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The Door with Seven Locks (1940 film)
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Wikipedia article
'The Door with Seven Locks' is a 1940 British horror film, created and released shortly after the British Board of Film Censors lifted its mid-1930s ban on supernatural-themed and horror genre films. It was 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), starring Bla Lugosi, which had been released the year before.
Plot synopsis
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 develops that the family physician Dr.Manetta(Leslie Banks) is not entirely trustworthy.With the family chauffeur(a forger on
the run) and the deaf-mute butler(Montgomery) on his team;he murders two servants and the family lawyer Havelock(Horne) while searching
for the missing keys.
When Palmer arrives at the estate,the crooked servants lock her in Lord Selford's tomb before she can make her presence known.
A pet monkey finds the key and releases her(one of several good deed the animal performs).
SUspicion about Dr.Manetta grows when it is discovered he idolizes Spanish Inquisition mastermind TORQUEMADA,and keeps a secret
torture chamber in the basement.While attempting to avoid arrest,Manetta is trapped inside an automatic spiked mummy case.
The authorities reluctantly rescue him.
Manetta makes a confession and then commits suicide by poison.He is proud that he killed himself using a goblet once owned by
Lucretia Borgia.
The missing keys are found inside the tomb of Lord Selford--the one place Manetta didn't search because he didn't want to call
attention to Palmer being held captive there
Cast
*Leslie Banks as Dr. Manetta
*Lilli Palmer as June Lansdowne
*Romilly Lunge as Dick Martin
*Gina Malo as Glenda Baker
*David Horne as Edward Havelock
*Richard Bird as Inspector Sneed
*Cathleen Nesbitt as Ann Cody
*JH Roberts as Luis Silva
*Aubrey Mallalieu as Lord Charles Francis Selford
*Harry Hutchinson as Bevan Cody
*Ross Landon as John Selford
*Phil Ray as Tom Cawler
*Robert Montgomery as Craig the Butler
See also
* 'The Door with Seven Locks' (1962)
References
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