding, if anywhere, but how can he get inside to check?

Behind Locked Doors has a couple points in its favor. Directed by Oscar "Budd" Boetticher, known for great "B" western movies, it has a quick pace and keeps your attention - at 62 minutes there is just no time for fooling around and Boetticher uses the time well, packing in the excitement as well as he can. The camera lays the shadows on thickly, courtesy of Guy Roe's cinematography. It emphasizes lots of barred windows and ominous looming dark places adding to the atmosphere of gloom. The sets are decent and the doors look massive, while behind the locked ward doors lurks a huge mentally unstable fighter called Champ, played by familiar face Tor Johnson. The music score is dramatic and only used for emphasis, and is also uncredited. Film editing does a good job of keeping you informed without a lot of needless footage.

The casting is better than you'd expect, with Carlson proving equal to the challenge of carrying the movie. The script has a fair amount of wisecracking that Carlson handles well. Bremer's performance is smaller and is well done also. The minor characters like the mental patient Champ (Tor Johnson), the sadistic guard (Douglas Fowley); the doctor (Thomas Browne); uncredited Dickie Moore (Out of the Past) also has a brief appearance.

The DVD is by Kino Video and the 62 minute black and white movie is well preserved and will make a good rental if you can find it. Available for purchase separately, it is fairly expensive while it is also included in the Kino five title set Film Noir: The Dark Side of Hollywood for considerable savings.

A stripped down film that looks behind the locked doors of a mental asylum, it's not for everyone, but people who are attracted to such a story will probably enjoy the movie.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day