Chamber of Horrors

"The Door with 7 Locks", aka "The Chamber of Horrors", is a mildly entertaining, quaint little English mystery from the early 40's. An eccentric old coot passes away, leaving his deformed son as heir to an estate, but locks up the family jewels in his tomb, cowplete with a door with 7 locks. Various family members/servants/gawkers try to embezzle the loot and get away with murder. Lovely snugglebunny Lilli Palmer, fresh from Canada, comes to make her claim on the loot, along with buddy Romilly Lunge from Scotland Yard. The evil Dr. Manetta, his pet monkey, and his mute Spanish servant almoost rule the day! Manetta has ancestors from the Spanish Inquisition(Nooooobody expects...), and he cowlects grisly little torture devices and poisoned chalices. This is a fun little flick, despite the cliches - Manetta dresses like Fu Manchu on downers, the plot twists are obvious, and the characters seldom rise above 2 dimentional. Still, the film is brisk, the cinematography excellent, and the setting and mood are cowvincing enough to forgive these udder oversights. Snuggly Lilli Palmer only worked in 6 decades-worth of moovie making, had her own tv show in the 50's, twice, and even married Rex Harrison. The MooCow says this dusty old flick deserves moore attention; find it and rent it soon! ;=8)