Seven Sinners (1936)

Director:

Albert de Courville

Writers:

Sidney Gilliat (writer)
Frank Launder (writer)

Release Date:

15 August 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller

Plot:

US private eye sorts out European crime wave. With female sidekick in tow, wisecracking private eye follows a trail of corpses around Europe...

Plot Keywords:

Train | Number 7 In Title | Railway | Murder | Number In Title

Cast

Edmund Lowe	...	John Harwood
Constance Cummings	...	Caryl Fenton
Thomy Bourdelle	...	Monsieur Paul Turbé
Henry Oscar	...	Axel Hoyt
Felix Aylmer	...	Sir Charles Webber
Joyce Kennedy	...	Elizabeth Wentworth
O.B. Clarence	...	Registrar
Mark Lester	...	Chief Constable (Captain Fitzgerald)
Allan Jeayes	...	Heinrich Wagner
Anthony Holles	...	Reception Clerk
David Horne	...	Hotel Manager
Edwin Laurence	...	Guildhall Guide
James Harcourt	...	Vicar (Father Blanchard)

Also Known As:

Doomed Cargo (USA)
The Wrecker

Runtime:

67 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Gaumont British Picture Corporation

Trivia:

The second train wreck in this film, which is also called "The Wrecker", is the same one that was staged for the climax of The Wrecker (1929). Footage of that crash, not used in the earlier film, was edited together with new shots. Another train wreck was done mostly with models and stock footage from newsreels.

It's real alright!

Neil-117 is quite correct, the film makers were given permission by the Southern Railway to smash an old locomotive and carriages into a lorry on a disused branch line, hence the spectacular train crash.

I think his other comments are a little unfair. The film is taken from a play called 'The Wrecker' by Arnold Ridley (who also wrote 'The Ghost Train' and later became Private Godfrey in 'Dad's Army'). The whole point of the plot is that a serial murderer is staging train crashes to disguise his crimes.

Of course the film is dated but it's good, well-paced entertainment. If you enjoy Hitchcock's British thrillers (especially 'The Lady Vanishes', also a Launder and Gilliatt screenplay) you'll like this one.