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The Door with Seven Locks
Chamber of Horrors
UK 1940
produced by John Argyle
directed by Norman Lee
starring Leslie Banks, Lilli Palmer, Romilly Lunge, Gina Malo, Richard Bird, David Horne, J.H. Roberts, Cathleen Nesbitt, Harry Hutchinson, Philip Ray, Robert Montgomery (II), Aubrey Mallalieu, Ross Landon
treatment by John Argyle, screenplay by Gilbert Gunn, Norman Lee, based on the novel by Edgar Wallace, music by Guy Jones
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Back in the day, eccentric Lord Selford (Aubrey Mallalieu) wrote up an
eccentric will just before dying that had something to do with seven keys
for the family crypt and that somehow tied in with his son John (Ross
Landon) inheriting the family treasure when coming of age. Now John has
come of age - but is somehow elusive. Selford's niece June (Lilli Palmer)
is to inherit the fortune in the case of John's death, and she's called to
an old man in a retirement home, Silva (J.H. Roberts), who tells her
something of a great injustice and hands her one of the seven keys, but
then he's shot. June dashes out of the room to fetch someone, and
meanwhile Silva's body disappears and she's told the retirement home is to
be closed down. June knows what she has seen though, so she reports the
thing to Scotland Yard - where she falls on deaf ears from official
sources, but Dick Martin (Romilly Lunge), who has only just resigned from
his job, takes an instant liking in June and decides to take on her case.
So the two of them, accompanied by her aunt Glenda (Gina Malo) and Selford
lawyer Havelock (David Horne) travel up to Selford Manor that's presently
inhabited by one Dr. Manetta (Leslie Banks), an avid collector of
instruments of torture. He proves to be the perfect host, but naturally
there's something sinister to him. June and aunt Glenda are left alone at
the manor for the night, and June finds another key. As she figures the
walls have ears in the manor, she walks to the next village to call Martin
from there, but is intercepted by Manetta's driver Cawler (Philip Ray),
who instead drives her to Manetta's neighbours and accomplices the Codys
(Cathleen Nesbitt, Harry Hutchinson) - who think the girl and her key are
perfect bargaining chips to get a bigger share of whatever everyone's
after ... but they're then killed by Manetta's butler Craig (Robert
Montgomery). By now it seems Manetta has all the keys to the Selford
crypt, so he goes to retrieve the treasure and lock June inside the crypt.
But in the meantime. Martin has returned, Scotland Yard detective Andy
(Richard Bird) in tow, and he dukes it out with Manetta, deliberately
letting him trip into one of his own devices, an iron maiden, making
Manetta to confess everything, that Selford's son John died soon after his
father but he and his accomplices quickly replaced him with Havelock's son
just so they can get their hands on the boy's trust fund and ultimately
the family fortune. After his confession, Manetta poisons himself, and
it's left to Martin to free June from the crypt ... The plot of
this movie is a total mess of course, as much of it doesn't make any
sense, and that which does make sense often feels terribly contrived. Plus
the film is bombarded by too many genre mainstays and feels terribly
convoluted given its simple premise ... and somehow one has come to expect
all of this from Edgar Wallace adaptations, to the point where this is
really part of their attraction. And as Edgar Wallace movies go, this is a
pretty ok one - nothing to write home about perhaps and at times awfully
stagy in its execution, but there are some darkly atmospheric bits in
there, Lilli Palmer makes an engaging leading lady, and some of the
dialogue's suitably sharp. So chances are you'll be well entertained.
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