The film deals with reincarnation and had a gothic noir feel to it. While driving his car on a rainy night, Anand's car breaks down, and he goes to seek shelter in a nearby house. He is let into the house by the servant, and he is permitted to stay until the rains stop, and he is able to get his car fixed. It is here that Anand will find out about his previous birth, his true love, Madhumati, their ill-fated, star-crossed and tragic romance, and how this the events in his previous birth are going to effect him in this life-time.
故事发生在十九世纪的英国,霍布森(查尔斯·劳顿 Charles Laughton 饰)经营着一家鞋铺,辛辛苦苦拉扯着三个女儿玛姬(布伦达·德·班泽 Brenda De Banzie 饰)、爱丽丝(达芙妮·安德森 Daphne Anderson 饰)和维奇(普鲁内拉·斯凯尔斯 Prunella Scales 饰)长大,一转眼,三个姑娘都已经到了谈婚论嫁的年纪,但吝啬的霍布森并不准备支付女儿们的嫁妆。 玛姬爱上了鞋匠威利(约翰·米尔斯 John Mills 饰),尽管霍布森极力的反对这段不合时宜的感情,但独立好强的玛姬还是同威利结了婚。在玛姬的帮助下,威利的事业蒸蒸日上,很快便成为了霍布森最强劲的商业对手,与此同时,玛姬还帮助两个妹妹解决了嫁妆的难题。
It's the mid-nineteenth century. Adult siblings Felix Young and Eugenia Munster were born and raised in Europe and have a somewhat bohemian lifestyle reflective of their travels throughout Europe. Felix, who has little money, is interested in painting and the arts. Eugenia is a baroness by marriage. They decide to travel to New England to meet their maternal uncle and their three cousins, the Wentworths, for the first time, the Wentworths who live just outside of Boston. The Wentworths are highly puritanical, the uncle in particular who looks to a neighbor, Mr. Brand, to provide a moral compass to his three children, especially the shy Gertrude, who Mr. Brand wants to marry. The Wentworths are somewhat suspicious as to the reason for their relatives' visit, but nonetheless the uncle puts them up in a neighboring house on their property. While Felix enjoys the company of his cousins - especially Gertrude - Eugenia is a bit more standoffish and cognizant of the real reason for their trip to the United States. For Eugenia, another of their uncle's cousins, a Mr. Robert Acton, may just fit the bill related to her goal, which concerns her current marriage and financial security.
鄉間一個門第家庭,一個新寡的年輕媳婦(崔銀姬)與守節多年的家姑同住。農忙時節,由城市前來打工的現代青年 (申榮均) 暗地跟媳婦相戀,婦人更因此懷孕。貞節牌坊屹立的村落自是容不下一個寡婦有孕,而女子結果也由得所愛男子與初生兒子被逐離村,自己終其節婦身份度過一生。 本片可視作申相玉前作《媽媽和畫家叔叔》(Mother and a Guest, 1961)的變奏,片中寡婦同樣為了保存家族聲譽而犧牲了自己的愛情。《烈女門》於第二屆大鐘獎(1963)獲得最佳電影、最佳男主角及最佳剪接三個大獎,並參展第十三屆柏林電影節。