Gli avventurieri di Londra

Ed Harwood, a wisecracking private investigator from New York, discovers a crime at an hotel in Nice during a carnival. The unraveling of the mystery which lies behind will lead him and Caryl Fenton, a female insurance agent, who will become his companion, first to Paris, then to London, later through the English countryside and finally to Southampton, in search of a criminal train wrecker.

Seven Sinners is entertaining comedy thriller in the vein of Hitchcock's The Thirty-Nine Steps (1935), featuring a couple who spend their time during their escapade bickering and bantering until, inevitably, they finally declare undying love. But that's only after some hectic and dangerous moments such as chases, train crashes and a shootout in a cinema-theatre at the end. There's some witty dialogue and likable performances from Lowe and Cummings,

American detective Edmund Lowe is traveling in Europe. He falls in with love interest Constance Cummings, and the two get tangled up in a mystery involving some train wrecks, a dead man, and a peace organization.

I was struck by the numerous plot elements and situations that Hitchcock had and would use. A comparison and listing of them would be the sort of thing that some one might undertake in search of, if not a thesis, then a good grade on a paper in a film course. Many of these similarities, I believe, can be attributed to the writers of this movie: Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder have the primary screenplay credits.

There's also a great train crash sequence lifted from the out-takes of 1929's The Wrecker. Over all it's a fine movie, even if it lacks the visual flair and mordant humor that Hitchcock would have given it.

Mildly amusing scenario of US private detective and female insurance investigator battling for supremacy in solving a series of murders in Europe. Will they kiss and make up in the end? The bad guys are suitably sinister and new ones keep popping up just when you thought you had it all figured out. The script writer must have been short on inspiration as the same device of a train wreck is used no less than three times. But those action sequences are well filmed and I'd swear one of the crashing steam locomotives is the real thing.

The Launder/Gilliat screenplay credit attracted my attention, but other than its many screwball elements, the British comedy/thriller "Seven Sinners" came up empty.

I can imagine a Depression Era audience enjoyhing its modicum of thrills (re: train crashes) and the goofy situations and dialogue, but the show appear doomed from such weak casting. I doubt if current filmmakers would be interested in this genre at all, but from a few decades back, a pleasant hit like "Silver Streak" points up the necessity of finding the proper stars to populate such frivolous nonsense.

Beyond the dynamite first teaming of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, the SS supporting cast is a who's who of talented players. No such luck in this 1936 SS, with Edmund Lowe tiresome in his hogging the screen but offering zero charm, while Constance Cummings is eminently forgettable and the various minor players a washout.

Albert de Courville was never a director of the highest pedigree so why two reasonably established American stars like Edmund Lowe and Constance Cummings should cross the Atlantic to do this comedy in Great Britain remains an open question. I was born 21 years after SEVEN SINNERS came out and, unsurprisingly, I have no idea, though from what I have read and heard both Lowe and Cummings had a penchant for comedy.

And comedy they do get here, and along Hitchcock lines to boot! Mind, Hitch had only just come into public recognition with the 39 STEPS, he had not yet done THE LADY VANISHES, let alone cross the Atlantic in the other direction to build his fame and fortune.

In my humble view, a screenplay penned by Gilliat and Launder is a guarantee of high quality - and I was not disappointed. This is a quirky, clever, sharp dialogue script that serves both the the American and British spirit in the film.

Cinematography by Mutz Greenbaum (never heard of this fella, was he German?) is competent, nothing more than that. What elevates SEVEN SINNERS is the superb sense of fun together conveyed by Lowe and Cummings... and the twists in the story also had me riveted!

Definitely worth watching, especially if you can get a good copy. 8/10.