THE DOOR WITH 7 LOCKS

Schurenberg, Drache, Arent

THE DOOR WITH 7 LOCKS (aka The Door with Seven Locks aka Die Tur mit den 7 Schlossern/1962). Director: Alfred Vohrer. 

A librarian named Sybil (Sabine Sesselmann) discovers that her life is in danger because she's the next in line to inherit a vast fortune. Inspector Martin (Heinz Drache) tries to protect her while investigating a series of mysterious deaths. Mixed up in all this are a sinister couple named Cody (Werner Peters and Gisela Uhlen); a lawyer named Haveloc (Hans Nielsen); an ex-con -- and Mrs. Cody's nephew -- named Tommy (Jan Hendriks); a hulking horror named Giacco (Ady Berber of Dead Eyes of London); and the very strange Dr. Staletti (Pinkas Braun). As usual, we've also got Siegfried Schurenberg as Sir John of Scotland Yard, and Martin's mincing assistant, Holms (Eddi Arent). There is a lot of talk about a secret door which takes seven keys to unlock, and which various characters possess. 

Ady Berber, West Germany's answer to Tor Johnson

Yes, this is another West German Edgar Wallace adaptation, and while it has a few exciting moments, it's generally mediocre. As usual, the plot comes together at the end. The movie was previously filmed in the UK in 1940 -- it is also known as Chamber of Horrors -- and if anything is far worse than this version, which at least moves at a generally swift pace. Although the identity of the true mastermind isn't revealed until the very end, it is made pretty clear early on that there's something very wrong with Dr. Stiletti, whose experiments with pituitary glands have created the mongoloid Giacco. Stiletti wants to create a race of supermen, but his first idea is to transplant a human head on a monkey's body (the movie might have been more interesting if this actually took place). In a very odd sequence, Martin and Sybil ride down several stories in a elevator with no doors, but then go up in the same elevator for no good reason. Klaus Kinski plays an early victim. Be advised that an alleged torture chamber has very little to do with the 1940 film and there is absolutely no torture chamber in this version, just a weird hidden room where experiments take place. 

Verdict: Some entertaining elements but really nothing special. **1/2. 

DEAD EYES OF LONDON

DEAD EYES OF LONDON (aka Die toten Augen von London/1961). Director: Alfred Vohrer.

In London, there is a series of "accidental drownings" of vision-impaired men on foggy nights. These deaths are tied in with the Greenwich insurance company and may have something to do with a home for blind pensioners run by Reverend Dearborn (Dieter Borsche). Then there are the infamous, possibly mythical "blind killers of London" run by Jacob Farrell aka "Blind Jack" (Tor Johnson lookalike Ady Berber). Inspector Holt (Joachim Fuchsberger) and a braille teacher named Nora (Karin Beal) nearly pay a heavy price for getting involved in this mystery. Dead Eyes of London is a remake of an old Bela Lugosi film of the same title (aka The Human Monster), and it is an extremely suspenseful movie with some very good plot twists. Karl Lob has contributed some unusual camera work, such as a shot from inside a man's mouth as he sprays his throat! There's an exciting climax, and a well-handled murder inside an elevator shaft. The biggest "name" in the cast is Klaus Kinski [Doctor Zhivago] as Edgar Strauss. Based on a novel by the prolific Edgar Wallace.

Verdict: Well-done West German suspense thriller. ***