Seven Keys to Baldpate | |
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Directed by | Fred C. Newmeyer |
Written by | Wade Boteler (scenario) Frank Griffin (scenario) |
Based on | Seven Keys to Baldpate by Earl Derr Biggers (1913 novel) and George M. Cohan (1913 play) |
Produced by | Adolph Zukor Jesse Lasky Douglas MacLean |
Starring | Douglas MacLean |
Cinematography | Jack MacKenzie |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 66 minutes; 7 reels (6,648 feet) |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
Seven Keys to Baldpate is a lost 1925 American silent comedy mystery film based on the 1913 mystery novel by Earl Derr Biggers and 1913 play by George M. Cohan. Previously made in Australia in 1916 [1] and by Paramount in 1917, this version was produced by, and starred, Douglas MacLean and was directed by Fred C. Newmeyer (who later directed Our Gang shorts). Out of seven film adaptations of the story made between 1916 and 1983, this version is the only one that is now considered lost. [2] [3] [4] The story was remade again later in 1929, 1935, 1946 (TV movie), and 1947. It was also remade in 1983 under the title House of the Long Shadows , featuring John Carradine, Peter Cushing, Vincent Price, and Christopher Lee. [5]
As described in a film magazine review:
William Magee, author, returns from Europe and declares that, instead of writing while he was there, he was buying presents for Mary Norton, daughter of his publisher, to whom he is engaged. Norton, who faces ruin if William does not produce another novel on short order, forbids his daughter’s marriage until the book is written. William agrees to write, and Bentley offers him the use of Baldpate Inn, a summer resort closed for the season and therefore quiet. The caretakers tell William that the key they give him is the only one in existence that will open the inn. However, while he is writing, Bland unlocks the door, enters, and hides a large sum of money in the inn safe. Then in rapid succession the members of a gang of crooks looking for the money enter. William, thinking that the people are in a conspiracy to interrupt him, ignores the warning of Mary that he is in danger. The sheriff arrives to arrest all present at the inn, but William eludes him. The caretakers return and William tells them he has finished the book. Only then is it learned that all of the action is really in the book, and has not happened in reality. Mary arrives and is told by William that the novel is finished and they are to be married the next day. [6]
In The New York Times , Mordaunt Hall wrote, "Douglas MacLean, who relies a great deal upon his eyes and his teeth in acting, is only moderately amusing in the film conception of Seven Keys to Baldpate, which is at the Rivoli this week. This does not seem to be as good a vehicle for him as The Yankee Consul and other productions in which he has figured. There are long stretches without much in the way of genuine fun, and Mr. MacLean is rather stiff and his clothes are much too well pressed. He looks as if he had come to life from a man's fashion advertisement, without a characterizing crease." [7]
Critic Troy Howarth comments "The emphasis... is as much on comedy as it is on chills and suspense, and it seems likely that most viewers were familiar with the story's convoluted plot by this time". [8]
This is an overview of 1929 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
This is an overview of 1925 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
This is an overview of 1923 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
The year 1920 in film involved some significant events.
1917 in film was a particularly fruitful year for the art form, and is often cited as one of the years in the decade which contributed to the medium the most, along with 1913. Secondarily the year saw a limited global embrace of narrative film-making and featured innovative techniques such as continuity cutting. Primarily, the year is an American landmark, as 1917 is the first year where the narrative and visual style is typified as "Classical Hollywood".
The year 1916 in film involved some significant events.
The year 1914 in film involved some significant events, including the debut of Cecil B. DeMille as a director.
1913 was a particularly fruitful year for film as an art form, and is often cited one of the years in the decade which contributed to the medium the most, along with 1917. The year was one where filmmakers of several countries made great artistic advancements, producing notable pioneering masterpieces such as The Student of Prague, Suspense, Atlantis, Raja Harischandra, Juve contre Fantomas, Quo Vadis?, Ingeborg Holm, The Mothering Heart, Ma l’amor mio non muore!, L’enfant de Paris and Twilight of a Woman's Soul.
