It's an old dark house tale crossed with a old style whudunnit. It's based on "The Door With Seven Locks" by Edgar Wallace. It's title in the UK was "The Door With Seven Locks". The alternate title was by Monogram Pictures for a U.S. release.When a wealthy lord dies, his last wishes include locking his treasure behind a door with seven locks. Greed, plotting & murder develop in a pursuit for the keys and the truth behind the locked tomb.Lilli Palmer played the leading lady. She looks marvelous in this film. The male co-lead is a detective type (and her love interest).There is also an irritable cop, partially used for comic relief. The leading ladies friend is similarly used.If you like old dark house type films, and old films in general, it's a solid watch.
... View MoreA murder is found to be connected to a false heir and a secret underground torture chamber.So many of these movies were made in the 30s and early 40s.Prior to the Film noir of the next decade.Some are better than others. This one is a bit above the average.There's a funny scene with the girl in the bath and when she gets out, another woman wraps her in a plaid towel. When she pulls it around her you can see she' wearing bloomers.The sets are opulent as was the case back then and there's lots of fun intrigue.Give it a shot on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
... View MoreIgnore the way this old clunker is marketed on DVD and disregard the American title, "Chamber of Horrors." There's nothing supernatural here and there are no Poe-like thrills. The "horrors" are a collection of old torture devices owned by the main villain, and they don't get much play. The English title gives you a better sense of the movie. You see, there's a door with seven locks which requires seven different keys. An heiress possesses the seventh key, and several unsavory characters will stop at nothing to get it from her.The trappings of this mystery "thriller" are familiar nowadays mainly from comedies, parodies and cartoons. I especially liked that portrait with the real eyes peering out. I've seen that countless times on "Scooby Doo." Then there's the spooky tomb, secret panels in the wall, sinister servants and so on. Leslie Banks (probably best known for the original "The Man Who Knew Too Much") plays a flamboyant villain, sophisticated yet evil, complete with goatee, cape, a foreign accent of some kind and a pet monkey. This is one of the rare times I've seen this stuff played straight – more or less.Fortunately, this movie is no more self-serious than "The Lady Vanishes." But don't expect any Hitchcockian suspense here. We have an excellent cast, headed by the beautiful Lilli Palmer and the amusing Banks. Lots of droll dialogue. ("I love frolicking in morgues.") Lots of the aforementioned mystery trappings. But no suspense. The writers haven't the slightest idea how to grab our interest, much less keep it. The director betrays absolutely no flair for this kind of thing. It's all a leaden bore. Go watch "Scooby Doo."
... View MoreRather cheap looking but fairly entertaining all the same and it's fairly well made, with a couple creepy moments, and it had some great atmosphere. The cast was pretty likable except for one character, and it's enjoyably cheesy. This was a lot better then i was expecting and i liked the 2 main leads, and they had some good chemistry together, plus the finale was quite exciting. The direction was pretty good for a very low budget movie. Norman Lee did a decent job here keeping the film at a pretty good pace, but there is not any special camera tricks, or anything stylish but he got the job done. There is no gore. The Acting was fairly good. Lilli Palmer does good here and was quite beautiful and had good chemistry with Romilly Lunge. Romilly Lunge was very good here he was amusing and handled himself well!. Gina Malo annoyed the crap out of me as Judy's best friend Shut up already!!!. Leslie Banks is decent here as the doctor and did a fairly good job. David Horne did what he had to do adequately. Richard Bird did well as the Inspector. Overall worth the watch **1/2 out of 5
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