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With a story as interesting as "The Door with Seven Locks", it's shocking that the resulting film is as dull as this British movie is. Too often, the film is cerebral when it should feature action and the lack of much incidental music doesn't help either. After all, this IS a murder mystery film...and you'd think it would be more exciting.

A woman receives a letter from a dying man in the hospital. She arrives and he tells her about seven keys and how they open a crypt that actually contains evidence of some beastly crime. He gives her one key...and then some hidden person kills the man. When the woman fetches a nurse, they return and the dead man is gone...and the nurse accuses the woman of being mentall ill. But she DOES have the letter....yet the nurse is a hostile jerk...which is odd.

The woman seeks out folks to help unravel the mystery. Soon after, a masked man breaks in and attacks the man helping her...yet the other woman supposedly helping prevents her from intervening. This part of the film never made sense. What follows is a strange meeting with a sicko that has a torture chamber in his mansion....and you can only assume he plans on using it! What's next? See the film.

The basic story is excellent. But too often the film is talky, low energy and dull....when it never should have been given the story. I think playing it out with more emotion and zip would have elevated this story significantly.

A wealthy man dies leaving a huge treasure in his personal tomb with seven interlocking doors and keys to be used to get into the tomb after a period of time after his death. Chamber of Horrors tells the story of avarice, murder, and intrigue that happens as a result of this tomb and treasure. This is a fun film with lots of suspense, classic hokey comedy, and some stellar character acting. The evil guy, named Dr. Manetta, needs one more key in order to get the treasure, and one Lili Palmer stands in his way as the real heiress to the fortune and possessor of the last key. Dr. Manetta dresses in capes, has a great aristocratic "foreign" accent, has a trained monkey perch on his shoulder and follow him on a leash, and collects horrific hardware, devices used for torture. He utters great one-liners left and right, saying to his henchmen about the shame in killing the young heiress,"She played Chopin delightfully." The actor playing this role in none other than Leslie Banks, General Zaroff from The Most Dangerous game. He is in just as fine form here and really breathes what life this film has in gale strength. Banks puts on an acting seminar as he waltzes through this role of sadism and wit. The other actors are all capable and seem to have some talent. The torture room is very impressive. A neat little, seldom seen film. Try it as a second feature after The Most Dangerous Game. Every time I watch Banks I wish he had done more films. He is just incredibly good at playing incredibly bad men!

Yes that's what I said this movie feels like a movie made 12 years before it was. Good and great movies always seem new and fresh poor ones always seem older and staler than they are.

The sound of the film Is thin with an even thinner occasional music score that sounds like someone forgot to turn the radio off in a room next door. The camera never moves and the actors rarely do either.

There is no mystery here for starters mostly talk. We know who the bad guys are all the time and what the keys are for and since none of it leads to any suspense set pieces....

There seems rarely any point to it and it's a very long short movie, if you know what I mean.

The few shootings and two fights are mostly done in a stagey fashion but would not be convincing on stage either. The one fight scene near the end is pretty good.

Actors Palmer and Banks don't have much to do the rest of the cast isn't terrible but aren't very memorable either. There is a lame sinister butler character, lamely executed. Banks doesn't get much screen time but the movie is at its best when he's on screen.

Yes there is a chamber of horrors but it has little to do with the story. It does lead to one pretty good scene with Banks being tortured--the best scene in the film thanks mostly to his acting.

Wallace movies can be loaded with outlandish jeopardy and suspense of horror elements--this one doesn't feel much like Wallace though as it lacks most of these elements. There is one locked room mystery scene but it's not followed up on.

Yes this is a low budget film which may forgive some of it's lack of flavor but the script is a talk fest and the direction dull and a film with a talky.

The film was released on blu ray, one assumes the best the film is ever going to look, and it looks flat and grainy with some sound drop outs and almost blown out whites.

Much of this may have more to do with crude post production to start with.

So what's left is you like actors Banks and Palmer and HAVE to see everything they are in you'll be satisfied to feel you've done your duty in sitting through this one, but you'll need some coffee or sugar to keep you going

Chamber of Horrors is an entertaining British horror/mystery from 1940. I have the VCI edition of this on video which I had ordered from the US.

