The Door with Seven Locks (1940 film) (original) (raw)

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1940 British film by Norman Lee

The Door with Seven Locks
Film poster with the US title
Directed by Norman Lee
Screenplay by John ArgyleGilbert GunnNorman Lee
Based on _The Door with Seven Locks_1926 novelby Edgar Wallace
Produced by John Argyle
Starring Leslie BanksLilli PalmerRomilly LungeGina Malo
Cinematography Alex BryceErnest Palmer
Edited by E.G. Richards
Music by Guy Jones
Productioncompany John Argyle Productions
Distributed by Pathé Pictures (UK)
Release dates 12 October 1940 (1940-10-12) (UK) 20 December 1940 (1940-12-20) (US)
Running time 89 minutes (UK)79 minutes (US)
Country United Kingdom
Language English

The Door with Seven Locks is a 1940 British horror film directed by Norman Lee and starring Leslie Banks and Lili Palmer.[1] The screenplay was by John Argyle, Gilbert Gunn and Norman Lee based on the 1926 novel The Door with Seven Locks by Edgar Wallace. Released in the United States by Monogram Pictures under the title Chamber of Horrors, it was the second Wallace film adaptation to arrive in the United States, the first being The Dark Eyes of London (called The Human Monster in the US),[2] starring Béla Lugosi, which had been released the year before.

It was released shortly after the British Board of Film Censors lifted its mid-1930s ban on supernatural-themed and horror genre films.[_citation needed_]

A wealthy lord dies and is entombed with a valuable deposit of jewels. Seven keys are required to unlock the tomb and get hold of the treasure. A series of mysterious events causes the keys to be scattered, and when trying to unravel the circumstances, the heiress of the fortune and her companion investigators become entangled in a web of fraud, deceit, torture, and murder.

It becomes obvious that family physician, Dr. Manetta, is the untrustworthy person. Assisted by the mute family butler and the family chauffeur (a forger on the run), Manetta seeks to steal the treasure for himself. When rightful heiress June Lansdowne arrives, she is seized and locked in the tomb before she can announce her presence. She is eventually freed by a pet monkey that steals the key to the tomb.

Suspicion grows when Dr. Manetta announces he is an admirer of Torquemada (the chief torturer during the Spanish Inquisition); and that he keeps a museum of torture instruments in the basement.

When the authorities close in, Manetta is trapped in an automatic spiked mummy case. The police reluctantly rescue him. Manetta makes a full confession, then commits suicide by poison. He is proud that he killed himself with a goblet once owned by Lucretia Borgia.

The treasure is discovered inside the tomb, the one place Manetta didn't search because he didn't want to call attention to Lansdowne's captivity there.

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Good direction and better acting conceal the flaws in this improbable story, and the result is a picture with suspense, thrills and a welcome leavening of humour. Leslie Banks is a gruesome villain, Lilli Palmer is a refreshingly 'different' heroine and Romilly Lunge sufficiently impetuous as the young detective."[3]

Leslie Halliwell said: "Old-fashioned barnstormer, ineptly made."[4]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "good", writing: "Robust blood and thunder, eerie and well-acted."[5]

  1. ^ "The Door with Seven Locks". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  2. ^ "Chamber of Horrors". Movie Tome. movietome.com. Retrieved 29 January 2008.
  3. ^ "The Door with Seven Locks". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 7 (73): 87. 1 January 1940 – via ProQuest.
  4. ^ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 291. ISBN 0586088946.
  5. ^ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 204. ISBN 0-7134-1874-5.