Seven Doors to Death

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Seven Doors to Death - Wikipedia

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Seven Doors to Death
Film poster
Directed by	Elmer Clifton
Written by	Helen Kiely (story) Elmer Clifton (screenplay)
Produced by	Arthur Alexander (co-producer) Alfred Stern (co-producer)
Starring	Chick Chandler June Clyde George Meeker
Cinematography	Robert E. Cline
Edited by	Charles Henkel Jr.
Production company	Alexander-Stern Pictures
Distributed by	Producers Releasing Corporation
Release date	July 27, 1944 (1944-07-27)
Running time	64 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Seven Doors to Death (also known as Vanishing Corpses in its American reissue title) is a 1944 American film directed by Elmer Clifton and starring Chick Chandler, June Clyde and George Meeker. The film is a comedy/mystery film that was written by Clifton, a prolific independent film director of the era.^[1]

Plot

At the Hamilton Court shops in Los Angeles, a shot rings out in a darkened apartment. A woman (June Clyde) screams and flees, seeing a car driven by architect Jimmy McMillan (Chick Chandler). She orders him at gunpoint to speed away, in the rush to get away. The car crashes, but the woman disappears. After returning to the scene, McMillan finds a corpse and calls Capt. William Jaffe (Michael Raffetto). By the time the police arrive, the corpse has mysteriously changed to that of a different victim.

The Police Captain recognizes the dead man as Mary Rawling's lawyer. Summoning Rawlings, the owner of the Hamilton Court, McMillan immediately sees that she was the woman in his car. Her alibi does not seem convincing to Jaffe or McMillan, who decides to start his own investigation, starting with the shopkeepers at the Hamilton Court. Antique dealer Donald Adams (Milton Wallace), recalls on the night of the murder, a rare Egyptian chest was stolen from his shop. When McMillan finds the stolen chest, he also finds the man who was killed.

Another suspect, the silversmith Claude Burns (Edgar Dearing) is killed, and as furrier Charles Eaton (George Meeker) becomes involved, Mary is arrested but she is convinced that she is being framed. Ultimately, a confrontation between her accusers leads to the discovery of stolen jewels and the real culprit.

Cast

Chick Chandler as Jimmy McMillan
June Clyde as Mary Rawling
George Meeker as Charles Eaton
Michael Raffetto as Capt. William Jaffe
Gregory Gaye as Henry Butler aka Gregor
Edgar Dearing as Claude Burns
Rebel Randall as Mable De Rose
Milton Wallace as Donald Adams
Casey MacGregor as Timothy Green

Production

Principal photography on the production took place from May 17 to late May 1944 in Los Angeles.^[2] The Crossroads of the World Center in Hollywood featured prominently as the setting for the film.^[3] Although produced on a minuscule budget, Clifton made films in the 1940s in a very professional manner, working in various genres including western films.^[1] Chick Chandler, more known as a character or bit part comic actor had one of his few starring roles in Seven Doors to Death.^[4]

Reception

Seven Doors to Death was hampered by a limited budget and stagey production values, and as a B-movie, was not reviewed by traditional sources. In a more recent appraisal, the film did not stand up well. Reviewer Bill Barstad called it "one dull mystery" and "(a) ... mediocre mystery plot with a weak screenplay."^[5]

The film was broadcast in the 2004 New Condensed Classics television series in an abbreviated 20-minute version.^[6] It has also been shown in the UK on Talking Pictures TV.

References

Notes

^ ^a ^b Dixon and Fraser 1990, p. 10.
^ "Original print information: 'Seven Doors to Death'." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: May 8, 2016.
^ "Notes: 'Seven Doors to Death'." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: May 8, 2016.
^ "Seven Doors to Death Synopsis." artistdirect.com. Retrieved: May 8, 2016.
^ Barstad, Bill. "Review: 'Seven Doors to Death'." archive.org. Retrieved: May 8, 2016.
^ "Condensed Classics with Dave Shaw." moviedbworld.com. Retrieved: May 8, 2016.

Bibliography

Dixon, Wheeler W. and Audrey Brown Fraser. I Went That-a-Way: The Memoirs of a Western Film Director, Harry L. Fraser. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1990. ISBN 978-0-8108-2340-2.

External links

Seven Doors to Death at the TCM Movie Database
Seven Doors to Death at IMDb
Seven Doors to Death is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
Review of film at Variety

Films directed by Elmer Clifton

Her Official Fathers (1917)
The Flame of Youth (1917)
High Speed (1917)
The Midnight Man (1917)
A Stormy Knight (1917)
Flirting with Death (1917)
The Man Trap (1917)
The High Sign (1917)
The Flash of Fate (1918)
Brace Up (1918)
The Two-Soul Woman (1918)
The Guilt of Silence (1918)
Smashing Through (1918)
The Eagle (1918)
Winner Takes All (1918)
Battling Jane (1918)
Kiss or Kill (1918)
The Hope Chest (1918)
Boots (1919)
Peppy Polly (1919)
I'll Get Him Yet (1919)
Nugget Nell (1919)
Nobody Home (1919)
Turning the Tables (1919)
Mary Ellen Comes to Town (1920)
Down to the Sea in Ships (1922)
Six Cylinder Love (1923)
The Warrens of Virginia (1924)
Daughters of the Night (1924)
Wives at Auction (1926)
The Virgin Wife (1926)
The Truth About Men (1926)
The Wreck of the Hesperus (1927)
Let 'Er Go Gallegher (1928)
Beautiful But Dumb (1928)
Virgin Lips (1928)
Tropical Nights (1928)
The Bride of the Colorado (1928)
The Devil's Apple Tree (1929)
Maid to Order (1931)
Pals of the Range (1935)
Cyclone of the Saddle (1935)
Fighting Caballero (1935)
Captured in Chinatown (1935)
Rough Riding Ranger (1935)
Rip Roaring Riley (1935)
Skull and Crown (1935)
Custer's Last Stand (1936, serial)
Wolves of the Sea (1936)
Wildcat Trooper (1936)
Gambling with Souls (1936)
Ten Laps to Go (1936)
Death in the Air (1937)
Mile-a-Minute-Love (1937)
Slaves in Bondage (1937)
Assassin of Youth (1937)
The Secret of Treasure Island (1938, serial)
Paroled from the Big House (1938)
The Stranger from Arizona (1938)
Law of the Texan (1938)
California Frontier (1938)
Crashing Thru (1939)
Isle of Destiny (1940)
City of Missing Girls (1941)
I'll Sell My Life (1941)
Hard Guy (1941)
Swamp Woman (1941)
Deep in the Heart of Texas (1942)
The Old Chisholm Trail (1942)
The Sundown Kid (1942)
The Blocked Trail (1943)
Days of Old Cheyenne (1943)
Frontier Law (1943)
The Return of the Rangers (1943)
Boss of Rawhide (1943)
Captain America (1944, serial)
Guns of the Law (1944)
The Pinto Bandit (1944)
Spook Town (1944)
Seven Doors to Death (1944)
Gangsters of the Frontier (1944)
Youth Aflame (1944)
Dead or Alive (1944)
The Whispering Skull (1944)
Marked for Murder (1945)
Swing, Cowboy, Swing (1946)
The Judge (1949)
Not Wanted (1949)
Red Rock Outlaw (1949)
The Silver Bandit (1950)