A series of murders at a creepy mansion are connected to the secret of a door which has seven keys to it and nobody has opened for a while. A young woman tries to solve this mystery and all is revealed towards the end when the door is opened... Includes a mute butler and a mad doctor who collects items used for torture. Also a thunderstorm.

Though not a lot of action in this movie, it is quite creepy and atmospheric at times.

The cast includes Leslie Banks (The Most Dangerous Game, The Tunnel) and Lilli Palmer.

Chamber of Horrors is worth a look if you get the chance. A good old mystery.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

The movie opens with a shot of an old mansion being surrounded by a lightning storm. Could anything be more unoriginal? Opening like that, you know that there isn't going to be much to write home about. All the standard stuff you would expect to find in this kind of a movie is here.

An old and wealthy man (Aubrey Mallalieu) dies, leaving his estate naturally enough to his son, but the inheritance is locked away in the old guy's tomb and seven keys are needed to open it. The man's servants, of course (including a butler, played by Robert Montgomery, who looks vaguely like something that would have fit in nicely with the Addams Family) are convinced that they deserve the inheritance far more than the boy, and they set out to get it.

Basically the story revolves around the search for the missing key, as a woman named June from Canada (Lilli Palmer) turns out to be the heir to the fortune after the son disappears and isn't heard from for several years. She's in a contest with Dr. Mannetta (Leslie Banks) - your typical evil doctor type complete with a monkey who rides around on his shoulders, and who is a collector of torture equipment. Anyway, I found it all rather silly and not really all that interesting, although a bit funny in places. I love the character of Dick Martin (Romilly Lunge) for example. As the movie starts he's handing in his resignation from Scotland Yard when June walks in to the office to report a murder. June's cute, and Martin uses the murder as an opportunity to get a girlfriend. Then, smitten with her as he is - and suspicious of Mannetta as he is - he nevertheless leaves June alone all night in the mansion with Mannetta. It doesn't make much sense, but in a way that fit with the rest of the movie. 3/10

This classic Edgar Wallace Murder Mystery/Conspiracy film is surprising fun. Leslie Banks, as the clever, devious, torture device collecting Dr. Mannetta (the owner of the chamber of horrors), frequently steals the scenes he's in even if his character is some what a cliche. The very lovely Lilli Palmer as Judy Lansdowne here plays the lady in distress. A woman in need of help and rescue as many others plot against her and try and steal her key to the "door with the seven locks", the seven keys to which when combined will open Lord Selford's tomb containing his family jewels. Banks as Mannetta, along with a creepy atmosphere, a good pace and an exciting climax make this better than you might expect.

The Earl died, leaving a large estate, but the pricey jewels were buried with him in his vault, and that was locked with seven locks. The seven keys went to his lawyer. So distant relative Lilli Palmer is surprised when an elderly man gives her one of the keys and is promptly shot dead. This interests Scotland Yard in the person of women-hating Detective Inspector Richard Bird, and young and handsome Romilly Lunge. The lawyer explains that the income is mailed regularly to the heir, who has been abroad for years. They discover that all the keys are missing, so they go to the estate, where creepy foreign doctor Leslie Banks is in residence, treating the locals and collecting torture devices, as one does.

It's based on an Edgar Wallace novel, but basics of whodunnit soon become clear, so the audience can concentrate on Banks being scary, which he does very well, while the ladies are threatened and the 'tecs figure it out well after the audience is told. With Gina Malo and Cathleen Nesbitt.

So many early films of the "Old Dark House" variety are the kind where actors hit their marks, look at each other, and just talk, talk, talk endless pages of dialog and exposition. Not this one! The director knows how to tell the story with a camera, and the movie has a good shot count so there's none of those lock-down shots where two or more actors talk about the situation for an eternity. Quite the contrary: the movie has good pacing, and the actors keep a good rhythm to the delivery of their lines. Lilli Palmer is quite good and beguiling as the female lead, with good support from fellow players. The plot has enough twists to keep things interesting, while the lighting, camera moves, and blocking keep the visuals engaging. For a low budget thriller, it's really one of the better examples!

