View source for The Door with Seven Locks (1940 film)



{{Use British English|date=December 2012}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = The Door with Seven Locks
| image          = The-Door-With-Seven-Locks.jpg
| caption        = Film poster with the US title
| director       = [[Norman Lee (director)|Norman Lee]]
| screenplay     = [[John Argyle]]<br/>[[Gilbert Gunn]]<br/>Norman Lee
| based_on       = {{based on|''The Door with Seven Locks''<br>1926 novel|[[Edgar Wallace]]}}
| producer       = John Argyle
| starring       = [[Leslie Banks]]<br/>[[Lilli Palmer]]<br/>[[Romilly Lunge]]<br/>[[Gina Malo]]
| cinematography = [[Alex Bryce]]<br/>[[Ernest Palmer (British cinematographer)|Ernest Palmer]]
| editing        = E.G. Richards
| music          = Guy Jones
| studio         = John Argyle Productions
| distributor    = [[Pathé|Pathé Pictures]] {{small|(UK)}}
| released       = {{Film date|df=y|1940|10|12|UK|1940|12|20|US}}
| runtime        = 89 minutes {{small|(UK)}}<br>79 minutes {{small|(US)}}
| country        = United Kingdom
| language       = English
| budget         = 
}}
'''''The Door with Seven Locks''''' is a 1940 British [[horror film]] directed by [[Norman Lee (director)|Norman Lee]] and starring [[Leslie Banks]] and [[Lilli Palmer|Lili Palmer]].<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=The Door with Seven Locks |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150018454 |access-date=22 September 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> 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 (film)|The Dark Eyes of London]]'' (called ''The Human Monster'' in the US),<ref name="MT">{{cite web |title=Chamber of Horrors |url=http://www.movietome.com/movie/359850/chamber-of-horrors/index.html |access-date=29 January 2008 |work=Movie Tome |publisher=movietome.com}}</ref> 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 film|horror genre films]].

==Plot==
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.

==Cast==
* [[Leslie Banks]] as Dr. Manetta
* [[Lilli Palmer]] as June Lansdowne
* [[Romilly Lunge]] as Dick Martin
* [[Gina Malo]] as Glenda Baker
* [[David Horne (actor)|David Horne]] as Edward Havelock
* [[Richard Bird (actor)|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
* [[Philip Ray|Phil Ray]] as Tom Cawler
* Robert Montgomery as Craig the butler

== Reception ==
''[[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."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1940 |title=The Door with Seven Locks |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305811665 |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=7 |issue=73 |pages=87 |id={{ProQuest|1305811665}} |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

''[[Kine Weekly]]'' wrote: "''The Door with Seven Locks'' certainly has an ominous and forbidding setting, and, what's more, it lives up to its evil atmosphere. The acting, like the stagecraft, is in stern harmony with the theme. The two together are Edgar Wallace at his spine-chilling best. Title, author and star values clinch the obvious box-office proposition."<ref>{{Cite journal|date=6 June 1940|title=The Door with Seven Locks|id={{ProQuest|2339663605}}|magazine=[[Kine Weekly]]|volume=280|issue=1729|pages=10}}</ref>

''[[Picturegoer]]'' wrote: "It takes a little time to gather up the threads of the plot, but there is plenty of good action in the best Wallace tradition, while the sinister atmosphere is skilfully built up and maintained. Leslie Banks revels in the role of Stilleti and David Horne contributes a subtle essay in villainy as Havelock. Lilli Palmer is good as the heiress, while Romilly Lunge plays the detective attractively. If you like spine-chillers this should suit you."<ref>{{Cite journal|date=12 October 1940|title=The Door with Seven Locks|id={{ProQuest|1771163732}}|magazine=[[Picturegoer]]|volume=9|issue=|pages=14|journal=}}</ref>

[[Leslie Halliwell]] said: "Old-fashioned barnstormer, ineptly made."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Halliwell |first=Leslie |title=Halliwell's Film Guide |publisher=Paladin |year=1989 |isbn=0586088946 |edition=7th |location=London |pages=291}}</ref>

In ''British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959'' [[David Quinlan (film critic)|David Quinlan]] rated the film as "good", writing: "Robust blood and thunder, eerie and well-acted."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Quinlan |first=David |title=British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 |publisher=[[Batsford Books|B.T. Batsford Ltd.]] |year=1984 |isbn=0-7134-1874-5 |location=London |pages=204}}</ref>

==See also==
* ''[[The Door with Seven Locks (1962 film)|The Door with Seven Locks]]'' (1962)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160310134352/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a921530/ ''The Door with Seven Locks''] at the [[British Film Institute]]{{better source needed|reason=Help request: a live link can be searched for at https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/search/expert - if available, replace the archive URL with the live link. Or if none found, remove this 'better source needed' template. | date=October 2023}} 
* {{BBFC title|AFF008313|The Door with Seven Locks}} 
* {{IMDb title|0032406|The Door with Seven Locks}}
* {{TCMDb title|555531}}

{{Norman Lee}}
{{Edgar Wallace}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Door with Seven Locks (1940 film), The}}
[[Category:British horror films]]
[[Category:1940 films]]
[[Category:1940 horror films]]
[[Category:British black-and-white films]]
[[Category:1940 English-language films]]
[[Category:Films based on works by Edgar Wallace]]
[[Category:1940 British films]]
[[Category:English-language horror films]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=The Door with Seven Locks (1940 film)|access_date=2026-03-06}}