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Seven Keys to Baldpate
USA 1929
produced by William LeBaron, Louis Sarecky (associate) for RKO
directed by Reginald Barker
starring Richard Dix, Miriam Seegar, Margaret Livingston, Lucien Littlefield, Joseph Allen sr, DeWitt Jennings, Nella Walker, Carleton Macy, Alan Roscoe, Crauford Kent, Harvey Clark, Edith Yorke, Joseph William Herbert jr
screenplay by Jane Murfin, based on the novel by Earl Derr Biggers and the adapted play by George M. Cohan
Seven Keys to Baldpate
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Trying to win a wager against his friend Bentley (Crauford Kent) that
he can write a 10,000 word novel in 24 hours, writer William Magee
(Richard Dix) goes to Baldpate Inn, the loneliest place in winter since
it's strictly a hotel for summer tourists - plus Magee has the only key to
the place ... or so he thinks, as soon enough a wide assortment of people
arrive at the hotel, all believing they've got the only key to the place,
starting with Bland (Alan Roscoe), a crook who hides a large sum of money
in the hotel safe, journalist Mary Norton (Miriam Seegar), whom Magee
instantly falls in love with, her chaperone Mrs. Rhodes (Nella Walker),
who's incidently the fiancée of mayor Cargan (DeWitt Jennings), another
one who arrives at Baldpate in, together with his henchman Max (Joseph
William Herbert jr), then there's also railway president Hayden (Lucien
Littlefield) and Myra (Margaret Livingston), who claims to be his wife but
isn't. And there's also Peters (Joseph Allen sr), an eccentric hermit with
the talent to mix up things - and everybody's after the money in the safe
of course, that's meant as a bribe from Hayden to the mayor for a
lucrative railroad deal. Magee, who has no stake in the whole affair, sees
to it that Mary gets the money to prove her claim concerning the mayor's
corruption while he holds the others at gunpoint - but ultimately a greedy
sheriff (Carleton Macy) further complicates things, as does Mrs. Rhodes,
wanting to exonerate her husband-to-be ... until ultimately the whole
thing turns out to be a prank played on Magee, then not real at all but
merely the novel Magee has written in his 24 hour solitude. Compared
to the novel by Earl Derr Biggers, this film of a mere 72 minutes feels
very much like a Readers Digest version, but it manages to carry
over the self irony and high spirited approach - and for an early talkie,
this movie feels very lively indeed, even though the story is reduced to a
mere handful of locations and has an unmistakably theatrical feel to it
(so it comes as no surprise it's also based on George M. Cohan's stage
adaptation of Biggers' book). But poignant dialogue and on-the-spot
performances with a comedic edge see to it that this adaptation (already
the fourth cinematic adaptation by the time it came out) really manages to
entertain.
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