Rather cheap looking but fairly entertaining all the same and it's fairly well made, with a couple creepy moments, and it had some great atmosphere. The cast was pretty likable except for one character, and it's enjoyably cheesy. This was a lot better then i was expecting and i liked the 2 main leads, and they had some good chemistry together, plus the finale was quite exciting. The direction was pretty good for a very low budget movie. Norman Lee did a decent job here keeping the film at a pretty good pace, but there is not any special camera tricks, or anything stylish but he got the job done. There is no gore. The Acting was fairly good. Lilli Palmer does good here and was quite beautiful and had good chemistry with Romilly Lunge. Romilly Lunge was very good here he was amusing and handled himself well!. Gina Malo annoyed the crap out of me as Judy's best friend Shut up already!!!. Leslie Banks is decent here as the doctor and did a fairly good job. David Horne did what he had to do adequately. Richard Bird did well as the Inspector. Overall worth the watch **1/2 out of 5

June Lansdowne (Lilli Palmer) receives a mysterious letter and a key. Upon investigation, June is told that the key is one of seven keys, meant for a door with seven locks. After a murder and a disappearance, June enlists the help of the police.

This is when an astonishing discovery is made, and June's adventure truly begins. Along the way she meets a group of suspicious characters, including Dr. Manetta (Leslie Banks), whose hobby is collecting instruments of torture for his "enhanced interrogation" room.

CHAMBER OF HORRORS is a well-constructed mystery / thriller. Banks is supremely, sublimely wicked in his role, complete with a cape and pet monkey! He sort of reprises his old Zaroff character from THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, infusing him with even more menace and insanity!

Ms. Palmer plays Lilli as someone with guts and brains. She's certainly not a pushover!

A classic movie for lovers of Edgar Wallace-inspired suspense...

One of the things I like best about the old British mysteries is that they often throw in a touch of humor to lighten the mood. This film does that quite well, and combines it with an intriguing plot. Overall, a very enjoyable film with decent acting and a plot that appears to be easy to guess, but does come with a couple of surprises.

A muddled plot, directed in an extremely middling manner by Norman Lee, yet distinguished by the vibrant Lilli Palmer in the lead role. Mr Lunge's somewhat erratic hero seems as far at sea as the rest of us, but Leslie Banks has himself a grand old time as the villain. He receives some wonderful assistance too from his assistants, particularly Cathleen Nesbitt as a spooky maid of all work and Robert Montgomery as a vampire-visaged servant.

There are some occasions when Messrs Norman Lee, Ernest Palmer and Charles Gilbert manage to overcome an obviously limited budget to produce a few genuine thrills and atmospheric effects. All the same, they manage to work up very little suspense or even a passing interest in the plot. Pedestrian direction is the chief hindrance, but soporifically unfunny comic relief from Gina Malo, Richard Bird and even Mr Lunge himself doesn't help either. In short, this movie amounts to second-rate Edgar Wallace. If you're neither a Palmer or a Banks fan, give it a miss!

A murder is found to be connected to a false heir and a secret underground torture chamber.

So many of these movies were made in the 30s and early 40s.

Prior to the Film noir of the next decade.

Some are better than others. This one is a bit above the average.

There's a funny scene with the girl in the bath and when she gets out, another woman wraps her in a plaid towel. When she pulls it around her you can see she' wearing bloomers.

The sets are opulent as was the case back then and there's lots of fun intrigue.

Give it a shot on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Norman Lee directs THE DOOR WITH SEVEN LOCKS aka CHAMBER OF HORRORS, and he does it with considerable adroitness, extracting excellent performances from all the main actors, including the very young Lilli Palmer, whose beauty I rate higher than her ability to act.

The screenplay by Lee and Gunn, off an Edgar Wallace novel, deserves plaudits for its twists that keep catching the spectator on the back foot. I found the cinematography nothing to write home about but, to be fair, the copy I watched left much to be desired - lots of scratches and poor sound in parts.