The year 1911 in film involved some significant events.
The year 1910 in film involved some significant events.
Au Secours! is a 1924 short French silent comedy horror film, directed by Abel Gance and starring Max Linder. The French title translates into English as "Help!". The film is also known as The Haunted House in some reference books. The film was made on a dare, with Gance filming the entire project in three days, with the help of his friend, actor Max Linder. Linder had just returned to France after several years of trying to start an acting career in Canada.
The Drums of Jeopardy is a 1923 American silent mystery film directed by Edward Dillon, written by Arthur Hoerl and featuring Wallace Beery. It is based on the 1920 novel of the same name by Harold McGrath which was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post. The film was released by Tru-art Film Company in November 1923. The name of the villain in the story was originally called Boris Karlov, but when the actor Boris Karloff rose to prominence circa 1923, the character's name was changed to Gregor Karlov to avoid confusion. It was changed back to Boris again in the 1931 remake of the film which starred Warner Oland as the villain.
Harry Agar Lyons was an Irish-born British actor. He was born in Cork, Ireland in 1878 and died in Wandsworth, London, England in 1944 at age 72.
Seven Keys to Baldpate is a 1917 American silent mystery/thriller film produced by George M. Cohan and distributed by Artcraft Pictures, an affiliate of Paramount. The film is based on Cohan's 1913 play of the 1913 novel by Earl Derr Biggers. Cohan himself stars in this silent version along with Anna Q. Nilsson and Hedda Hopper, billed under her real name Elda Furry. One version of the play preceded this movie in 1916 and numerous versions followed in the succeeding decades such as the early RKO talkie starring Richard Dix.
Seven Keys to Baldpate is a 1929 American pre-Code sound film produced and distributed through RKO Pictures. It was the first sound film based on the 1913 Earl Derr Biggers novel/ George M. Cohan play Seven Keys to Baldpate, following three different silent film versions. The film had its premiere on Christmas Day, 1929 in New York City, and its official release was the following month.
Seven Keys to Baldpate is a 1913 play by George M. Cohan based on a novel by Earl Derr Biggers. The dramatization was one of Cohan's most innovative plays. It baffled some audiences and critics but became a hit, running for nearly a year in New York, another year in Chicago and receiving later revivals; Cohan starred in the 1935 revival. Cohan adapted it as a film in 1917, and it was adapted for film six more times, and later for TV and radio. The play "mixes all the formulaic melodrama of the era with a satirical [farcical] send-up of just those melodramatic stereotypes."
Figures of the Night (German:Nachtgestalten) is a 1920 German silent horror film written, directed and produced by Richard Oswald and starring Paul Wegener, Conrad Veidt, Reinhold Schünzel and Erna Morena. It is based on the novel Eleagabal Kuperus by Karl Hans Strobl. Strobl was the editor of a German horror fiction magazine called Der Orchideengarten which was said to have been influenced by the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Strobl was an anti-Semitic and later willingly joined the Nazi Party, which may explain why he has become an obscure literary figure today.
Hugo Werner-Kahle was a German stage and film actor. He appeared in around a hundred films during his career.
Go and Get It is a 1920 American silent comedy-drama mystery film directed by Marshall Neilan and Henry Roberts Symonds and written by Marion Fairfax. The film stars Pat O'Malley, Wesley Barry, Noah Beery Sr. and Agnes Ayres. The cinematographer was David Kesson. The film was released on July 18, 1920 by First National Exhibitors' Circuit.
The Phantom Melody is a 1920 American silent drama film directed by Douglas Gerrard, and starring Monroe Salisbury, Henry A. Barrows, Ray Gallagher, Charles West and Jean Calhoun. The film was released by Universal Film Manufacturing Company on January 27, 1920. The film's "premature burial" plotline tilts it in the direction of being a horror film as well as a melodrama. Director Gerrard emigrated to Hollywood from Ireland in 1913 to become an actor, but quickly gravitated to film directing in 1916 with his The Price of Victory, but gave up directing soon after filming The Phantom Melody.