Behind the Door / Below the Surface

Flicker Alley and San Francisco Film Preserve proudly present the return of Irvin V. Willat's Behind the Door (1919), paired for the first time with his Below the Surface (1920), both newly restored by the SFSFF and available in their most complete versions. Flicker Alley's initial publication of Behind the Door was honored as Best Blu-ray/DVD disc at Il Cinema Ritrovato in 2018. Legendary producer Thomas H. Ince and director Irvin V. Willat made Behind the Door -"the most outspoken of all the vengeance films" according to film historian Kevin Brownlow-during the period of World War I-inspired American patriotism. Hobart Bosworth stars as Oscar Krug, a working-class American, who is persecuted for his German ancestry after war is declared. Driven by patriotism, Krug enlists and goes to sea. However, tragedy strikes when his wife (Jane Novak) sneaks aboard his ship and is captured following a German U-boat attack. Krug's single-minded quest for vengeance against the sadistic German submarine commander (played with villainous fervor by Wallace Beery) leads to the film's shocking and brutal climax. Willat then reteamed with Bosworth the following year with Below the Surface, setting the star as deep sea diver Martin Flint who, along with his son, Paul (Lloyd Hughes), become heroes after saving the lives of a downed submarine crew. Unfortunately, their fame draws the attention of George Webb's James Arnold, who enlists Paul in a deadly scheme involving sinking ships, lost treasure, and the love of Grace Darmond's Edna Gordon.