Seven Keys to Baldpate (1947)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Lew Landers

Writers:

Earl Derr Biggers (novel)
George M. Cohan (play)

Release Date:

5 June 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Mystery writer and blonde... too scared to kiss... in mansion of fear!

Plot:

Writer Kenneth Magee has bet that he can finish a story at rural resort Baldpate Inn, now closed for the winter...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Play | Based On Novel | Number In Title

Cast

Phillip Terry	...	Kenneth Magee
Jacqueline White	...	Mary Jordan
Eduardo Ciannelli	...	Cargan
Margaret Lindsay	...	Connie Lane
Arthur Shields	...	Prof. Bolton
Jimmy Conlin	...	Pete the Hermit
Tony Barrett	...	Max Rogers
Tom Keene	...	Steve Bland (as Richard Powers)
Jason Robards Sr.	...	Hayden (as Jason Robards)

Runtime:

64 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #12118)

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

George M. Cohan's play opened on Broadway in New York at the Astor Theater on September 22nd, 1913 and ran for 320 performances.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Magee and Jordan discover the body in the secret passageway, the shadows on the wall are not right for the light source they are using.

Movie Connections:

Version of Seven Keys to Baldpate (1935)

Great setup...loses momentum.

It was about 2AM in the morning and I was watching late night TV, flicking aimlessly. Then I stumbled across the 1947 mystery/thriller Seven Keys to Baldpate. I was dead tired and expected to lose interest within a minute and doze off, but there was something about the setup to this film that was simply absorbing cinema, waking me up as if it was 2 pm in the afternoon. Granted it loses momentum half way through, tailing off considerably towards the end, perhaps due to not fleshing out the premise, which essentially is seven strangers mysteriously brought together in a dark, creaky old Mansion one stormy night. But the mood it creates in it's first half hour is 30 minutes of mystery/thriller cinema I rank as high as any in the genre. Perhaps it was the films ambiance, the darkness, the balance on interior and exterior, the set, the storm, the random characters appearing from no where, the less is more mentality which is so essential in setting up a mystery/thriller film. All those elements created mood that was so cinematic it took me from the depressing late night channel flicking into the mysterious happenings of the Baldpate mansion. I was mesmerized at one point, moving in close to the TV, hanging off each characters every word, wanting to know why. The why you find out later, and it doesn't live up, but I give the film 6/10, because the feeling of wanting to know more in the first 30 minutes was so engaging, they could've faded to black and never fade back in...still I would give it 6/10.