Seven Keys to Baldpate ** (1935, Gene Raymond, Margaret Callahan, Eric Blore) – Classic Movie Review 9211

Directors William Hamilton and Edward Killy’s 1935 mystery thriller Seven Keys to Baldpate is the fifth of nine versions of this famous Earl Derr Biggers tale of a mystery writer, William Magee (played by Gene Raymond), who goes off to a quiet inn, the Baldpate Inn, to take a room in order to try to finish a novel in 24 hours in peace and quiet.

But then spooky events and a motley assortment of individuals conspire to stop things running smoothly.

It is based on the play by showman George M Cohan (Yankee Doodle Dandy) from the novel by Earl Derr Biggers.

It was remade in 1947 as Seven Keys to Baldpate and in 1983 as House of the Long Shadows and again in 1986 as Haunted Honeymoon.

Also in the cast are Margaret Callahan, Eric Blore, Grant Mitchell, Moroni Olsen, Ray Mayer, Henry Travers, Erin O’Brien-Moore, Murray Alper, Erville Alderson, Harry Beresford, Emma Dunn, Walter Brennan and Philip Morris.

Seven Keys to Baldpate is directed by William Hamilton and Edward Killy, runs 68 minutes, is made by RKO Radio Pictures, is released by RKO Radio Pictures (1935) (US), is written by Anthony Veiller and Wallace Smith, based on Earl Derr Biggers’s novel and George M Cohan’s play, is shot in black and white by Robert De Grasse, is produced by William Sistrom, is scored by Alberto Colombo, and is designed by Van Nest Polglase.

It is shot at RKO Studios, 780 N. Gower Street, Hollywood.

It is a remake of Seven Keys to Baldpate (1916) with George M Cohan, Seven Keys to Baldpate (1917),  Seven Keys to Baldpate (1925) and the first sound version, Seven Keys to Baldpate (1929).

Cohan’s play opened on Broadway at the Astor Theater on 22 September 1913 and ran for 320 performances. Kegendary Broadway performer Cohan himself stars as George Washington Magee in the 1917 film of Seven Keys to Baldpate, a rare film made during his brief film career.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9211

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