![]() With the dancing and partying going on outside of the house both Marion and Laura take the knocked-out Dr. Marion quirky changes her mind and give him another drink, which Ravinel asks for, that soon puts him to sleep and on queer street. Back to "normal" now Ravinel, mad at her spilling the lemonade on his clean suit, becomes more like his old self again by smacking Marion across the face so hard that he knocks her to the the ground and almost out cold. Marion moved by his sudden show of affection for her then purposely knocks the glass out of his hand to keep him from drinking it. Ravinel to come over to Bayou Country during "Fat Tuesday" week to pull this "perfact crime" off the doctor almost blows the entire plan when he tell Marion, as she gave him a glass of drug laced lemonade, how much he loves her. Ravinel and make it look like it was an accident. Ravinel about to sell out his medical profession to become a part-owner of a casino and throwing everyone in the sanatorium out in the cold Laura, together with Marion, concocts this plane to murder Dr. With Laura having to have a job in order not to break her parole she's more or less being blackmailed by the good doctor to stay at his medical facility, even though she just about had it with the abuse she's taking from him. ![]() Ravinel got out of prison for the murder of a man who tried to rape her some eight years ago. Working at the sanatorium is nurse Laura Morrell,Kate Vernon,who Dr. This in order to stop Ravinel from destroying the Plantation which she and her parents and great-parents worked at all their lives, and which is the only home that she knows. Marion is also very angry at her husbands attempt to throw the maid Evangelin,Cicely Tyson, out of the place because of her knowing what the doctor is up to and working with her knowledge of the black arts and Voodoo to put a hex on him. He's Secretly having the Mansion turned into a casino behind Marion's back has his frail and sensitive wife throw a fit when she finds out about it. Frank Ravinel, Bruce Boxleitner, run the place but he's running it into the ground. Having a bad heart Marion let's her husband Dr. Inheriting her parents Southern Plantation Marion Lambert Ravinel, Malissa Gilbert, can't keep up with the daily grind of the place that's been converted into a sanatorium by her late father Mr. (Some Spoilers) Murder and madness is mixed in with a little of the supernatural in "House of Secrets" and the ending, even though it wouldn't knock you off your feet,has a nice and surprising twist to it. Mélissa Gilbert as the frail victim with a heart condition ,and Cecily Tyson,as the ruthless avenger ,are the stand-outs.On the other hand ,Michael Boatman as sgt Dubois ,repeating more or less the part of Charles Vanel in the 1955 movie, is insignificant Bruce Boxleitner is no match for Paul Meurisse ,as far as nastiness is concerned, and Kate Vernon's performance pales next to Simone Signoret's. ![]() It's a very good idea to have situated the action in New Orleans : the French name of the heroes ("Ravinel" ) makes sense and there are bribes of the language all through the movie (a man calls Gilbert "mon petit chou" =honey ) the first part is rather listless,but the second one leaves the thriller for the fantasy and horror genre, with a supernatural final : New-Orleans was the ideal place ,with its carnival ,its man with a mask who pursues Gilbert ,and mainly its voodoo ,its dolls thus the introduction of the black character ,who seems irrelevant when the movie begins, makes sense. This MTV "house of secrets " ,although it cannot hold a candle to Clouzot 's 1955 classic ,is somewhat better than the abominable 1996 remake starring Stone and Adjani. Besides ,there were lesbian undertones between the two women ,although the last line of the novel is ambiguous :" who told you I didn't think twice?"And the ending was thoroughly immoral. It must be pointed out : in the novel ,it's the husband and his mistress who build up this ominous plan and of course, it's the wife who comes back to haunt the husband:in Boileau-Narcejac 's novels ,par excellence the thriller of the victim ,the victim is always a man (see also "vertigo" ) ,and one cannot deny a certain misogyny. ![]() Although the characters have kept the surname they had in Boileau-Narcejac's "celle qui n'était plus " ,although the boarding-school for boys was replaced by a sanatorium ,this MTV version owes more to Clouzot 's "Les diaboliques " than to the initial novel.
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