The Strange Door

Very much a B movie, luridly adapted from Stevenson's story The Sire de Malétroit's Door, but solidly implanted in the old Frankenstein sets and looking like a rough prototype for Corman's Poe series. Laughton goes enjoyably over the top as a love-crazed madman prowling a Gothic castle where the rightful owner (his elder brother) lies rotting in a dungeon and a room with clashing walls awaits the unwary intruder. Karloff balances him beautifully as the baleful but sympathetic servant who bides his time, eventually contriving a rather splendid comeuppance involving a remorselessly grinding water-wheel. It's surprisingly imaginatively put together in its thick-ear way.