Seven Doors to Death

The seven deadly doors open off a very pretty open courtyard. Right away I was scared— probably because I could have actually paid money to see this mess. If you can figure out the plot, the physics department may have a place for you. Poverty row PRC really cut more than corners with this one. The sets are few, and dark for more reason than atmosphere. For a supposed mystery, there's about as much suspense as watching a clock tick. But then it is 1944, and wartime audiences need any kind of escape. That's probably why usual sidekick Chick Chandler gets a shot at the lead and shows why he was better as a sidekick. He seems not to be taking anything too seriously. The highpoint may well be half-dressed Rebel Randall's shimmy and shake that unfortunately doesn't come til near the end. Otherwise, there's nothing to recommend in this woeful programmer.

Only in the cinema could the romantic relationship of a model and a cabbie ever could happen. They don't usually happen even in film unless the cabbie is an exiled prince or something like that. But in Seven Doors To Death cabbie Chick Chandler hooks up with model June Clyde to solve a big mystery with several deaths involving jewels and the ownership of an apartment complex.

Chandler's dragged in unwillingly at the point of a gun by Clyde who commandeers him and his cab. She's fleeing a murder scene and Chandler's cab is totaled. After that Chandler declares himself a detective and of course solves the mystery.

The courtyard apartment complex looked something like the one in Rear Window where Jimmy Stewart watched the parade of life. Of course Rear Window is a far better film.

The cheap and tacky sets and inferior sound mark this PRC release. But most of all I couldn't accept the premise or Chandler as a romantic lead.

"Seven Doors to Death:" sounds intriguing, doesn't it? Quite a catchy title! Very exciting start to this film: a shot rings out, a woman screams & comes running out of a house in a courtyard. She jumps onto the running board of a slow moving car & orders the driver to turn down a dead end street by holding a small flashlight to the side of his head as if it were a gun. The driver speeds down the dead end & crashes; when he recovers, the lady is gone. Sounds great doesn't it? It is great, but this exciting scene lasts for all of about two minutes. After that, it's mostly downhill. The plot becomes muddled as the seven suspects all take turns doing suspicious things, & three or four more murders take place. Chick Chandler is adequate as the male lead, but he's got too many corny lines with too much emphasis on comedy. June Clyde is good as the lady who jumps on the running board. Most of the others are fairly good as well, especially Rebel Randall as a woman who can't seem to get enough attention from the men. The real problem with this film is not in the acting, it's in the script. An interesting premise is talked to death with routine dialog. I rate it 5/10.

A garrulous but slick PRC quickie with a sharp line in cynical wit, atmospherically lit by Robert Cline and fluidly directed by silent veteran Elmer Clifton, with a personable hero in Chick Chandler (who drives a car called Genevieve, which I don't think we actually see), plenty of mad or shifty-looking suspects and a couple of glamorous but tough broads with big forties shoulders (one of whom brawls energetically with the hero at one point).

The villain's modus operandi proves startlingly gruesome; anticipating real life psycho Ed Gein a few years later.

As the movie starts there's a scream, a gun shot and the sound of a body falling. The film shifts locations as a man in a car is hijacked by a woman on the run. In following her directions he ends up crashing his car and the woman runs away. He tries to follow the woman into an area with a small group of stores, only to end up discovering a dead body. The man notifies the police, who then find a body then the one he reported. From there its complication after complication, most of which are a bit clever but really have nothing to do with the plot and seem to be out of another movie. The conclusion when it comes seems to be tacked on and out of left field.

This a PRC programmer that is a perfect example of what a by the numbers low low budget second feature is like. The plot is set up in such away to keep you interested no matter where the plot goes. Its structured to run no more than the alloted time. It has a minimum of sets and just enough people to keep to make it look as though this might, possibly, be a real place (if you've never lived in the real world). Its also completely forgettable.

The plot has the group of stores being searched and researched again and again to find what ever the latest clue has revealed. Most of the time this is done in the dark so we really can't see where we are. Everyone is a suspect until the very end when the killer is revealed by broad leap of logic. If it wasn't for some rather weird asides, a dance number, a bit about making toast, and a few others, this movie could easily have run half its length. This isn't to say its a dull or bad movie, its not. Things are pleasantly confused for at least the first 15 minutes during which time you'll desperately be trying to figure out what you're watching. By then you'll be hooked since you'll want to know where this very messy movie is going.

This is a good movie, especially when viewed at 3am while curled up in bed. Its not high art nor is it something that you'll find becoming your favorite film of all time. Its an okay time passer which is what it was designed to be. What you'll take away is the odd sense that know one knew what these people were up to since some of the characters are off the wall (a body snatching embalmer who's an okay guy, for example) and some exposition that is ripe with sexual tension and implied situations the Hays office would never approve of.

On its own terms 7 out of 10.