I would describe it as a hybrid horror/noir kind of a movie, something different from the usual... and I cannot overlook the fact that by 1940 England was being strafed by German bombers, so it cannot have been an easy project.

This British made film is highly enjoyable. Excellent performances by the cast, spectacular sets, good script, all things about this film I found enjoyable.

Lilli Palmer was excellent in the role, she is also a joy to watch as she is breathtakingly beautiful. Leslie Banks is back in a role similar to his role in "Most Dangerous Game," a man who lives in a castle, and collects torture devices.

At 80 minutes in length this film really needs to be watched and enjoyed. Very clever.

CHAMBER OF HORRORS is a solid little adaptation of an Edgar Wallace novel - THE DOOR WITH SEVEN LOCKS - much filmed over the years. This one plays up the melodrama, with a huge air of mystery layered over the proceedings and plenty of twists along the way. Lilli Palmer makes for a beautiful lead while Leslie Banks brings some Tod Slaughter relish to his role as the sinister doctor. Well filmed, engaging, a classic example of the 'old dark house' genre.

The story is by Edgar Wallace, the leading journalist of his time, and it is brilliantly written with a twinkling eye and tongue in cheek in exploiting a corrupt doctor's passion in the macabre - he is a collector of ancient torture instruments and has a whole cabinet of scenes from the inquisition, including an iron maiden who is not to be trifled with. Leslie Banks is the leading character here giving a magnificent performance as doctor Manetta of Spanish origin, and his Spanish accent is perfect. He leads the conspiracy against the Selford family and weaves a very intricate web of intrigue involving a number of persons, who ultimately are all hoisted by their own petard. Lilli Palmer is still in the beginning of her long career here, very young and fresh, the perfect innocence, stumbling into a jungle of insidious traps and intrigues, which all get messed up with each other. It's actually a black comedy of the same kind as "Arsenic and Old Lace", but the laughs are more frequent here, and the exaggerated dark mood is actually very light. Who ever would have suspected the most honest man in the business to be the actual manufacturer of the plot? There are many fakes here, but when doctor Manetta finally goes down you will have to admit he is doing it with flying colours.

This film is (VERY!) loosely based on the Edgar Wallace book, but the ONLY thing it has in common with it is the DOOR!

I am an avid reader/collector of Wallace, and (I had to admit it!), but I was totally bored by the whole business! The pacing is extremely slow, and the film goes on forever!

The only redeeming thing about it is the heroine, who is a "good-looker"! (btw, the mad doctor bears an uncanny resemblance to the mad hunter in the Fay Wray version of "The Most Dangerous Game).

Norm

Ignore the way this old clunker is marketed on DVD and disregard the American title, "Chamber of Horrors." There's nothing supernatural here and there are no Poe-like thrills. The "horrors" are a collection of old torture devices owned by the main villain, and they don't get much play. The English title gives you a better sense of the movie. You see, there's a door with seven locks which requires seven different keys. An heiress possesses the seventh key, and several unsavory characters will stop at nothing to get it from her.

The trappings of this mystery "thriller" are familiar nowadays mainly from comedies, parodies and cartoons. I especially liked that portrait with the real eyes peering out. I've seen that countless times on "Scooby Doo." Then there's the spooky tomb, secret panels in the wall, sinister servants and so on. Leslie Banks (probably best known for the original "The Man Who Knew Too Much") plays a flamboyant villain, sophisticated yet evil, complete with goatee, cape, a foreign accent of some kind and a pet monkey. This is one of the rare times I've seen this stuff played straight – more or less.

Fortunately, this movie is no more self-serious than "The Lady Vanishes." But don't expect any Hitchcockian suspense here. We have an excellent cast, headed by the beautiful Lilli Palmer and the amusing Banks. Lots of droll dialogue. ("I love frolicking in morgues.") Lots of the aforementioned mystery trappings. But no suspense. The writers haven't the slightest idea how to grab our interest, much less keep it. The director betrays absolutely no flair for this kind of thing. It's all a leaden bore. Go watch "Scooby Doo."