bkoganbing
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.
classicsoncall
So let's see, there were the photographer, the furrier, the deranged knife dealer, and the perfume shop lady. I don't know if gardener Tim actually qualified to be a store owner, so that leaves the story a few people short on the 'Seven Doors' theme. I guess you could make a case for Mary Rawling, but then again, she was in line to inherit the entire Hamilton mini-mall where those store fronts were, and not an actual business person. So chalk up the title to a bit of poetic license, the more doors to death the merrier I guess.Boy, you really have to pay attention to what's going on here, and even with that, it's a hard story to follow. There's some business about an Egyptian hope chest and missing jewelry thrown in, and I'm not sure how it all ties together with the body in the basement. Oh yeah, and they went to a lot of trouble to have the actual murderer remove the victim's thumb prints by peeling off the skin from his fingers. This was more elaborate than Charlie Chan ever had to deal with, but I'm sure he would have solved the crime as well. Actually, he had a fingerprint mystery too, but it was a lot easier to follow (1946 - "Dark Alibi").Catch this one for the odd dance routine in the middle of the story by the perfume lady, Mable De Rose. I had never heard of the performer portraying the character, an actress by the name of Rebel Randall. A quick check of her IMDb credits shows that she's still alive and approaching ninety! Goes to show you how tough you had to be to make this flick!
David (Handlinghandel)
... And less! This starts out kind of nicely. A woman screams in the dark. (The whole thing was dark in the print I saw. It was not only hard to see but also hard to hear.) People then rush about. A couple suspects are immediately established. But it's downhill from there. We have mad scientists. We have mummies. We have everything but a coherent plot.On the other hand, the major players are good. Chick Chandler is pretty decent as the male lead. (I can't call him a noir protagonist: Though this is a PRC movie clearly done very cheaply, it is not film noir.) June Cylde is good, too. And the other female lead is also. And hat a name the actress went by: Rebel Randall!
wrbtu
"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.
AD
